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Despite
the success Wilson was enjoying on the Brunswick label, Tarnopol was
dissatisfied with the level of promotion, publicity and support Decca
was providing Wilson.By
all accounts, Tarnopol was in a constant state of war with the Decca
executives to get Wilson the same kind of promotional budgets as Decca's
white recording artists. Another sore point for Tarnopol was the amount
of initial pressings Decca would allocate for distribution on new singles.
Tarnopol argued that they were losing sales, due to the delay in getting
enough records to retailers once the single began breaking on radio.
In Tarnopol's words, "Decca was a backward company that had little understanding
of R&B promotion and the importance of speed in getting each record to market." One
such incident was resolved when Tarnopol agreed to personally guarantee the pressing
costs of one quarter of a million records to be manufactured by Decca for the release
of "THAT'S WHY (I LOVE YOU SO)". Sure enough, the record went gold,
but the rift between Tarnopol and Decca continued to expand.
By mid 1960, Tarnopol sought the freedom and independence of running his own
record company. Since he was doing the majority of the promotion work and even
taking part of the risk for Decca, Tarnopol planned on forming his own company
and eventually bringing Wilson along, once his contract expired with Decca a
few years later.
Convinced that Tarnopol was halfway out the door, with Wilson right behind him,
Decca decided to bring Tarnopol in as Executive Vice President of a newly formed
BRUNSWICK RECORD CORPORATION and assigned half of this new company's stock to
a production company owned by Tarnopol and Wilson.
 Over
the next few years, artists such as Isaac Hayes, Linda Hopkins,
Lavern Baker, Big Maybelle and Little Richard all came to Brunswick
to record, but it was Wilson who Tarnopol gave 90% of his time
and attention to.
If they weren't recording
at Manhattan's Bell Sound studio with Decca staff
arranger, Dick Jacobs, they were out on the road.
Up to this point it was the live performances that
made up for the few pennies they had been earning
per record from artist and publisher royalties. Even
with a string of hits, the earnings never amounted
to a fraction of what was earned out on tour. However,
hit records had a direct effect on what promoters
were willing to pay performers.
In the early morning hours of February 15th 1961, everything almost came to a
sudden end when Jackie Wilson and future wife Harlean Harris were returning to
their Manhattan apartment after a night on the town. While entering the lobby,
Wilson was confronted by a woman named Juanita Jones. Armed with a pistol, Jones
shot Wilson two times, sending him to the hospital where he lost one kidney and
nearly his life. It turned out that Jones had been romantically involved with
Wilson, who at the time was going out with Harlean Harris, while still married
to his wife Freda back in Detroit. Concerned that such a scandal would destroy
Wilson's career, Tarnopol persuaded the New York detectives and press that Wilson
was shot while trying to prevent a distraught fan from committing suicide.
 
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Little Richard - Try some of mine
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