Peter William Ham (April 27, 1947 – April 24, 1975)

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Pete Ham was born in Swansea, Wales and formed a local band in 1961 called The Panthers, which was later changed to The Iveys in 1965.  In 1966 the band relocated to London. Mal Evans, who was the personal assistant for the Beatles, became interested in The Iveys and decided to sign them as the first act to the Beatles’ record label, Apple Records.

The band decided to change their name to Badfinger after their single “Come and Get It” (which was composed by Paul McCartney) went on to become a Top Ten worldwide hit. Pete Ham joined George Harrison in playing an acoustic guitar duet, “Here Comes the Sun,” at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 in New York.  At this time Apple Records was known for being disorganized and poorly managed, which prompted band members to look for another label. 

They unknowingly stepped into disaster by crossing paths with Stan Polley, a shady and corrupt NY businessman who was believed to be involved with organized crime.  Polley got them a deal with Warner Bros. Records but with strings attached: Polley influenced the band to sign a series of contracts which would eventually leave them with very little control over their finances. Polley’s business dealings with Warner Bros. got Badfinger involved in conflict that quickly spiraled into a lawsuit.  Not only did Warner Bros. refuse to accept the last album they produced, but also Polley took whatever money the band was owed and kept it. According to Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland, the band “was not allowed any information” about its assets after signing a profitable contract with Warner Bros. Polley eventually ceased communication with band members. Ham’s bank account was overdrawn for the first time in many years due to having his income cut off.  Ham was known as a proud person who found it difficult to reach out to others when he was severely depressed.  He hanged himself in his garage, 3 days away from his 28th birthday. Ham left behind a girlfriend named Anne (who was due to give birth to their daughter in 1 month) in addition to Anne’s son, Blair.  His suicide note read as follows:

"Anne, I love you. Blair, I love you. I will not be allowed to love and trust everybody. This is better. Pete. P.S. Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me." 





Comments

  1. David HarveyOctober 10, 2021 at 10:04 PM

    Badfinger were terribly and unnecessarily ripped off their evil manager Stan Polley and their story is almost certainly a cautionary tale about being careful who you choose to manage you. I know that Stan Polley was one of the most evil and malevolent managers, but Badfinger should also have taken full responsibility for their poor choices and they were far from being incapable of saying no. Did it not occur to them to say no to Stan Polley? I think if Brian Epstein had lived, he would've been a far, far better manager, because he was not only The Beatles' manager, but he also managed other acts as well, never took advantage of them or stole their money and he was very kind and caring to people plus he bought guitars for John Lennon and George Harrison, drums for Ringo Starr and other things for The Beatles, but I'm not sure if he bought a bass amp for Paul McCartney or not.
    What lots of people don't realize is that Pete and Tom Evans were talking to Stan Poses about extricating themselves from Polley and Mr. Poses gave potentially positive feedback, so there was some light at the end of the tunnel - I read this on a discussion on Steve Hoffman forum.
    I'm not saying that Stan Polley should be exonerated, because his behaviour towards the band and dishonesty was disgraceful and unforgiveable, but people who commit suicide can have underlying mental health issues, such as depression - Pete showed signs of mental illness by burning himself with his cigarettes in the last weeks of his tragically short life.
    I'm not surprised that a lot of Badfinger fans posted schadenfreude messages on a forum after Stan Polley died in 2009. He was a very, very evil and malevolent man.

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