Mike Appel was Bruce Springsteen's first manager and producer, and is probably most remembered for his part in a contract dispute that kept Springsteen from recording for quite a while after Born to Run had made the singer a superstar. Primarily for this reason, and also for some others, Appel has been painted as a bad guy by some Springsteen fans and historians, or an obstacle that had to be removed as the performer grew commercially and artistically. However, it can't be denied that Appel did a great deal for Springsteen in his early career, when not many people were predicting superstardom for his act and throwing much weight behind the singer. Appel also had a more extensive background in music production and music business than might be supposed by some of his portrayals in the media.

Appel actually started in music in the late '50s as a performer, playing guitar on little-known records by the groups the Humbugs and the Camelots, in addition to backing other artists. By the mid-'60s he was involved in the business on several levels, writing songs for publishers, producing Michael St. Shaw, and playing with Tex and the Chex, an interracial New York group that also included Alan Gordon (who would record with the group the Magicians, and become half of the successful Gordon-Bonner songwriting team, most famous for the Turtles' Happy Together). He was also part of the Balloon Farm and co-wrote their 1967 Top 40 bubblegum-garage-psychedelic hit A Question of Temperature. In the late '60s and the early '70s, he continued to work as a songwriter and producer, producing and co-writing for the hard rock band Sir Lord Baltimore.

Was Appel a natural fit for a struggling New Jersey singer/songwriter forming an earthy style with elements of Bob Dylan, bar-band roots rock, and classic R&B/pop/soul forms? No, he was not. But he knew Carl Virgil Tinker West, who had managed Steel Mill, a band in which Springsteen was a member. West sent Springsteen to Appel's office, and Springsteen, label-less and unknown, was at this time desperate for inroads into the record business. Appel auditioned Springsteen in late 1971 and told him to come back when he had more songs. When Springsteen did come back with more songs in early 1972, Appel, to his credit, recognized blooming talent and enthusiastically entered into a management/production deal with the performer. Shortly after that, he had the nerve to bulldoze his way into an appointment with venerated Columbia talent scout John Hammond. And Hammond, to his credit, immediately worked on signing Springsteen to Columbia solely on the basis of Sprinsteen's singing solo acoustic material in Hammond's office -- the appointment that Appel had setup.

Appel produced Springsteen's first two albums, and stuck with the artist through the first couple of years of his recording career, when his records weren't selling well and there was some doubt as to whether Columbia would keep him on its roster. One thing he did to help get Springsteen airplay was to give an advance tape of the Born to Run song to key FM radio DJs in a few markets that were especially supportive of the singer. This explains why, if you talk to many fans in Philadelphia and Cleveland, they will remember Born to Run getting a great deal of airplay in 1974, starting about a year and a half before the song was officially released. While this irritated Columbia to some degree as it built demand for a single and album that did not exist, at the same time it made them harder to dump an artist that was getting such solid grass-roots support.

Translating his music into studio albums has often been a laborious process for Springsteen, and it was felt by many that his first two LPs did not fully convey the power of his songs. His breakthrough smash album Born to Run would be a drawn-out affair, the production ultimately credited to three people: Appel, Springsteen, and Jon Landau, the last of whom was then known primarily as a rock critic. Landau had given one of Springsteen's live shows one of the most famous reviews ever, declaring the performer to be nothing less than rock & roll's future. Springsteen and Landau became increasingly close friends, and in the process of drawing him into the album's production, also began a relationship that would see Landau eventually take over Springsteen's management.

Although Born to Run made Springsteen a superstar in late 1975, relations between him and Appel were deteriorating. Appel's management style has sometimes been described as abrasive, and some have speculated that Springsteen had outgrown him and needed a different approach. However, much of the rift was due to the increasing closeness between Springsteen and Landau, with Landau taking a greater role not just in Springsteen's production, but also his general affairs. In mid-1976, Springsteen sued Appel, who would not permit the artist's next album to be produced by Landau; Appel countersued. As a result of the suits, Springsteen was prevented from recording for nearly a year. In mid-1977, though, an out-of-court settlement ended the dispute, with Appel getting nearly one million dollars, and also retaining some royalties and publishing from Springsteen's first albums. Of course, in the big scheme Appel lost big, since by this time Landau was acting as Springsteen's manager. Appel also sold back his publishing and royalty rights to Springsteen in 1983 and 1984, a decision Appel would regret, since it was right before Born in the USA's mega-success which greatly increased the value of Springsteen's catalog.

Appel was not too visible or successful in the entertainment industry after splitting from Springsteen, leaving the music business for an extended period to try the film business, and re-entering publishing and artist development in the late '80s. Much of his side of the story in the Springsteen saga is told in Marc Eliot's book -Down Thunder Road: The Making of Bruce Springsteen, which was written with Appel's participation, and includes many extensive quotes from Appel about his work with Springsteen. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi