Album flashback

Alannah Myles - Black Velvet [2007]

Breaking format here, as I wanted to dig deeper into the Alannah Myles story. For Part One, please follow the link below.

Here in part two, I will present an unbelievable timeline between a debut artist’s incredible success and the revenue generated, the unsavoury legal wrangling, and finally, the vindication of terminating a terrible contract 36 years later.

Even if you’re not Canadian, you are likely aware of Myles’ career. In fact unlike many of our artists she did quite well in the key US market - notching a Grammy and a Billboard #1. Black Velvet was a phenomenon.

But…

As we have learned from A Tribe Called Quest,

Industry rule number four-thousand-and-eighty
Record company people are shady

How shady?

The estimated revenue generated by Myles’ first three albums is between $160-170 million. Advances out of her end totalled $7m, which she was personally on the hook for. And her share of royalties was smaller as she started out not writing many of her tunes - notably the behemoth, Black Velvet.

One strategy was to write more on each subsequent album - starting with one track on her debut, then three on Rockinghorse, and finally nine on A-Lan-Nah.

Despite this clever strategy it was not until 2008 that she was in the black, receiving a cheque reported to be a little more than $5,100.

With the help of Police manager Miles Copeland, Myles broke free of her 8-record deal in 1997. But despite her high-powered help, the label had one last dagger - a 12-year block on her ability to re-record Black Velvet.

Which brings us to the record we are discussing. According to Myles she was in the studio “12 years and 13 minutes” after the restriction clause expired. Gathering many of the folks that she recorded with in 1988/89, she finally had a version of her massive hit that she could call her own.

Black Velvet re-recording

While Black Velvet the LP was released independently, the next phase of the reclamation came after Alannah started her own label - Fascinate Inc.

Released in 2014, the record 85 BPM contains a number of other re-records and several versions of Black Velvet, of course - featuring fellow CanCon luminaries Jeff Healey and Sass Jordan.

Black Velvet (Terry Brown remix) - 2014

Black Velvet (Veronica Ferraro Remix) - 2014

Believe it or not, it was just recently in 2024 that this saga finally closed, with the final expiry and termination of the label’s rights to anything regarding Myles’ debut album.

Alannah is still performing, though she’s suffering from a chronic back issue that often sees her perform seated. Thankfully, her voice and her spirit are still in fine shape!

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