Stan Polley had a habit of forming companies for each of his clients, using charm to lure them in and complicated business structures to funnel money away from the artists. He formed Badfinger Enterprises, Inc. in 1970, and acted as the American arm of the band’s organization. Over time, it became clear to several band members that they had no control over their money, but Pete Ham (one of the 27s) refused to believe that Polley was a bad apple. In 1972, Badfinger let Polley negotiate a new record deal with Warner Bros. Records. The contract called for cash advances to be placed in escrow and WB soon found itself filing a lawsuit when it couldn’t locate the funds. A legal tangle ensued and Badfinger saw their records pulled from the shelves. By then Pete Ham saw the writing on the wall and tragically hung himself. His suicide note ended with “Stan Polley is a soulless bastard and I’ll take him with me.”

Polley soon left show business, but he continued to swindle and embezzle. In 1991 was ordered by a California Court to return $250,000 to an aeronautics entrepreneur, but according to the victim, he never received any money.

Be sure to read Dan Matovina’s book Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger for more.

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Born: January 12, 1947
Died: August 12, 1974, in Jackson Minnesota
Band: Chase

Wally played organ for Chase, a brass jazz-rock band led by trumpeteer Bill Chase. Wally joined the band for the third and last record, the excellent Pure Music, where his oscillating leads and dripping Hammond organ chords added flair and texture.

August 9, 1974, several members of Chase flew to Minnesota for a gig at the Jackson County Fair. The weather turned nasty and the plane went down with Chase, Yohn, John Emma, Walter Clark, and the two pilots.

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Born: February 14, 1946, in Kansas City, Missouri
Died: July 27, 1973
Band: Bloodstone, The Sinceres

In 1962, a group of high school friends in Kansas City, Missouri, founded a doo-wop quintet named The Sinceres. The members eventually learned how to play instruments, renamed themselves Bloodstone, and after a brief stint as a Las Vegas lounge act, moved to LA. Months without a record deal forced the band to London where label boss Mike Vernon took them to the studio.

Roger Durham sang and played percussion on the group’s eponymous debut from 1972, which included “Natural High,” a single that placed top ten on the pop charts. (“Natural High” also found its way on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier, Robert De Niro, and Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda, and Michael Keaton.)

Bloodstone tapped into a mix of doo-wop, subdued funk riffs, and soul with a tinge of gospel, which garnered the group a place in the black rock and funk movement of the seventies. They played gigs alongside the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, The Impressions, and (the-not-so-black) Elton John. Bloodstone’s keyboardist Harold “Ivory” Williams went on to cut On The Corner with Miles Davis, but returned in time for gigs and recording dates.

July 27, 1973, Roger Durham fell off a horse and died from the injuries. His duty as an airman in the Vietnam War garnered him interment at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas.

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Born: June 3, 1947, in Whitmore Lake, Michigan
Died: February 10, 1975, in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Band: The Stooges

Dave was the original bassist for the proto-punk band The Stooges. Like the rest of The Stooges, he was a fairly unseasoned player in the early days of the band, but their attitudes foreshadowed the punk movement by a few years. Zander first met the Asheton brothers in high school, but dropped out after 45 minutes of his senior year to win a bet. Eager to go to Liverpool, he recruited Ron Asheton to come along. In England the duo sought out the Beatles and caught a show with The Who. Once they made it home, they founded The Stooges with Iggy.

Dave Alexander played bass on The Stooges and Fun House, and is credited as the primary composer of “We Will Fall,” “Little Doll,” and “Dirt.” Inspired by Jim Morrison, Iggy took stage antics to unprecedented levels, smearing peanut butter on his chest, cutting his arms with shards of glass, and pioneering the art of stage diving. Drugs were out of control, and although Dave isn’t likely to have been any worse than the rest, his interest in practicing dwindled, and he left during the infamous Goose Lake International Music Festival in 1970. He died of pneumonia at an Ann Arbor hospital in 1975.

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Born: January 25, 1951 in Memphis, Tennessee
Died: December 27, 1978 in Memphis, Tennessee
Bands: Big Star, Rock City, Icewater, and solo

Born into a wealthy family in Tennessee, Chris Bell spent his childhood listening to the Beatles, photographing, and playing music with his friends. He got a reputation as a good songwriter and guitar player when Alex Chilton (of the Box Tops fame) came back to Tennessee he was welcomed into the fold. Fuelled by his fascination with the Beatles, Chris Bell wanted the two to become a song writing team like Lennon/McCartney. Big Star began working in the legendary Ardent studio at night as Big Star, the group created a brilliant album titled #1 Record. The sound, which was later labeled power pop, was drowned out by FM staples such as Led Zeppelin and marred by lousy distribution by Stax.

Big Star played only seven gigs in its original configuration before Chris Bell left disillusioned. Bell worked on a solo album that wasn’t released until 14 years after his death and became a born-again Christian, preaching the power of the Lord to friends if they wanted to listen. Chris Bell accidentally crashed his car while driving home early one morning and died on impact.

