The Great Escape announces The Steve Strange Award
The Great Escape Festival has announced the launch of The Steve Strange Award, in honour of the legendary X-Ray Touring co-founder, who died last September.
The annual award will recognise a music act that is breaking through creative boundaries, with the first recipient to be announced on 16 May following the culmination of this year’s festival, which takes place in Brighton from 11-14 May.
The winner, who will be voted on by industry delegates, will also receive a £5,000 cash prize.
“Steve Strange has a long history with The Great Escape and championed hundreds of artists over the years,” says MAMA Group CEO Rory Bett. “It is a great honour for us to launch this award for creativity in his name, so that he can continue to influence the industry he loved.”
“Steve was a huge supporter of The Great Escape and would be deeply honoured by this award being launched in his name”
“Steve was a huge supporter of The Great Escape and would be deeply honoured by this award being launched in his name,” adds agent Josh Javor, Strange’s longtime sidekick at X-Ray Touring. “He was first and foremost a passionate music fan and creativity was at the heart of his business. We are delighted his name will live on through this award and inspire many artists into lifelong careers in the industry Steve loved so much.”
Strange represented artists including the likes of Eminem, Coldplay, Queens of the Stone Age, Snow Patrol, Eagles of Death Metal, Ash, The Charlatans and Phoebe Bridgers. He was named Agent of the Decade at last year’s ILMC and it has previously been announced that the delegate bar at the event will be renamed Strangey’s Bar in his memory.
Strange was also honoured at this week’s Pollstar Awards, held at the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom in Los Angeles, where he was posthumously named International Booking Agent of the Year.
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Little Mix awarded for 12 headline shows at the O2
Little Mix returned to the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena this week, playing two consecutive nights to bring their total tally of headline shows at the London arena to 12.
Throughout their career, Little Mix have performed at the venue on four separate tours, selling a total of 184,000 tickets. The girl group have played five shows at the O2 this year alone, as part of their LM5 tour.
Emma Bownes, vice president of venue programming at the O2 comments: “It’s been an honour hosting Little Mix for what has now been 12 incredible shows at the O2. Just as expected the four tours have generated a lot of excitement across the ages selling in excess of 184,000 tickets. We’d like to thank Little Mix and SJM for letting us be part of their journey.”
LM5, the sixth concert tour by the British girl group, has visited arenas in Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Ireland and the UK.
Pictured (L – R): Danielle Kennedy-Clark (deputy general manager, the O2), Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Emma Bownes.
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Assomusica honours Vasco Rossi
Vincenzo Spera, president of Italian concert promoters’ association Assomusica, yesterday presented Vasco Rossi, one of Italy’s most successful popular singers, with an award recognising his songcraft and “spectacular” live shows.
Presenting Rossi with the Premio Assomusica (Assomusica Prize) on 9 June, Spera said: “Vasco Rossi is an artist who was able to convey inclusion, rebellion and moral independence never subservient to any power, and is a point of reference for the younger generation, especially in such a difficult time for our country.
“Recognising the value of Vasco is a gift we give to all of us. Because you feel less alone with him, and full of hope.”
Rossi, usually known mononymously as Vasco, has sold more than 35 million albums over a 40-plus-year career. His Modena Park 2017 performance, at Enzo Ferrari Park in Modena, Italy, was the largest ticketed concert of all time, selling more than 200,000 tickets and grossing €12 million.
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Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee to receive MITs 2019
Veteran artist managers Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee, co-founders of Modest! Management (the Spice Girls, Little Mix, One Direction), are to be jointly awarded the prestigious Music Industry Trusts (MITs) Award 2019, organisers announced today.
The 28th MITs Award ceremony – held on 4 November, once again in aid of Nordoff Robbins and the Brits Trust – will see Magee and Griffiths join the ranks of previous MITs honourees including Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer, Universal Music CEO Sir Lucian Grange, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, Syco’s Simon Cowell, Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis and, most recently, CAA agent Emma Banks.
Griffiths, whose career spans live music, publishing, recording and artist management, has worked with talent including AC/DC, Ultravox, Jane’s Addiction, Oasis, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Westlife, Enrique Iglesias and Linkin Park over 40-plus years.
In 1974 he founded Headline Artists, becoming the first international agent for AC/DC. Three years later, as A&R for Island Records, he signed Buggles, whose hit ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ was the first no1 in the label’s history.
In the ’80s he managed Ultravox and later founded the US division of Virgin Music. After a spell leading New York-based Epic Records as president, he returned to the UK, holding executive posts at BMG Entertainment and, alongside Simon Cowell, signing Westlife to RCA.
“It is such an honour to be receiving this amazing award”
Leaving BMG in 2001, Griffiths set up the UK arm of US management powerhouse the Firm, where he and Magee worked with Enrique Iglesias and Linkin Park, among others.
Magee, meanwhile, has worked with a succession of British and American stars, including Berlin, Lisa Stansfield, Whitney Houston, Yazz, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Westlife, Eurythmics and Foo Fighters.
