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Peter Grant (music manager)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Peter Grant | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Peter Grant |
| Born | April 5, 1935 |
| Origin | South Norwood, England |
| Died | November 21, 1995 (aged 60) |
| Occupation(s) | Music Manager |
| Years active | 1963 — 1983 |
| Associated acts |
Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Terry Reid, The New Vaudeville Band, Bad Company, Maggie Bell, The Nashville Teens |
| Website | www.ledzeppelin.com |
Peter Grant, (April 5, 1935 – November 21, 1995) was an English music manager. Grant managed the popular English bands The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin and Bad Company, amongst others, and was also a record executive for Swan Song Records. He is widely credited with improving pay and conditions for musicians in dealings with concert promoters.
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Grant was born in the south London suburb of South Norwood, Surrey, England. His mother Dorothy worked as a secretary. He attended Sir Walter St John School in Grayshott when evacuated and returned to the secondary school in Norwood until leaving at the age of 13, when he became a sheet metal factory worker in Croydon. He left that job after a few weeks and obtained employment on Fleet Street delivering photographs for Reuters. Grant was soon attracted to the entertainment industry, and worked as a stagehand for the Croydon Empire theatre until 1953, when he was called up for National Service in the RAOC, reaching the rank of Corporal. [1] He worked briefly as an entertainment manager at a hotel in Jersey before working as a bouncer and doorman at London's famous The 2i's Coffee Bar, where Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Tommy Steele and others got their start. Australian-born Professional wrestler Paul Lincoln, who also co-owned the 2i's bar, suggested Grant appear on television and gave him the opportunity to wrestle under the titles "Count Massimo" and "Count Bruno Alassio of Milan", using his 6ft 5in frame to good effect. This kindled his enthusiasm for acting, and he was hired by film studios as a bit part actor, stuntman, and body double.
Between 1958 and 1963, Grant appeared in a number of movies, including A Night to Remember (as a crew member on the Titanic), The Guns of Navarone (as a British commando) and Cleopatra (as a palace guard). He also appeared in television shows such as The Saint, Crackerjack, Dixon of Dock Green, and The Benny Hill Show. He was Robert Morley's double on many of that actor's films. The money he made from these ventures was invested in his own entertainment transport business. As the acting roles dried up, Grant made more money taking groups such as The Shadows to their concerts.
In 1963, Grant was hired by promoter Don Arden to act as tour manager for artists such as Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Brian Hyland, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, and The Animals. By 1964, Grant had started to manage his own acts including The Nashville Teens, The Flintstones, an all-girl group called She Trinity, The New Vaudeville Band, Jeff Beck and Terry Reid. His management was established in the same 155 Oxford Street office used by his friend, record producer Mickie Most, who had previously worked with Grant at the Two I's. Most and Grant together set up the highly successful RAK Records label, which produced a string of hits throughout the 1970s.
It was in late 1966 that Simon Napier-Bell asked Grant to take over management of The Yardbirds, who were constantly touring yet struggling financially. Mickie Most had suggested to Napier-Bell that Grant would be an asset to The Yardbirds, but as it happened, his arrival was too late to save the band. The experience, however, did give him ideas which were put to good use later with Led Zeppelin. Grant's no-nonsense approach to promoters, and his persuasive presence, were influential in The Yardbirds making money from concerts for the first time. Grant travelled closely with The Yardbirds, ensuring that all costs were kept to a minimum, that members were paid on time, and that the band retained artistic control.
In 1968 The Yardbirds dissolved, with all band members departing except guitarist Jimmy Page, who promptly set about constructing a new group consisting of himself, Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones. Originally dubbed the "New Yardbirds", the group became known as Led Zeppelin, with Grant assuming the position as their manager. His trust and loyalty to Led Zeppelin was such that his managerial arrangement with band was via a gentlemen's agreement[2].
Grant has been described as "one of the shrewdest and most ruthless managers in rock history", and it is doubtful whether Led Zeppelin would have been as successful without him.[3] He negotiated their sizable five-year record contract with Atlantic Records, and his business philosophy would eventually pay off for the label. Grant strongly believed that bands could make more money, and have more artistic merit, by focusing their efforts on albums rather than singles. Live performances were deemed more important than television appearances – if one wanted to see Led Zeppelin, one had to experience one of their performances.
By promoting Led Zeppelin concerts, Grant ensured that the vast bulk of ticket profits wound up in the hands of the band rather than in the hands of promoters and booking agents. He is reported to have secured 90% of gate money from concerts performed by the band.[4]
Grant's famous dressing room scene in the film The Song Remains the Same, where he demands an explanation from concert staff about the sale of illegal posters, was typical of his no-nonsense, profanity-littered dealings with people who tried to profit at the band's expense.
