Was inspired to post these when reading about the appalling Dee Anthony in an article about Peter Frampton’s autobiography in this morning’s Guardian.
As bad as he was, DA surely wasn’t nearly as awful as Stan Polley who swindled Badfinger out of all their money and – arguably – caused the suicide of Pete Ham in ’75 and Tom Evans eight years later. Surely the unluckiest band ever, Badfinger and their story are worthy of a post on its own – assuming, of course, no one’s done one yet. Running up the rear are the likes of Morris Levy, Allen (De)Klein and just about any other manager of a black act in the early 60s.
Aside from Brian Epstein (“he changed the world without hurting anyone”) very few genuinely good guy(s) I can think of. Obvious one would be Shep “Ubernensch” Gordon – been Alice Cooper’s manager for over 40 years based on nothing more than a handshake and also helped bring – among others – The Duellists and Koyaanisqatsi to the screen. There’s also U2’s Paul McGuinness (whose own foray into movies/TV was Sky’s excerable Riviera).
Leaders of the “Bad but apparently not-all-bad” camp are Don Arden (Kenney Jones speaks surprisingly highly of him) and Peter Grant (a horrible person but irreversibly revolutionised the rock business in the artists’ favour).
Sure there are loads I’ve missed (Albert Grossman for instance) so the being the ATM additions and comments are as always welcome!
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/16/peter-frampton-interview-memoir
Black Celebration says
Managers are really important it seems – and it can’t be a band member. Or can it? Even control freaks like Sting seem to have to rely on some well-connected industry person.
davebigpicture says
Johnny Marr briefly tried managing The Smiths, although not through choice. It didn’t end well.
dai says
Mick Jagger has effectively been The Stones’ manager for decades.
Moose the Mooche says
That can’t be true, managers are just cynical money-grubbing…. waiiiiiiidaminit!
fentonsteve says
Rob Gretton, manager of Joy Division, New Order and, um, Slaughter and the Dogs.
Also a great A&R man and owner of Rob’s Records.
davebigpicture says
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon is well worth a watch.
DanP says
McGuiness and U2 seemed to me a similar pedigree to that of Epstein and the Fabs. For the most part, honour and respect on both sides. Midnight Oil used to credit manager Gary Morris as a band member on their sleeves. Grossman and Landau seem single-minded and life-long in their protective instincts; hard to imagine any unseemly revelations down the track. Unlike REM’s Jefferson Holt: ‘fifth member’ status and name-checks in songs for years then suddenly cast out, with Peter Buck then saying he guarantees he’ll never be in a room wth him ever again. MWP’s tenure as The Church’s manager was untenable. I’d warrant the slippery boundaries of being both band member and manager were one of the contributing factors of him leaving. Always marvelled at what the working relationship between Wellers Jnr and Snr must’ve been like!
Jaygee says
What with Jefferson Holt refusing ever to sit in the same plane as Peter Buck while the band was jetting off to exotic locations outside the USA, the feeling would seem to be mutual
TrypF says
There were rumblings about me-too type allegations re Jefferson Holt before he was cast out, all are on a cease and desist thing now, so it may never be known. Before his court case (and possibly after) Peter Buck clearly liked a drink or fifteen, as any NME interview in the 80s points to. Rock stars, drink and air travel – does THAT ever end well?
Black Type says
Jeff is allergic to yogurt, allegedly…
Jaygee says
Come on guys, I was hoping for a few salacious tidbits such as Don Arden and his mates hanging Robert Stigwood out of his office window by his ankles! (Rob Gretton was a good call though!)
Black Type says
The infamous Tony DeFries of MainMan Inc…angel or devil? Instrumental in creating David Bowie – Superstar, but rinsed him in the process and treated the Spiders appallingly, in the main. And yet…where did poor Mick Ronson spend his final weeks? In a property freely lent to him by…Tony DeFries.
TrypF says
Reading last night about Mike Jefferey, Hendrix’s co-manager. Allegedly sacked Noel Redding when he asked where MJ was taking large suitcases of money. ‘Invested’ large amounts of Jimi’s money in dodgy offshore schemes for his own profit. And some say he murdered Hendrix for the insurance, but that’s more tinfoil-hat stuff.
