Jack Rieley

John Frank Rieley III (November 24, 1942 – April 17, 2015)[1] was an American record producer.[2] He was the manager of the Beach Boys during the early 1970s, and is credited with guiding them back to acclaim.[3] He would also sometimes act as a co-songwriter with the rest of the band, usually penning lyrics.[4][5]

Jack Rieley
Birth name	John Frank Rieley III
Born	(1942-11-24)November 24, 1942 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Died	April 17, 2015(2015-04-17) (aged 72) Berlin, Germany
Occupation(s)	Disc jockey, record producer, Entrepreneur
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1960s–2015
Associated acts	Beach Boys, Jaye Muller (aka J., aka Count Jaye), Kool and the Gang, Ride

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,[6] he was described by New Statesman as "a radio DJ turned career mentor."[7] Although there are many books and articles about the Beach Boys, Rieley was rarely interviewed before November 2007 when he was interviewed by Flasher.com in relation to the documentary Dennis Wilson Forever.[8] The first seems to have been in summer 1982, for the UK fanzine Beach Boys Stomp.

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys met Rieley, while promoting their album Sunflower, and hired him as their manager.[9] He wrote and co-wrote lyrics to several of the Beach Boys songs[10] including "Long Promised Road", "Feel Flows", "Sail On, Sailor", "Funky Pretty" and "The Trader". He sang lead vocal on "A Day in the Life of a Tree". He also narrated the bonus disc for the Holland album: "Mt. Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)".

According to Mark Holbcom, Rieley convinced the band to move their families and studio to Amsterdam for eight months in 1972 to record their album Holland, costing Warner and the Beach Boys a small fortune to produce. Rieley quit his job as manager of the group after their return to the US.[9]

Other work

He worked with Kool and the Gang.[2]

In 1975, Rieley released a solo album, Western Justice: recorded in the Netherlands in collaboration with Machiel Botman, it dealt with the treatment of the old world powers by the newly emerging third world in the context of a global weather crisis. Rieley took the lead vocal on three songs, including the title track.[11]

In the 1990s Rieley collaborated with several artists including Mark Gardener of the UK group Ride as well as with Jaye Muller and Ben Patton of the writing/production team Muller and Patton.

Rieley co-founded the company JFAX Personal Telecom Inc. (now j2 Global, NASDAQ: JCOM) in 1995 together with Jaye Muller.[12]

Death

Rieley died on April 17, 2015 while residing in Berlin, Germany.[13][1]

References

1. AllMusic Artist page for Jack Rieley.
2. Washington Post, Jan 17 1993, online edition (needs signup)
3. Jack Rieley Breaks Silence on Beach Boys in Flasher.com Interview: Interview, PRNewswire, Nov 2, 2007.
4. OVERSEAS: USA: Looking for a New England; The open spaces of Vermont attract Americans and foreign buyers alike: The Independent, May 25, 2005, discusses "the Beach Boys' former manager and song-writer Jack Rieley"
5. Bacon, Tony; Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio. San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books. p. 6. ISBN 0-87930-818-4.
6. "A Beach Boys Timeline 1917-2009". Archived from the original on 2012-06-30.
7. "New Statesman - Washed-up". Retrieved 2007-12-30.
8. "[Jack Rieley on Dennis Wilson]". Retrieved 2007-12-30.
9. Mark Holcomb. The Beach Boys (Rock & Roll Hall of Famers) (Chapter: The Rieley Factor). New York: Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 77–81. ISBN 0-8239-3643-0.
10. Carlin, Peter. Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Emmaus, Pa: Rodale Books. p. 182. ISBN 1-59486-320-2.
11. Understanding rock: essays in musical analysis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. 1997. p. 52. ISBN 0-19-510005-0.
12. Schlender, Brent (7 July 1997). "Cool Companies these Days". Fortune.
13. "Jack Rieley has passed..."

Further reading

• Gaines, Steven S. Heroes and Villains. Dutton Adult. ISBN 0-453-00519-5.