From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Feb 10, 2003  8:39 pm
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Wesley Rose

WESLEY ROSE

Born Wesley Herman Rose, 11 February 1918, Chicago, Illinois
Died 26 April 1990, Nashville, Tennessee

Wesley Rose was the son of Fred Rose (1898-1954), founder (with Roy
Acuff, in 1942) of Acuff-Rose Publications, Nashville's first major country
publishing house. Although he was not initially inclined toward country
music, Wesley ascended through his field to become one of the world's
top music publishing executives. He received his degree in accounting 
from Chicago's Walton School of Commerce and was working as an
accountant with Standard Oil, when his father invited him to join Acuff-Rose
in 1945. The reluctant young man accepted, on the condition that he
become general manager, handling most of the business functions of
the firm. This freed the elder Rose, a talented songwriter and song editor,
to focus on the creative side of the company. Father and son made a good
team, especially in promoting the songs and recordings of Hank Williams
in the country market from 1946 to Williams's death in 1953. The Roses
also scored hit after hit with pop covers of Williams's songs, and Wesley
continued to make the Williams catalogue one of the most valuable in
popular music after Fred Rose died in 1954. After 1954 Wesley served as
president of Acuff-Rose, Milene Music (Acuff-Rose's companion ASCAP
company), Hickory Records, and, beginning in 1959, Acuff-Rose Artists
Corporation. Continuing in his father's footsteps, he also served as an
independent producer for MGM, Warner Brothers, and other labels.
Although Rose played important roles in the careers of the Everly Brothers,
Roy Orbison, Sue Thompson and other acts, his primary role was to 
promote songs by Acuff-Rose songwriters, including not only the Everlys
and Orbison, but also Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, Marty Robbins, Don
Gibson and John D. Loudermilk. After the Everly Brothers moved from
Cadence to Warner Bros, Rose was trying to build a provision into the
contract ensuring that every song on every single was published by Acuff-
Rose. This led to a squabble with the Everlys after their recording of Little
Richard's "Lucille" and especially after "Temptation", which Rose didn't
want to release because his company didn't own the publishing. Don and
Phil dismissed Rose as their personal manager. Wesley responded by 
denying the Everlys access to Acuff-Rose's writers, in particular Boudleaux
and Felice Bryant. This definitely hurt the career of the Everly Brothers.

Wesley always believed that whatever was good for country music was 
also good for Acuff-Rose. As a result, he became an active ambassador
for the Nashville music industry, co-founding the powerful Country Music
Association and he was also the first Nashville music person to serve on
the national ASCAP board.

By 1985, Roy Acuff and Wesley Rose were ready to pass the responsibility 
of carrying the Acuff-Rose torch to a new generation, and they approached
Opryland USA, owners of the Grand Ole Opry, with an offer to acquire their
treasury of over twenty thousand copyrights. The offer was immediately
accepted. Acuff-Rose, the company which was birthed on the Opry stage,
had finally come home.

In 1986 (also the year that Wesley was elected to the Country Music Hall
of Fame), the management responsibilities were handed over to veteran music
executive Jerry Bradley, and three years later the Opryland Music Group
moved to an elegant new building at 65 Music Square West, which, not
coincidentally, incorporates a number of architectural cues from the Opry's
famous home, the Ryman Auditorium. Today, Acuff-Rose is enjoying a 
new-found vitality, driven by an aggressive marketing staff that would have
made Fred Rose smile with satisfaction.