S.D. Children’s Hospital, Producer Part Ways on Fund-Raising Album

A falling out between the producer and the beneficiary of last year’s “The Stars Come Out for Christmas” album has resulted in each party forging ahead with separate benefit Christmas album projects for this year.

Steve Vaus, who produced the 1989 album, and the Children’s Hospital and Health Center, a nonprofit San Diego health-care facility that netted upward of $160,000 from its sales, both sides say, have parted ways after failing to resolve a protracted dispute over money and artistic control.

So now, they’re working independently--although the game plan is the same: Both albums, like the first, will be compilations of Christmas tunes sung by big-name pop, rock, and country acts. They’ll be sold primarily via mail-order during the coming holiday season, and all proceeds will go to charity.

The decision to sever ties with Vaus and find another producer was based on a “a whole variety of reasons,” said Stuart C. Turgel, senior vice president and executive director of the Children’s Hospital Foundation of San Diego. The primary one, he said, was Vaus’ insistence on a $250,000 “production fee” for this year’s album, substantially more than the $16,000 he charged last year, when the album was a local effort. This year, Turgel wants to expand marketing drastically and take it national.

“We don’t believe an individual should enjoy financial gain, if you will, from this work,” Turgel said. “The original idea was that all proceeds would go to the hospital.”

Vaus, however, said his request for more money was prompted by necessity rather than greed.

“Let me shed a little light on that figure,” he said. “The amount was to cover air transportation, lodging, and food for all the artists; roughly 1,000 hours of studio time; designing and printing the graphics; mastering and sequencing the tapes, and then promoting the album to 10,000 radio stations around the country.

“I’m not an independently wealthy person; I’ve got an operation to run and a staff to pay. And this year, we were talking about a significantly different animal, because it’s no longer just a local project, it’s a national project. It would have taken a whole year, from start to finish, and we would have had to bypass all our customary business, which generates well in excess of $250,000 in that same period.”

Another reason for dumping Vaus, Turgel said, was the producer’s demand for complete artistic control.

“We wanted a project that would represent Children’s Hospital in the most appropriate way,” he said, “and not having the ability to approve or disapprove certain artists, certain songs, was very problematic for us.”

Said Vaus: “I’m in the business of music, they’re in the business of fund raising, and it’s difficult sometimes when the artistic world and the fund-raising world have to come together because you get people trying to do each other’s jobs and it simply doesn’t work.”

In any case, Turgel said, “it became clear to us that we wanted to find somebody else to work with us,” and that “somebody else’ turned out to be Lloyd, who was not only willing to work for free, but didn’t mind giving hospital officials final say as to what tunes would appear on the album.”

Vaus took the news well.

“I agreed with him, telling him it sounded like a heck of a deal,” Vaus said. “Still, I was disappointed, because we had had such success with last year’s project and we had grand plans of working together again this year to raise a significant amount of money for many hospitals around the country.”

“(But) I knew there were a number of other charities out there that were very interested in having me produce a second ‘The Stars Come Out For Christmas’ album with them as the beneficiary. So it wasn’t as though all was lost.”

To replace Vaus, Children’s Hospital has enlisted the services of veteran producer Michael Lloyd--best known for his work with such 1970s artists as the Osmonds, Shaun Cassidy and Leif Garrett--to produce their album, which will include contributions from Wayne Newton, Andy Williams, Bobby Vinton and Air Supply.

Unlike last year, the album will be marketed nationally, not just locally, through the Children’s Miracle Network, an association of more than 165 non-profit hospitals for children throughout North America. Turgel predicts sales of more than 500,000--as opposed to 22,000 last year--and revenues in excess of $4.5 million.

“If you consider that last year, we sold more than 20,000 units just in San Diego, then sales of half a million or more, all over the country, is a very appropriate number,” Turgel said. “Even if the other hospitals sell half the volume we did in their respective cities, it won’t take long before the numbers start to roll, before they get very large, very quickly.”

Meanwhile, Vaus is busy working on “The Stars Come Out for Christmas 1990,” which will benefit an undisclosed local charity and also be marketed nationally. The charity will purchase the entire stock at 50 to 60 cents per tape over the manufacturer’s cost, Vaus said. The extra money will cover Vaus’ expenses, including salary for him and his staff.

He already has firm commitments from 15 artists, including Kenny Rankin, Kathy Mattea, and returnees Kenny Loggins, Juice Newton, Kim Carnes and Karla Bonoff.

“This year, we’re in the enviable position of having to turn away artists,” Vaus said. “I’ve been working on this project all year, and in my mind, even though the beneficiary has changed, the album is the same--recruiting acts is so much easier because I’ve done it before.”