TrypF says
I’ve been reading Running With The Devil, Noel Monk’s book about managing Van Halen from 1978-1985, ie the David Lee Roth years. As you’d guess, it’s self-aggrandising stuff, but he touches on ‘necessary evil’ stuff like payroll and beating up bootleggers. He was only ever on a three month rolling contract, even when (he says) he was renegotiating their terrible original contract, making groundbreaking merch deals and bailing them out of ever more ludicrous situations. Most of all, it shows how three of them were talented but stupid, and screwed him (and Mike the bass player, the only one to come out of the story well) for even more money when their coke addictions got out of hand.
Moose the Mooche says
I assume your autocorrect turned payola into payroll.
TrypF says
It did!
Moose the Mooche says
I don’t really know what happened between Russell Simmons and the Beastie Boys to cause such a rift. Anybody?
Moose the Mooche says
Of course the folk who really belong on this thread are those fat bastards – always fat, always bastards – who manage boybands.
Jaygee says
You can safely mention Tam Paton by name you know as he’s dead and he can’t call his lawyers to sue you as the phones in his current location are way too hot to pick up!
Black Celebration says
There was great documentary in the late 90s that followed Les McKeown around and his eternal battles over money with Tam.
Rigid Digit says
Malcolm McLaren. Not so much of a manager, more interested in a good sound bite, a bit of chaos, and selling trousers. The story goes that he sh*t himself (not literally) after the Grundy interview.
Moose the Mooche says
Not a “people person” was he? The first rule is that you look after the talent. He fired Glen Matlock and ignored Lydon because he was concentrating on, er, Sid Vicious.
hubert rawlinson says
Not forgetting Leggy Mountbatten and an interest in the Rutles trousers.
Leggy would later write of all of this in his autobiography A Cellar Full of Goys, detailing their meteoric yet painfully slow rise to fame as they rode the ferry across the Mersey to a place of heart ache. Leggy put them into suits, he put them into a recording studio, and he put them into the newspapers. His place in music history was assured.
However in August 1968, Leggy, tired and despondent over the weekend and unable to raise any friends, went home and accepted a teaching post in Australia.
Eddie Clockerty the Majestics manager, and an interest in selling clothes too.
fatima Xberg says
Colonel Parker fits all the clichés. Dropped Hank Snow (who made him a lot of money) immediately after he saw the girls’ reaction to Elvis Presley at a joint show. Signed up Elvis to a contract that gave him 50 percent of the King’s earnings (nearly 70 % if you add all the profits from tax evasion companies he set up without knowledge from Elvis and his people). He made sure Elvis never toured or even performed outside of the US for fear that contact with US passport authorities would bring to light his real identity and that he had fled the Netherlands as a suspect in a murder case in the 1920s.
In the mid 70s he sold all the rights to the complete Elvis recordings for a couple of million dollars (a joke even then) – it was the exact sum of money he needed to pay off his gambling debts in Las Vegas.
And he was fat. And smoked cigars.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Brilliant post. Says it all. End of thread.
Rigid Digit says
Not sure he was even a proper Colonel.
Then again Captain Sensible was never in the Navy, Dr Hook had no medical training, and The Carpenters never showed any aptitude for woodwork.
retropath2 says
Unlike Colonel Sanders?
Jaygee says
Or indeed Pharaoh Saunders
SouthernExile says
I don’t believe Dr Fox was a real fox
hubert rawlinson says
“The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think,
Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?”
Billybob Dylan says
Don Arden and Peter Grant in the “Bad but apparently not-all-bad” camp? From what I’ve read, I thought they would have been in the “Not Just Bad But Bloody Terrifying” camp.
Rigid Digit says
Bernie Rhodes – rarely seen but spoken of loads. Nicked ideas from McLaren (and arguably McLaren nicked some of his ideas. Ended up adopting a divide and conquer stance, and the his ego took over.
