NOVELTY TUNE PIONEER SUBJECT OF NEW BIO

NOVELTY TUNE PIONEER SUBJECT OF NEW BIO

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Wireless Flash) -- Here's a novel concept: A man who made cheesy novelty records out of pop song snippets just may be the godfather of rap. Recording engineer Dickie Goodman created novelty hits like 1956's "Flying Saucer." Now his son, Jon Goodman, claims his father pioneered the technique known as "sampling" years before Puff Daddy and the Beastie Boys. After "Flying Saucer" hit No. 3 on the charts, Dickie was sued by 17 record labels for copyright infringement. But a judge ruled that no laws were violated since Goodman used only a few seconds of each song. The precedent made sampling possible for rappers, but Dickie committed suicide in 1989 before he could be hailed as a rap legend. Son Jon hopes his new biography, "The King Of Novelty" (Random House), will give his dad the credit he deserves and he wants to convince Weird Al Yankovic to play his father in an upcoming movie.