The Damned, Madness, The Pogues, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Devo, Tracey Ullman, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric, The Belle Stars, Kirsty MacColl, Jona Lewie....... Dave "Robbo" Robinson signed them all.
There are only a handful of A&R guys ever who've had so many hits.
Stiff Records was legendary for its kicking against the pricks, anti music biz attitude. As they said, "If It Ain't Stiff It Ain't Worth a F**K", and that in 1979!
Robbo oversaw the signings, the videos and the marketing, vans really were thrown out of the back of planes, artists were left gibbering wrecks!
Come down to Old Bakery Studios on April 19th to hear Robbo tell stories of the Stiff days complete with video footage of those incredible acts. Dave will be taking questions from the audience, a great chance for you to listen back to some of the best British pop records ever made.
Robbo is one of THE characters from the hey day of the British music business. Sadly there aren't many left in today's bland corporate music world, so come and listen to some fabulous tales from a time when the music business was Fun with a capital F!
Ful bio on Dave Robinson below.
FURTHER DETAILS:
THIS IS A SEATED SHOW
TICKETS: £15.00 + BF
AUDIENCE 16+ (Under 16’s admitted with a ticket and an accompanying adult)
DOORS: 19.30
PERFORMANCE: 20.00
BAR CLOSES: 23.00
PARKING No parking on site. Garras Wharf Car Park next to Tesco TR1 2TN. FREE after 4PM. A short walk round from the venue.
For individual assistance please contact the venue direct. We have easy access to the event space on the flat and can provide parking on site and assistance with entry where required. We offer free assistance tickets. We currently have steps down in our loos (the nearest fully accessible loos are Tescos) but we aim to have a fully accessible bathroom facility in the ground floor as soon as we can.
Full biog on Dave Robinson:
As a teenage music photographer in Dublin to the owner of the first ever Beat club in Ireland, Dave Robinson was intertwined with music from the beginning. He took pictures for Rave magazine at the Cavern with the Beatles, documented the Rolling Stones’ first tour of Ireland; He befriended and briefly managed Van Morrison. He was then dropped in the deep end on his first trip to America becoming Jimi Hendrix’s Road and Tour manager with Pink Floyd, The Nice and The Move. Moving in with Jimi and Noel Reading to their London pad he continued to tour with The Experience across
America and the world until just before Jimi’s untimely death. With a taste for the often perilous circuit that was music touring, Dave would go on to be involved in a number of major tours including but not limited to The Animals, The Young Rascals and the Vanilla Fudge. Partying and meeting characters along the way such as The Grateful Dead, Janice Joplin, The Who, Jim Morrison and the Doors.
Dave would take all of this roadside education with him on his journey into to proper artist management, something he witnessed being done very poorly for a lot of musicians. Creating a 35 strong list of pubs across London where his bands Brinsley Schwartz, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmonds, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello could play.
Dave went to build a recording with Jake Riviera above his favourite pub The Hope and Anchor in Islington where he would record artists such as Elvis Costello and Mike and the mechanics. All of this experience would lead to Stiff Records and signings of legendary acts such as: The Damned, Motorhead, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe,
Tracey Ullman, The Plasmatics, Jona Lewie, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Kirsty
McColl, The Box Tops, The Adverts, Lene Lovich, Shane McGowan & The Pogues, Madness and many many more.
After Stiff, Dave was installed by Chris Blackwell as president of Island Records, where he oversaw the careers of U2, Robert Palmer, Stevie Winwood, & Frankie
Goes to Hollywood. He personally compiled and marketed Bob Marley’s 44 million selling LEGEND album. The biggest reggae album in the World. He represented Rick Rubin running Def Jam Records and American Recordings outside North America working with Johnny Cash, the Black Crows, Slayer, Danzig
and the Jayhawks. He settled the vicious two year litigation between Rick Rubin and Roger Ames, Chairman of PolyGram and signed American Recordings to BMG. Dave then ran The Famous Blue Note Club and Acid Jazz Label in London helping to launch the Drum and Bass dance movement. Dave has been at the helm or in the mix of the most exciting and important musical developments and he is still active in the music industry as a consultant for various labels and projects - from Van Morrison for EMI to the Gregory Isaacs for Universa