Joe said to Mick in the early 90s “You were right about Bernie”
MC Escher says
Bernie Rhodes, don’t argue
bang em in bingham says
Bernie Rhodes wasnt he a bit of a bad egg with The Clash ?
Rigid Digit says
Bernie Rhodes NOT managing The Clash = White Man In Hammersmith and London Calling.
Bernie Rhodes IS managing The Clash = Sandinista and Cut The Crap
MC Escher says
My version of Sandanista is the best Clash LP.
Black Type says
Kelley Lynch. Lover, manager, stalker, embezzler on a colossal scale, and yet the woman we have to thank for Leonard Cohen’s late-career renaissance.
Jaygee says
Hungover as I am I read that as Kenny Lynch! Sadly, the mental image of the 70s light-entertainment and pro-celeb golf tourney mainstay ditching Tarby, Bruce et al to hook up with ultra miserabalist Laughing Len is one that will stick with me all day
Black Type says
Len in his graceful way forgave her for her many nefarious deeds…but forcing him to play golf with Tarby was one indignity too far.
Locust says
Kim Fowley was a very creative guy…but also a sexual predator type a-hole.
(Making him the worst kind, obviously)
Kjwilly says
Jake Riviera obviously had a talent for promoting his acts (getting Elvis Costello performing in the street outside a Music conference) but he also had a fearsome reputation, eg Mark Ellen’s anecdote about reviewing his first gig.
Rigid Digit says
If Jake Riviera is in the Good list, his sparring partner Dave Robinson should also get a mention..
And Andrew Lauder
Kaisfatdad says
A couple of questions spring to mind.
What previous experience did these mega-managers have?
Epstein had worked in a record shop.
Loog Oldham had worked for Mary Quant and briefly as a publicist for the Beatles.
http://www.classicbands.com/AndrewLoogOldhamInterview.html
Peter Grant had previously been an actor and a bouncer. No surprises there.
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/wtf/godfathers_of_rock_the_top_10_rock_and_roll_managers.html
My other question, was there any other earlier profession, which was similar to the flamboyance, excitement, glamour and moolah of being the manager of a rock band? The rock manager is such an icon of our times. But where did it come from?
I suppose that previously jazz bands had had managers, but I couldn’t name one
The nearest I can come is being the ringmaster of a circus.
Or one of the more OTT movie directors like Cecil B. De Mille.
Kaisfatdad says
I am surprised that no one has mentioned Abba’s notorious manager, Sven Gali!
Only joking!
You all know that Svengali is a character from George Du Maurier’s novel Trilby, in which a young singer comes under the pernicious influence of the manipulative seducer.
John Barrymore looks like a refugee from a Boney M video..
duco01 says
Talking of svengalis, I’m surprised no one has mentioned Larry Parnes – “Mr Parnes, Shillings and Pence”.
Jaygee says
“Duco01? Oh, that won’t do at all? Butch stud muffin like you should have a name like Duke Itout! Turn the heat down on the baked beans on your way out, there’s a love!”
Kaisfatdad says
“The first Svengali of British pop?”
This Parnes biog looks very entertaining.
Kaisfatdad says
Peter Grant makes an appearance in this programme about bootlegs. He is refreshingly no-nonsense.
Do groups ever employ heavies?
“They’re not going to get any heavier than me!”
Pessoa says
Peter Jenner quit academia to manage the Pink Floyd, left them amicably with Syd Barrett, and his company Blackhill Enterprises then managed a lot of artists (R.Harper, K.Ayers, B. Bragg). Don’t know what his reputation is in the industry, but from what I can tell he seems to have behaved decently.
duco01 says
Yes, I believe Jenner’s ex-wife Juliet went on to marry B. Bragg.
SouthernExile says
I think it was Andy McDonald’s wife that Billy is now married to. He was the boss of Go Records
fentonsteve says
In my years in the biz, I had some dealings with P. Jenner.
“Harsh but fair” would be a good description. Always polite, always determined, and I always backed down first.
Rigid Digit says
Norman Petty was Buddy Holly’s first manager and record producer.
He also copped a writing credit for a number of Holly songs (“writing” in the capacity of “being in the same room”)