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Savoy Delivers the Gospel

Joe McEwen, Rolling Stone, 21 September 1978

ELIZABETH, N.J. — Fred Mendelsohn likes to tell a story. "I was at an Arista convention in New Orleans," he says, inching forward in his black swivel chair. "At one of the meetings, Clive [Davis, Arista president] asked me to get up and speak a few words about Savoy [an Arista subsidiary] gospel. I started to give a little pitch, when I heard snickers in the room. These guys, Arista people, were making fun of us. Clive turned to them and said, 'The next James Cleveland album on Savoy will sell twice as much as that rock record you're so hot on, and at half the budget.' Let me tell you, there weren't any more snickers."

Total word count of piece: 930

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