Richard Cole
Richard Cole | |
---|---|
Born | music manager | 2 January 1946
Years active | 1964–2021 |
Website | www.ledzeppelin.com |
Richard Cole (2 January 1946 – 2 December 2021) was an English music manager, who was involved in the rock music business from the mid-1960s to 2003. He is most known for having been the tour manager of English rock band Led Zeppelin from 1968 to 1980.
Early career
Cole was born in
Cole was drawn into the music business after meeting Richard Green, journalist for the Record Mirror, at the Marquee Club in 1965. Green suggested that Cole contact John Barker, the manager of pop band Unit 4 + 2, for a job as their road manager. Barker gave Cole the job, and he soon became one of rock's most respected tour managers, working for The Who in 1965 and The New Vaudeville Band in 1966. In 1967 Cole moved to the United States and worked for Vanilla Fudge as a sound engineer. When he heard that The Yardbirds were coming to the US in 1968, he contacted their manager Peter Grant, whom he had previously known when Grant was the manager of the New Vaudeville Band, and became their tour manager. When The Yardbirds dissolved shortly thereafter, Grant and Cole became the manager and tour manager respectively of Led Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin
Cole was one of the first tour managers to specialise in the American tours of English bands. Instead of hiring equipment in the United States and using an American crew to service the band, as was the custom until that point, Cole implemented the new practice of bringing over all the equipment and an entirely English crew. Cole claimed "I fucking reorganized that very sharply. I said 'Fuck that. Let's take our own equipment over there, wot we're used to working on'."[2] This practice subsequently became commonplace for other bands touring the US.[3]
On 23 December 1968, Cole booked Led Zeppelin into the
Cole was responsible for collecting box office takings and keeping receipts on behalf of the band for
In 1977, manager Peter Grant gave his approval for Cole to hire John Bindon to act as security co-ordinator for the band's concert tour of the United States. Bindon had previously provided security for actors Ryan and Tatum O'Neal. Towards the end of the tour, a major incident occurred during a concert at the Oakland Coliseum on 23 July 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.[7]
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 the removal of a dressing room sign), escalated into an all-out brawl in which Matzorkis was brutally beaten. Led Zeppelin's second Oakland show took place only after Bill Graham signed a letter of
Whilst tour manager for Led Zeppelin, Cole developed
Post-Led Zeppelin
After the end of his involvement with Led Zeppelin, Cole served as the tour manager for
Contributions to published accounts
Following Led Zeppelin's breakup in 1980, Cole contributed to unofficial Led Zeppelin biographies, most infamously Stephen Davis' biography Hammer of the Gods. Cole claimed he was only paid $1250 by Davis for his revelations, which make up a large proportion of the book. Davis for his part has claimed that Cole "was responsible for much of the mayhem around Led Zeppelin."[4]
In an interview with
These stories would filter out from girls who'd supposedly been in my room when in fact they'd been in his. That sort of atmosphere was being created, and we were quite tired of it. So eventually we relieved him of his position … And in the meantime he got paid a lot of money for talking crap. A lot of the time he wasn't completely …well. And so his view of things was permanently distorted one way or another.[12]
Cole also wrote his own book, an unofficial account of the band called
There's a book written by our former road manager, Richard Cole that has made me completely ill. I'm so mad about it that I can't even bring myself to read the whole thing. The two bits that I have read are so ridiculously false, that I'm sure if I read the rest I'd be able to sue Cole and the publishers. But it would be so painful to read that it wouldn't be worth it.
Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones expressed similar views about Cole's reliability, stating in a magazine interview that Cole's accounts are "a mish-mash of several stories put together, usually with the wrong endings and making us look like miserable bastards rather than the funsters we were."[13] Jones was so incensed at the depiction of John Bonham in Cole's book Stairway to Heaven that he decided never to speak to Cole again.[13] In an interview with PR-Inside online magazine, Jones also claimed when he had once asked Cole about why he'd exaggerated the group's behaviour for that book, Cole explained that "he'd been a drug addict who needed the money".[14]
Despite the bitterness felt by Plant, Page, and Jones about their former road manager, Cole was invited to the VIP section of the
Death
Cole died at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 2 December 2021, at the age of 75 after losing his battle from cancer.[16][17]
References in popular culture
Cole can be seen in several scenes of Led Zeppelin's concert film, The Song Remains the Same (1976).
Sources
- Cole, Richard, and Trubo, Richard (1992), Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored, New York: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-018323-3
- ISBN 0-7119-9195-2.
References
- ISBN 0-7119-9195-2, p. 37.
- ISBN 0-345-33516-3, p, 36.
- ^ Gary James, Interview with Richard Cole www.classicbands.com
- ^ a b Davis, Stephen (4 July 1985). "Power, Mystery And The Hammer Of The Gods: The Rise and Fall of Led Zeppelin". Rolling Stone. No. 451. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
- ISBN 1-85797-930-3, p, 68.
- ISBN 0-7119-5307-4, p.91
- ISBN 0-7119-9195-2.
- ISBN 978-1-84353-841-7.
- ISBN 0-06-018323-3, p. 367.
- ISBN 0-06-018323-3, pp. 368-370.
- ^ World Archipelago. "Richard Cole". HarperCollins US. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- ^ Snow, Mat (8 June 1985). "Percy Pulls It Off". New Musical Express. Archived from the original on 7 August 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
- ^ a b Snow, Mat, "The Secret Life of a Superstar", Mojo, December 2007.
- ^ "Led Zeppelin Bassist 'Disowns' Road Manager After Biographies - Blabbermouth.net". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- ^ "Paul Hammond at the Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert". Gtlorocks.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- ^ "Former Led Zeppelin road manager Richard Cole has died". Led Zeppelin News. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ Hall, James (7 December 2021). "Led Zeppelin's demon manager: the best – and worst – of Richard Cole". The Telegraph. (subscription required)
External links
- Interview with Richard Cole
- Richard Cole discography at Discogs