Grant sometimes took extraordinary measures to combat the practice of live bootleg recordings at Led Zeppelin concerts. He is reported to have personally visited record stores in London which were selling Led Zeppelin bootlegs and demanded all copies be handed over. He also monitored the crowd at Led Zeppelin concerts so as to locate anything which resembled bootleg recording equipment. At one concert at Vancouver in 1971 he saw what he thought was recording equipment on the floor of the venue and personally ensured that the equipment be destroyed, only to find out later that the equipment was a noise pollution unit being operated by city officials to test the volume of the concert.
Grant was instrumental in setting up Led Zeppelin's publishing company, Superhype, in 1969. In 1974 he was also the driving force in establishing Swan Song Records, which gave Led Zeppelin further financial and artistic control over its products. He also managed Bad Company and Maggie Bell, who were signed to the label. In 1975, Grant turned down a lucrative offer to manage Queen. When he was once questioned on what was the single most important thing a manager could say, Grant's response was "Know when to say 'no'". In 1977 he was asked by Colonel Tom Parker to manage a proposed concert tour of Europe by Elvis Presley, but Elvis died on August 16, 1977, just as negotiations had commenced.
In 1977, Grant gave his approval for Led Zeppelin's tour manager Richard Cole to hire notorious London gangster John Bindon to act as security co-ordinator for the band's concert tour of the United States. Towards the end of the tour, a major incident occurred during a concert at the Oakland Coliseum on July 23, 1977. Upon arrival at the stadium, it was alleged that Bindon pushed a member of promoter Bill Graham's stage crew out of the way as the band entered via a backstage ramp. Tension had been simmering between Graham's staff and Led Zeppelin's security team during the day, and as Grant and Bindon were walking down the ramp near the end of the concert, words were exchanged with stage crew chief Jim Downey, which resulted in Bindon knocking Downey out cold[5]. Within minutes a separate off-stage incident, involving Graham's security man Jim Matzorkis who was accused of slapping Peter Grant's 11 year-old son Warren over a dressing room sign, escalated into an all-in brawl which resulted in criminal charges being laid against Grant, Cole, Bindon, and band member John Bonham. All four pleaded nolo contendere and given suspended sentences. Bindon was dismissed by the band and returned to England. Peter Grant later stated that allowing Bindon to be hired was the biggest mistake he ever made as manager[6].
Marital problems, diabetes, cocaine addiction and the death of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham all took their toll on Grant's health, and after the official breakup of Led Zeppelin in 1980, and the subsequent folding of the Swan Song label in 1983, he virtually retired from the music business, to his private estate in Eastbourne. Towards the end of his life, however, he conquered his addiction, and lost a significant amount of weight. His first public appearance for many years was in 1989, when he and Jimmy Page both attended a Frank Sinatra concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Grant was also offered the civic position of local magistrate for the council of Eastbourne, but turned it down[7]. In 1992, he appeared in the film Carry On Columbus as a cardinal. In his remaining years, Grant became a keynote speaker at music management conferences.
On the afternoon of November 21, 1995 while driving to his home at Eastbourne, Grant suffered a fatal heart attack, his son Warren by his side. He was 60 years old. Grant was buried on December 4, 1995 at St. Peter and St. Paul's churchyard, Hellingly, Sussex. His eulogy was read by long time friend Alan Callan.[8] Coincidentally, it was the 15th anniversary of Led Zeppelin's official break up.
In 1996, The Music Managers Forum (MMF) award for outstanding achievement in management was renamed the Peter Grant Award, in his honour.
- A Night to Remember (1958)
- The Guns of Navarone (1961)
- Cleopatra (1963)
- The Song Remains the Same (1976)
- Carry On Columbus (1992)
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents (1955)
- The Saint (1962)
- Crackerjack (1962)
- Dixon of Dock Green (1962)
- The Benny Hill Show (1962)
- Grant's voice can be heard in the background, of the right channel, in the song "Friends".
- Peter Grant's daughter Helen (born 1964) was partner to former The Moody Blues and Wings guitarist Denny Laine. They have one daughter Lucienne (born 1987).
- ^ Led Zeppelin In Their Own Words compiled by Paul Kendall (1981), London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-86001-932-2, p. 17.
- ^ Welch, Chris (2002). Peter Grant: The man Who Led Zeppelin, 69. ISBN 0-7119-9195-2.
- ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation website
- ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation website
- ^ Welch, Chris (2002). Peter Grant: The man Who Led Zeppelin, 201. ISBN 0-7119-9195-2.
- ^ Williamson, Nigel (2007). The Rough Guide to Led Zeppelin, 248. ISBN 1-84353-841-7.
- ^ Welch, Chris (2002). Peter Grant: The man Who Led Zeppelin, 240. ISBN 0-7119-9195-2.
- ^ Peter Grant's eulogy http://www.oldbuckeye.com/prox/grant.html
Welch, Chris (2002), Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-9195-2.
- Peter Grant at the Internet Movie Database
- Peter Grant at Find-A-Grave
