We all know that moment in a romantic comedy. The main characters have a fight and a montage of them looking gloomy and depressed in the window or doing mundane things on their own and generally, it’s raining. A few weeks have passed, and they catch each other across the room. Then the big musical chorus chimes and the main protagonists run into each other arms. As their eyes gaze into each other you hear “I can’t live, living here without you” and all live happily ever after.
Okay maybe I have watched too much television during the various lockdowns over the past year, but the history of the song that was mentioned “Without You” has an interesting story. Although made famous by one singer it was a deep cut by another band altogether. The song was so good that it has been covered over 180 times and reached the top of the charts twice by two different artists. 22 years apart. This week The Beat Marches On to 19th February 1972 and 1994 when in the USA Harry Nilsson and in the UK, Mariah Carey topped the charts with “Without You”
The original composers of the song were Pete Ham and Tom Evans founding member of the band Badfinger. They were the first non-Beatles band to sign to the Fab Four’s record label Apple. “Without You” was buried in the middle of the third album “No Dice” however, no one at the label saw the potential of the song and the band thought nothing of it and carried on touring.
Badfinger was formed in the early 1960s as The Iveys in Swansea, Wales. They supported a few of the British invasion bands throughout the decade and on one of these occasions, the Beatles roadie/assistant Mal Evans was in attendance.
Evans grabbed a demo tape of the band after seeing the band and gave it to the Fab Four to listen to. The Beatles signed them to their newly formed record label Apple Records in 1968. The band struggled to have a breakout single with their debut album. They kept producing songs for the label and they were getting rejected.
The band who had now changed their name to Badfinger had a little help from their friends on the label. Paul McCartney gave them a song to record. The song “Come and Get It” gave the band the hit that was desperately needed. It was a top-ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
The band went on to tour America for the first time in 1970. It was a lukewarm reception attendance-wise but because of their relationship to the Beatles, they were constantly compared to the band and were dubbed the next Beatles.
To help them in America manager Bill Collins made a deal with a dodgy businessman Stan Polley. This was the first nail in the coffin for the band even if it didn’t look it from the outside. Polley created Badfinger Enterprises Incorporated which received all of the band’s earnings and put it all in one place under the control of Polley. This was the first of shady deals that he did while managing the band.
Over the next couple of years, things seemed to be fine for the band. They were releasing albums and constantly touring throughout. George Harrison took the band under his wing and some members featured on Harrisons solo singles and the concert for Bangladesh. They released the critically acclaimed “No Dice” in 1970 with the hit single “No Matter What” which was only supposed to be a filler song. The album also included the song “Without You” which wasn’t considered to be single material.
By 1972 trouble was starting with Apple records being in financial disarray. The band complained in 1971 that there wasn’t anyone to talk to at the label about the making of their follow-up album “Straight Up”. Whilst touring the album the Apple label manager, Derek Taylor left, and The Beatles were only speaking to each other through their lawyers the label disbanded.
Polley needed to get the band onto a new label to protect his money-making machine. Upon the disbanding of Apple Records, he started to discuss a new deal with Warner Brothers. The deal was good for Polley and bad for the band. Having to produce an album every six months over the next three years. People within Badfinger Enterprises told the band not to sign the deal and bass player Tom Evans was starting to get suspicious.
Despite their suspicions, the band did sign the deal. Warner gave Polley a $250,000 advance for the making of the next album with the condition that both record label and band could access it. However, there was no existence of any deposit made. It looked like Polley took the money and ran.
It wasn’t until 1974 that the band started to get wind of the dodgy dealings of their manager. Lawsuits started coming in left, right and centre against the band, Badfinger Enterprises, and the manager. By April 1975 the band had run out of money and had no access to the money earned in America. After just buying a house and having a young family to raise guitarist and co-songwriter Pete Ham found it all too much and committed suicide in his studio garage. He was 27. In the note he left he called Polley a “soulless bastard”
After a three-year hiatus, the band tried to carry on but struggled to do so. Multiple fresh starts throughout the late seventies to try and get back to the heights of the early Apple days failed to revive the band. Lawsuits still kept coming in against the band and in 1983 they had one last disastrous US tour where arguments on stage were a common part of the setlist.
Upon the return from the US tour co-songwriter and bass player Tom Evans hung himself following a big argument with fellow band member, Joey Molland. The band just had a $ 5 million lawsuit slapped on them and still hasn’t seen any royalties from the song “Without You” even though at this point not only Nilsson had covered it but more charting versions were being released.
Already having a hit with “Everybody’s Talking” and recording an album with future Disney-Pixar composer Randy Newman, Nilsson went to London to record some new singles. Three were recorded during his stay which all became huge hits; “Jump into the Fire”, “Coconut” and “Without You”
When Harry Nilsson first heard the song, he thought that it was originally a Beatles song. With Badfinger’s history with the Beatles, you could see why he would think so. He heard the song at a friend’s house and liked the song so much he decided to record his version of the song.
To make the cover different to the original Nilsson gave the song more of an orchestral sound rather than the bluesy tones of Badfinger. He sang the first line of the chorus in a lower tone to build up to the next part. Although the song is shorter it sounds like it’s sung at a slower pace. The performance that was claimed by the recording engineer that it was recorded in one take earned Nilsson a Grammy award. It earned songwriters Evans and Ham an Ivor Novello award in 1972.
When Nilsson died in January 1994 Mariah Carey released a version as a double A-side with “Never Forget You” It gave the singer her first UK number one. She decided to record it when she heard it in a restaurant and based it on the recording made by Harry Nilsson.
Badfinger didn’t see any of the royalties from “Without You” whether it was Nilsson’s version, Mariah’s or any of the 180 other versions subsequently recorded. The lawsuits and the amount of money that was stolen by Stan Polley meant that it was gone before they saw it. It’s not the first time a band has been screwed by a manager and won’t be the last.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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The websites used for research were:
Badfinger: bad breaks, dumb luck and sheer tragedy | Louder (loudersound.com)
The Story of Badfinger And Their Supposed To Be Success | Society Of Rock
Also, a video on YouTube:
Badfinger documentary (Week In Week Out, BBC Wales 1987) – YouTube
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