BOOKS & WRITING
Recently, I have increased my output as a writer and author, so there are now a number of my books coming along. We will be starting to publish in early 2025, and the first of these promises to be a fun-time for all...
... Be ready for a laugh and a joke in amongst what I feel are some much-needed home truths about music, the music business and the education business. There will also be some big surprises further down the line.
Launching this, my first website is day one, but I like to move fast so keep a look out for release details and teasers which will begin soon. You will also soon find me on Substack and most other social media platforms as we move forward.
MUSIC EDUCATION
After a lifetime of making records and touring the world, it was time to pass-it-forward, so over the first 20 years of this millennium, I became a founder of BIMM (Brighton Institute of Modern Music), and DIME Group (Detroit Institute of Music Education) which stretched to building music colleges in seven cities, and where we shared our music and industry experience with the next generation of musicians and entrepreneurs.
We taught the right stuff to our students, but we were also the ones doing the learning, especially in Detroit where we lived for eight fantastic years in the greatest musical city on earth.
PRODUCER & MANAGER
My professional music career began with my first record deal aged 17, and I signed a few more before becoming a full-time record producer in my mid-twenties. As an artist and session-player I was fortunate to work with some legendary producers so the job became second nature.
About halfway through my career, I became an A&R Director at Secret Records, Stage One, A&M and V2, which confirmed my non-corporate approach. I have made over 50 albums in the worlds greatest studios from Abbey Road to Electric Lady, working with many great artists and colleagues from Robert Plant to Bob Clearmountain. Some sold a bucket-load, and some didn't, but that has no bearing on their standards.
In my thirties, I became a manager because so few of them understand music, and my artists were young and needed help. But also I found great musical equilibrium with three of them - Kirsty MacColl , Francis Dunnery and Kula Shaker - with all of whom I managed to have some big hits and great times.
BIOGRAPHY
I was born into a musical family (even the sewing machine was a Singer - ba boom) on my mums side with a bandleader grandfather and four jazz musician uncles, so I was somewhat predestined to be in professional music. Aged five, each of us learned to play that very ukulele that my uncle Norman is holding on the left of this photo, and that I still have today.
I grew up around a fixed ethos that you had to be a great live musician to make it. We took that ethos into our music colleges in Europe and the US - the BIMM Group (Brighton, Bristol, Dublin, and London) and the DIME Group (Detroit, Denver, Online). I also co-founded a live venue The Underground, and record label Original 1265 Recordings, in downtown Detroit, because when it comes to musical standards... there is no place like Detroit.
GALLERY
