Pete Bennett with four of the Jackson 5

As a promoter, Pete Bennett has worked with some of the biggest names in the entertainment world. When you speak with him on the phone, he likes to make a few things known.

“You gotta understand my position, you know?” he says. “I’m comin’ to Buffalo. And I did a lot of things in Buffalo, for a long time. I started two promoters years ago. If it wasn’t for me they never would have been anything in Buffalo. Harvey [Weinstein, who went on to form Miramax Films] and Corky. If it wasn’t for me they never could’ve gotten in the door. I gave them the Grateful Dead at Memorial Auditorium. Then I had the Who, then I had Frank Sinatra. I was managing Bob Hope too, at the same time. Beverly Johnson, the model, she’s from Buffalo and I got her started. And of course I handled the Beatles for years, and the Beatles individually, and of course the Rolling Stones. Besides, I had Don Rickles at Kleinhans. I like Buffalo, and Niagara Falls. I might buy some property in Niagara Falls because I really think it’s gonna be something in years to come.”

As his story unfolded, I began to feel the same kind of apprehension I get when I’m in the presence of a magnificent liar. But Bennett’s narrative is peppered with the kind of small details that make it believable and ultimately fascinating.

“People in Buffalo oughta be happy that someone like me is coming in and taking the time—whatever it is—to emcee this show. And we’re filming it for a TV pilot.” He’s now talking about the upcoming New Rascals and the Hollies show at the Riviera Theater on May 25 & 26. “And we want to pick a good local group to have them open up in the theater and give them a break like that. And if they’re that good maybe I’ll record them—if they’re that good. We’ve had like maybe 70 or 80 submissions so far and there are maybe one or two so far.”

Given Bennett’s experience as a record promoter, I asked him about payola. “I’ve never been involved in payola,” was his reply. How then, did he compete with other promoters and radio stations that did participate in pay-for-play type schemes? “Okay, I’m gonna give it to ya. I was a famous drummer when I was about 15 years old. I played with the Tommy Dorsey Band. So what I’m getting at is a lot of times working with bands and musicians—a lot of times they got jobs as radio personalities and also top program directors at various stations around the country. They got jobs. So I had all these contacts, but I didn’t know how important the contacts were. Put it this way: I broke Motown records. I made Motown when it was nothing, but I enhanced it with Stevie Wonder, the Marvellettes, ‘Please Mr. Postman’, ‘Fingertips.’

“So then a gentleman named Nat King Cole comes to me, and I broke him back on the charts. ‘Ramblin’ Rose,’ ‘Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer.’ So, put this in your head, now: I was the first national promotion man in the industry. I was in New York, but I was big in Chicago, I was big in LA, I was big in San Francisco, big in Baltimore—I had friends all over the country.

“So then about ’63 I get calls from producers in London and they want me to handle these groups called the Animals, Herman’s Hermits, the Who. Then I get the Stones—and no one has ever heard of them. I was the sole promoter that really broke them in America. Dave Clark Five, Chad & Jeremy, all the major groups of the British Invasion.”

Pete Bennett shares a handshake and a smile with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger

Bennett goes on to tell about one afternoon in New York City, all those years ago, when he brought the Rolling Stones to the dugout in Shea Stadium to see the Beatles. This meeting, and a subsequent recommendation from Mick Jagger to Paul McCartney, would lead to Bennett’s involvement with Apple Records a few years down the line, following the death of Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

“Of course the Beatles wanted the same promoter as the Stones to be their man. So me and this guy Alan Klein to manage or whatever. And then Paul didn’t want him. There was a big scuffle at the time. But now I wind up being the head of Apple Records. And I took it from where it was nearly bankrupt, to the top. So ’67, ’68, ’69, towards the end, when we bust the big Abbey Road album—then I start handling the Beatles individually. And I busted John Lennon big with ‘Give Peace a Chance,’ ‘Cold Turkey,’ ‘Instant Karma’—and of course we had a big one with ‘Imagine.’ I was the one who told John to record ‘Imagine’ because he was right in front of me when he wrote it. And I said, ‘We gotta put it out’ and he said, ‘Do you think it’s a hit?’ And I said, ‘John, we gotta put it out.’”

“Meanwhile I’m working the Stones and the Beatles in ’69 and then I work with Elvis Presley, who’s a friend of mine, and I broke a huge song of his ‘Suspicious Minds’ all the way to number one.”

There is talk of turning Bennett’s life into a movie by Paramount Pictures. If this comes about, one of the biggest challenges will be what to edit out, since the stories and the names keep coming out at a breakneck pace. Without realizing it, I found myself enthralled listening to his account of the Concert for Bangladesh.

“I put that together with George Harrison. If it wasn’t for me, Bob Dylan wouldn’t have been there. I saved Eric Clapton’s life there, too. See that’s a big story. What happened is the day of the concert I was up at the hotel and he was spaced out in his room with his girlfriend. Bob Dylan and I went up there and got security and Clapton was stretched out on the bed. And right away I got a doctor that we knew that lived down the block. He came down immediately and I got him tickets for the concert, thank God, for his grandchildren. And he gave him a shot of methadone. And if you look at the film, you’ll see that Clapton’s on cloud nine a little bit.”

As you walk away from a conversation with Pete Bennett, your head swims with all these images of entertainment royalty cast in a remarkably human light. It’s fun, and you want to believe that he really has connections everywhere. As I wondered if this was really the case, a high-ranking employee at the Church of Scientology walked into the Artvoice office and asked: “Who’s writing the story on Pete Bennett?”

If you’re interested in reading more of the exploits that made Pete Bennett Billboard magazine’s number one promotions man, or if you think your band has what it takes to benefit from his magic, visit petebennett.com and petebennettshow.com.