Every red-blooded male in rock & roll wanted to get closer to MARYANN – me included. I however limited our rapport to a "strictly business" relationship, knowing that ANTHONY FRAGNITO, the bass player, was very much in love with MARYANN. Some serious friction did occur while BLACKLACE were recording their second album “GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT” in London, and GARY BARDEN, who at that time was the lead-vocalist with the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, did get somewhat closer to MARYANN than ANTHONY habitually tolerated. For a while I had my mind set on recording a duet with MARYANN and GARY BARDEN. I wanted to record a heavy-metal-ballad version of a song called "JUNKMAN" which I had discovered on a GENYA RAVAN album, on which she duets with IAN HUNTER. For some reason we never got around to it though.

DAVID MOFFITT is also one of the funniest men I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, specializing in a deadpan delivery of outrageously witty jokes. In those days we also shared a passion for “MOONLIGHTING”, an 80’s television series which was the vehicle that transported BRUCE WILLIS to the gates of stardom, and also featured CYBILL SHEPERD. We both enjoyed the program so much that we used to call each other every Monday night, after the show had aired on BBC Television, reliving some of the more hilarious moments. Only once in twenty years did DAVID and I briefly fall out. This ensued when STONNE HOLMGREN lured DAVID away from MAUSOLEUM, convincing him to work together at the appropriately titled AMBUSH RECORDS – but more about that later.

For a couple of years AXEL THUBEAUVILLE was another essential player in the A&R activities of MAUSOLEUM. Don’t be fooled by the name – the guy is as German as they come, and if he would be any less flexible he would break. AXEL not only possessed a great pair of ears but also an ego-driven stubborn streak, which after a while caused him to clash with most people – including me. When we first got acquainted he was still publishing a financially struggling rock magazine in Germany, an offshoot of AARDSCHOK, the Dutch heavy metal bible.

The good news was that thanks to the rag he also knew every talented band in the country, and so in 1984 we signed WARLOCK, an exciting young band from the Düsseldorf area, fronted by the blonde and beautiful DORO. AXEL produced their exhilarating debut album BURNING THE WITCHES; a record that would go down in history as one of MAUSOLEUM’S all time biggest sellers, and would also kick start their notable international career, and ultimately land them a contract with PolyGram, one of the major record companies (now known as UNIVERSAL). Before the recording was finished though artist and producer had already locked horns and the band insisted on the album being remixed by engineer RALF HUBERT, as well as AXEL’S name to be taken of the credits. I don’t think they ever spoke again. In spite of his thorny personality AXEL signed and produced STEELER and LIVING DEATH for MAUSOLEUM, two more bands with whom we were very successful, so at the end of the day we forgave him for also bringing us not-so-hot acts such as ATLAIN, BRAIN FEVER and FACT. Later THUBEAUVILLE formed his own SHARK RECORDS label and proved that his earlier successes were no accidents by regularly signing truly great bands such as VIRGIN STEELE, CHANNEL ZERO, MASSACRA, SEPULTURA, STRATOVARIUS, and more recently AT VANCE. We stayed friends, mainly because in recent years I managed to avoid doing business with him.

1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7