Artists such as Elliot Smith, Wilco, R.E.M., and Ryan Adams revere Big Star’s music. Cheap Trick’s remake of “In The Street” is now known as the theme from That ’70s Show. (Alex Chilton, who kept the band alive for another album after Bell left, recently revived Big Star.) He is truly one of rock’s unheralded, yet remarkable songwriters.

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Born: March 2, 1950, in Germany
Died: May 3, 1977, in Germany
Band: Triumvirat and solo

Helmut Köllen joined Triumvirat in time to lend his bass, voice, and composition skills to this German progressive rock band’s two most famous albums: Spartacus and Illusions on a Double Dimple. In spite of overwhelmingly critical acclaim, Triumvirat was left as an opener for acts like Grand Funk Railroad in Europe and Supertramp in the US. Köllen soon departed to pursue a solo career. Whether his death in 1977 was a suicide or an accident is anyone’s guess. He died in his car from monoxide poisoning while listening to a demo tape of his songs with the garage door closed.

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Born: May 15, 1948, in Christchurch, New Zealand
Died: December 15, 1975, in London, England
Bands: Uriah Heep, Keef Hartley Band, The New Nadir, The Secrets

Thain left his native New Zealand when he was 17 and lived as a bass player from then on until he died ten years later of complications from a drug overdose in London. Gary Thain paid his dues playing R&B in German bars, and made it to London during the height of the Swinging ’60s.

He played in a jazz-rock trio called New Nadir, and Jimi Hendrix got up on stage with them one night at the Speakeasy. Thain’s next project was holding down the groove in the Keef Hartley Band, a tremendous British blues band. He stuck around for all six records and even played Woodstock.

In 1972, Thain received a phone call from prog rockers Uriah Heep, flew to the US, and ended up touring and recording with the band during its golden age. Gary Thain was fairly quiet, thin and frail from his drug use, but recognized as one of the two best musicians in the group.

Gary Thain was electrocuted while on stage in 1974, blacked out and suffered severe burns. The band cancelled the rest of the tour. Gary never fully recovered and was asked to leave the band shortly thereafter. A few months later his girlfriend found him dead in the bathtub.

Uriah-Heep.com

Here’s a great live audio montage of Uriah Heep’s “July Morning” with Gary Thain’s groovy bass turned way up in the mix:

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Born: April 27, 1947, in Swansea, Wales
Died: April 24, 1975, in Surrey, England
Bands: The Iveys, Badfinger

A Welsh singer, guitar player, and songwriter, Pete was a dedicated musician who spent as much time as possible honing his craft for his group Badfinger. The group’s predecessor was founded in his hometown Swansea while Pete was still in his teens, and they played a lot of the same venues as Steve Winwood and The Who. A small-time manager named Bill Collins saw the group’s potential and took them under his wing, letting the members live and practice out of his London home. Collins encouraged The Iveys to work on song writing and Pete took the advice to heart.

While the rest of London went psychedelic, The Iveys remained old fashioned in both dress and songwriting. Although the group’s talent attracted attention from several record companies, Collins stayed put, waiting for a better opportunity. A former Beatles roadie, who worked for Apple records, took a strong liking to the group, and Paul McCartney signed them on in 1968. The single “Maybe Tomorrow,” which trailed on the Billboard 100, selecting a follow-up proved difficult. In 1969, Paul McCartney gave them “Come and Get It” and an opportunity to record that track and a pair of their own for the movie The Magic Christian, starring Pete Sellers, Ringo Starr, Raquel Welch, and a John Cleese cameo. Before the release, the group changed their name to Badfinger and went for a slightly harder rock edge.

In November 1970, Badfinger released their second LP (No Dice) and the single “No Matter What” reached number eight on the Billboard charts (”Without You” from the same album became a hit for Harry Nilsson (1971) and Mariah Carey (1993). Signing on with business manager Stan Polley in 1970 proved to be a bad decision. He came highly recommended, but his mob ties and clever financial acrobatics only became obvious to the band members down the road.

Badfinger played acoustic guitars on George Harrison’s monumental triple record All Things Must Pass (1971), sang backup vocals on a Ringo Starr single, and Pete Ham performed “Here Comes the Sun” on acoustic guitar with George Harrison on his Concert for Bangla Desh. Ass, Badfinger’s last record for Apple, failed to reach the Billboard Top 100. The follow-up, the eponymous Badfinger, was met with little enthusiasm, but 1974’s Wish You Were Here was lauded by Rolling Stone magazine and other outlets. In a lawsuit with Warner Brothers, Polley was asked about money supposedly stashed away in an escrow account, but he didn’t respond to the requests since the money had vanished. In retaliation, WB removed Badfinger’s records from its catalog. Pete Ham soon found himself in a rut. He had written Top 10 singles and worked hard for Badfinger, but had no money and little fame to show for it.

April 24, 1975, Pete Ham hanged himself in his studio and his suicide note blamed Stan Polley for his death. Pete Ham’s daughter was born the following month.

Pete Ham and Badfinger performing their pop-classic “Without You”

Badfinger.org
PeteHam.net

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