I was a consultant to Dick Asher at CBS (now Sony) and had a meeting with Al Teller - the President of Columbia (and the one who said "pretty girl; can't sing" about Whitney Houston when I organised an audition for her with his label)... I was trying to persuade him to work WHAM in the USA - they were becoming popular in the UK. He said "OK, I promise I'll make them a top priority if you'll guarantee me the UK company will break this in Britain" and played me Fight For Your Right To Party.

I was delighted - it was such an obvious hit - so I promised; it became huge in the UK and Al, true to his word, broke the ghastly WHAM and the awful George Michael in America.

RIP MCA.

Not wishing to shift the topic but:

"the awful George Michael"

Totally true, though few in the business or radio would agree.

One doesn't/didn't fuck with Al Teller.

He's still got more on the ball than most people heading major labels. (Him and Walter to this day)

You've got to write a book JK!

It's all in 65 My Life So Far GG!