Stan Polley
Encyclopedia
Stanley Herbert Polley was an entertainment manager from the 1960s and 1970s. His clients included rock band Badfinger
, musician Al Kooper
, singer Lou Christie
, singer-producer Hank Medress
, arranger Charles Calello, composer Sandy Linzer, WABC disc jockey Bob Lewis, among others.
Polley served in the U.S. Army before beginning his managerial career in New York's garment industry. He began artist management after he met Christie in the mid 1960s. It was through his association with Christie that he met and began working with other artists in the New York and Los Angeles entertainment fields. It was around 1968 that Polley first formed a company called Five Arts Management, that included Christie, Kooper, Calello, Linzer and Lewis. He formed new companies to house future artists he secured, including composers Irwin Levine and Larry Brown. In 1970, Polley formed a company called Badfinger Enterprises, Inc. as a management arm for the British rock group Badfinger, which had no American representation at the time.
According to The New York Times, Polley was named during Senate-investigation hearings in 1971 as an intermediary between unnamed crime figures and a New York Supreme Court judge. Most of Polley's American clients said they were already suspicious of their manager by this point, but the publicity of the hearings convinced several to sever ties with him.
In 1972, Polley negotiated a record contract with Warner Bros. Records
for Badfinger, which called for advances to be paid into an escrow account. In 1974, Warner's publishing division filed a lawsuit against Polley when it was unsuccessful in locating the funds. The legal morass crippled Badfinger financially; band leader Pete Ham committed suicide in 1975 leaving behind a note pointing the finger at Polley for his financial ruin.
In 1991, Polley pleaded no contest to charges of misappropriating funds and money laundering in Riverside County, California. Aeronautics engineer Peter Brock accused Polley of swindling him for US$250,000 after the two set up a corporation to manufacture airplane engines. Polley was placed on probation for five years and ordered by the court to return all missing funds to Brock, although the complainant said the restitution never materialized.
Badfinger
Badfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
, musician Al Kooper
Al Kooper
Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears , providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to...
, singer Lou Christie
Lou Christie
Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco , known professionally as Lou Christie, is an American singer-songwriter best known for three separate strings of pop hits in the 1960s , including his 1966 smash, "Lightnin' Strikes" and his incredible 3 octave vocal range.-Biography:Sacco was born in Glenwillard,...
, singer-producer Hank Medress
Hank Medress
-Biography:Medress was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School, where in 1955 he joined a doo-wop group called the Linc-Tones, which also included Neil Sedaka. After Sedaka's departure, the group reformed with additional singers as The Tokens...
, arranger Charles Calello, composer Sandy Linzer, WABC disc jockey Bob Lewis, among others.
Polley served in the U.S. Army before beginning his managerial career in New York's garment industry. He began artist management after he met Christie in the mid 1960s. It was through his association with Christie that he met and began working with other artists in the New York and Los Angeles entertainment fields. It was around 1968 that Polley first formed a company called Five Arts Management, that included Christie, Kooper, Calello, Linzer and Lewis. He formed new companies to house future artists he secured, including composers Irwin Levine and Larry Brown. In 1970, Polley formed a company called Badfinger Enterprises, Inc. as a management arm for the British rock group Badfinger, which had no American representation at the time.
According to The New York Times, Polley was named during Senate-investigation hearings in 1971 as an intermediary between unnamed crime figures and a New York Supreme Court judge. Most of Polley's American clients said they were already suspicious of their manager by this point, but the publicity of the hearings convinced several to sever ties with him.
In 1972, Polley negotiated a record contract with Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
for Badfinger, which called for advances to be paid into an escrow account. In 1974, Warner's publishing division filed a lawsuit against Polley when it was unsuccessful in locating the funds. The legal morass crippled Badfinger financially; band leader Pete Ham committed suicide in 1975 leaving behind a note pointing the finger at Polley for his financial ruin.
In 1991, Polley pleaded no contest to charges of misappropriating funds and money laundering in Riverside County, California. Aeronautics engineer Peter Brock accused Polley of swindling him for US$250,000 after the two set up a corporation to manufacture airplane engines. Polley was placed on probation for five years and ordered by the court to return all missing funds to Brock, although the complainant said the restitution never materialized.