Rock'N'Roll Row

Famed music entrepreneur Simon Napier-Bell (pictured left) was in Sydney last month and Whispers popped along to the Newtown music club Leadbelly to hear him give a talk on the music industry.  Napier-Bell discovered such legends as Marc Bolan & T-Rex, Dusty Springfield and the late George Michael and Wham. He has managed numerous stars and steered their careers including The Yardbyrds in the 1960s up to Sinead O'Connor last year.

One of Napier-Bell's themes is the influence of gay managers on the emerging music business in Britain that included not just himself but Brian Epstein and The Beatles, Kit Lambert and The Who, Australian Robert Stigwood and The Bee Gees and Larry Parnes. Parnes discovered and launched numerous stars in the 1960s including Billy Fury and Marty Wilde. One tale told by the late Kit Lambert is that Robert Stigwood rang Parnes and said " I've just driven past your office and there is a blond Adonis working on the roadworks, look out your window". Parnes looked, spotted the handsome blond and the career of Tommy Steele was born. Napier-Bell reckons gay managers had a unique feel for what teenage girls wanted and acted upon it.

Top: Epstein & The Beatles* Jann Werner Bottom: Stigwood & the Bee Gees. Kit Lambert & The Who

Parnes & Tommy Steele

The New York Times just last week featured this theme (after speaking to Napier-Bell) in a feature written by journalist Jim Farber on the occasion of the pending launch of a biography of the famous Jann Werner who launched the music bible Rolling Stone magazine. Werner, now 70 only just came out the closet recently. But an almighty row is now brewing between Werner and his biographer which you can read all about. What fun!

The articles:

The Gay Architects of Rock

Who created that gorgeous 20th-century creature, the rock star? Consider

the gay image makers of the day, like Brian Epstein and Jann Wenner.

Rolling Stone founder falls out with biographer over candid life story

Another Simon Napier- Bell Discovery

British music legend and entrepreneur Simon Napier-Bell, due in Sydney in September to give one of his fascinating talks has many connections with Australia.

 Apart from his father, a documentary film-maker being born in Oz, he also discovered a diminutive Aussie singer John Paul Young whose career was languishing in the doldrums.

Napier-bell had a song he was shopping around and decided Young was the ideal singer to present it.

TheTruth about George Michael

On September 11th legendary British music entrepreneur Simon Napier-Bell will appear at Leadbelly in Newtown to give an after dinner talk.
Among Napier-Bell's many music discoveries are Dusty Springfield, The Yardbyrds, Marc Bolan & T-Rex and of course, George Michael and Wham who he turned into world superstars.
Simon remained a close friend of George Michael's and is threatening to tell the real story of Michael's life. Once when visiting Napier-Bell at his Thai villa where he now lives, Whispers found George Michael hiding from the world's media after yet another druggy car accident in the UK.
                                                            

Simon will have plenty to say about the Same Sex marriage issue having recently married his male partner in the UK and having recently directed a fascinating documentary "50 Years Legal" which is currently being screened in UK cinemas. In the film he interviews a host of famous British gays including Elton John, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellan , David Hockney and many more.
He has now written 5 best-selling books about music which have received rave reviews. One "Black Vinyl White Powder" was included in the UK school curriculum. His current book Ta-Ra-Ra-BOOM De-Ay tells the history of commercial music from the 1700s onwards. Napier-Bell's last visit to Sydney was in 2016 when he accompanied Sinead O'Connor who he was then managing.

AN EVENING WITH SIMON NAPIER - BELL Monday 11th Sept Leadbelly 6-12pm

Below is the famous song Napier-Bell wrote for Dusty Springfield which was also a mega hit for Elvis Presley