Alisha's Attic. A Deep Dive Into "Secrets In The Attic" The Full Story In My Book "There Ain't No Rules In Rock n Roll"

“I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know.” James Brown. I was on the rebound from my Cajun experience when an associate, Laurie Jay, asked me if I would meet with a couple of girl singers. He was thinking of offering them a management deal and asked me if, assuming I liked their material, I would produce some tracks he could to play to a record company in order to obtain a deal. He told me should a record company be interested I would get the job of producing the album. Laurie had started his career as a drummer playing with The Shadows, The Echoes (1960-62), Dusty Springfield, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis, he also fronted Laurie Jay combo (1962-1965). He later went on to manage Elkie Brooks, Billy Ocean and Shirley Bassey. Most people that had worked with him would say he was difficult to work with, something I found out for myself, but he was a true character and really did have a great ear for talent. The girls, Shelly and Karen Poole came to my studio for a meeting and introduced themselves. We all got on really well and discussed what kind of music we liked and chatted about life in general. I told them of my recent upset with my Cajun artist, “How could he do that to you?” Karen asked.I wish I had had a crystal ball, I would have told them, You’ll both do the same to me in a couple of years.” The girls were very pretty and full of charm with fabulous singing voices although the demos they played were very amateurish. The Plan I decided to choose and work on just one song, it was called Natural Thing. Next it was contacting my good friend and music programmer, the very talented Danny Saxon. Danny and I had teamed up a few years before, writing and recording with many varied artists such as Anthony Newley and Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green. Danny was a key ingredient, with his musical talent and programming skills, he was instrumental (excuse the pun) to all my Cajun recordings. We had written many great songs and worked really well together for many years. I called Danny and told him about Laurie’s new act and the overal plan but warned him that there was no budget. He also knew Laurie very well and was slightly cautious. But Danny was a good friend and, despite his misgivings, agreed to work with me on the recording. Within the next few weeks, we had completed the track and everyone seemed very pleased. Silence Then everything went silent and around a year passed with only minimal contact from the girls or their management. Eventually Karen phoned and asked if she and her sister could come and have a meeting. In the meeting they revealed that they were very frustrated with their management and desperately wanted to get back in the studio to record some new tracks. They brought along a cassette with three demo songs recorded on a four-track cassette machine at home by Karen’s boyfriend Terry. The recordings were, as you would expect, very poor, but the songs had something very special.There was one great lyric in one of the songs that really knocked me out – Dreaming With A Capital D. I contacted Danny again to tell him the girls had called me and wanted our help. I explained that I really believed in the girls and their new material. I was sure that we would get them a record deal and we would all share in the success. After listening to the demo Danny really didn’t share the same excitement for the project as I did However, once again, his belief was in me rather than the girls so he agreed to work with me on the project for free. Another freebie & Getting a deal:

The Full Story In My Book "There Ain't No Rules In Rock n Roll"