AND FROM OUR “BELIEVE IT OR NOT”...

AND FROM OUR “BELIEVE IT OR NOT” DEPT.: What’s the best thing a pop star can do to help sell records? Easy--die. According to the execs at MSG Advertising, a New York-based direct response ad agency and merchandiser, sales of the firm’s Liberace 40th Anniversary record collection are expected to skyrocket after the entertainer’s recent demise. In fact, most recently-deceased pop figures have enjoyed similar sales boosts. “We had the Beach Boys when Dennis Wilson went into the drink,” MSG media director June Keane told Advertising Age columnist Bob Garfield last week. “Before that nobody would touch the Beach Boys.” But after Wilson’s drowning death, Keane said the Beach Boys compilation went gold.

Keane added: “We did Ricky Nelson. He was no good when he was alive. He went (in a fiery plane crash) on a Sunday. We had him on stations Tuesday or Wednesday. (Sold) like crazy.” As far as other celebrity deaths went, Keane said: “You never know what’s gonna work. Bing Crosby didn’t do that well. Jimmy Durante didn’t do that well. The first big death was Elvis. Elvis was humongous .”