After founding the indie Wire Records, Magee’s major-label experience began in 1989 as BMG’s Arista’s head of marketing, where he helped break Lisa Stansfield and delivered British success for Arista’s American stars, including Houston.
He returned to BMG in 1998, after having led Big Life Records and then A&M Records as managing director, being appointed MD of RCA Records. At BMG he helped broker the relationship with Cowell and acts including Westlife and Five, and steered the label’s accomplishments with Natalie Imbruglia, Foo Fighters and Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart as they reformed Eurythmics.
He co-founded the Firm in UK with Griffiths, before the pair established Modest! in 2003.
“Honouring two artist managers is a first for the MITS and we’re proud for them both to join the illustrious recipients list”
Modest! Management’s current roster includes the likes of Niall Horan, Little Mix, Olly Murs, Alison Moyet and the Spice Girls. It represented Horan’s former band, One Direction, from 2010, guiding the group towards 75 million in album sales and worldwide sell-out stadium tours before their split in 2016.
David Munns OBE, chairman of the MITs 2019 Award committee, comments: “Richard and Harry have been at the forefront of the British music industry for over forty years. Individually, and as the founders of Modest!, they have continually set the benchmark in management and have led countless artists to huge success.
“Honouring two artist managers is a first for the MITs and we’re proud for them both to join the illustrious recipients list. We look forward to a fantastic awards night on 4th November.”
“It is indeed a great honour for Richard and I to be given the MITs Award and to have the opportunity to highlight two exceptional charities in the Brit Trust and Nordoff Robbins,” comments Magee. “We proudly look forward to November 4 for some fun and fundraising.”
Griffiths adds: “It is such an honour to be receiving this amazing award together with my great friend and partner Harry Magee. To help raise money for these two wonderful charities is an honour and a privilege.”
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PlayPass named most promising business in Flanders
RFID technology firm PlayPass has been named ‘most promising business of the year’ by the Flemish government in recognition of its rapid international growth. The award was presented by Flanders’ minister of work, economy, innovation and sport, Philippe Muyters, to David De Wever, CEO and co-founder of PlayPass.
This achievement follows PlayPass’s biggest year to date, with its RFID solutions for cashless payments, access control, accreditation and brand activation delivered at more than 100 events, including music festivals, concerts, sports and other live events, in 16 countries across five continents.
Founded in Antwerp in 2012, the company employs more than 30 staff internationally, with clients including Lollapalooza (Berlin and Santiago), Live Nation Belgium, Rock Werchter, Lowlands, Bilbao BBK, Graspop Metal Meeting and Melt Festival.
“This award can open many doors for our business”
“This award can open many doors for our business,” says De Wever. “It will boost our plans to double our headcount and open new offices around the world in 2018 while significantly expanding our current operations in the UK, Spain and Germany.
“The potential applications of our technology are endless, and we are experiencing exponential growth in demand for our services in every part of the world.”
Geert Noels, chairman of the jury that selected PlayPass as this year’s winner, adds: “This young company is a prime ambassador for entrepreneurship in Flanders, and is a source of inspiration for others having developed a new digital business model in the local region and successfully scaled it on a global basis.”
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Knighthood for Live Nation’s Pino Sagliocco
Live Nation Spain chairman Pino Sagliocco has been appointed a cavaliere (knight) of Order of the Star of Italy, an order of chivalry awarded to those who have boosted the profile of Italy abroad.
The knighthood, granted by the Italian president at the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recognises what Caserto-born Sagliocco “has worked at ceaselessly for more than forty years: to keep Italian culture alive outside of Italy”.
“The brotherhood shared by people the world over has been a priority in Pino Sagliocco’s career, especially the brotherhood between Spain and Italy – nations he considers to be ‘blood brothers’,” says a statement from Live Nation Spain.
“Spain is where he has forged a career that leaves an historical legacy with televised shows of international artists: The Rolling Stones and Madonna live in Barcelona, Soñadores de España with Placido Domingo and Julio Iglesias in Seville; George Michael live in Madrid and Leonard Cohen in San Sebastian; from Whitney Houston in La Coruña to Sinatra in Barcelona; Ibiza 92 and La Nit, which celebrated the arrival of the Olympic flag in Barcelona with the unforgettable song by Freddy Mercury and Monserrat Caballé!
“The brotherhood shared by people the world over has been a priority in Pino Sagliocco’s career, especially the brotherhood between Spain and Italy”
“With this the world [has taken] notice – this espousal of the best of each culture, the bringing together of two countries.
“Pino Sagliocco has spent many years helping Italian artists find their voice in the world, never forgetting the country that spawned them and helped them grow. Italy is a philosophy and a way of life that he carries inside of him, always present…
“Pino Sagliocco is a true representative of La Grande Italia.”
Other recipients of the Star of Italy (Stella d’Italia) include Spaniards Fernando Alonso and Penelope Cruz, former US president John F. Kennedy and Italian-American singer Frank Sinatra.
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