Robert Stigwood
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Robert Stigwood | |
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Born | Robert Colin Stigwood 16 April 1934 Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia |
Died | 4 January 2016 London, England | (aged 81)
Occupation(s) | Impresario, producer |
Years active | 1954–2016 |
Known for | Manager of: |
Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar, and film productions including the successful Grease and Saturday Night Fever.[1] On his death, one obituary judged that he had been for a time the most powerful tycoon in the entertainment industry: "Stigwood owned the record label that issued his artists’ albums and film soundtracks, and he also controlled publishing rights – not since Hollywood's golden days had so much power and wealth been concentrated in the hands of one mogul."[2]
Early life
Stigwood was born in 1934 in Port Pirie, South Australia,[3] the son of Gwendolyn (Burrows) and Gordon Stigwood,[4] an electrical engineer. He was educated at Sacred Heart College in Adelaide.[5]
He
Career
1960s pop management
He then met businessman Stephen Komlosy with whom he founded Robert Stigwood Associates Ltd, a small theatrical agency. He signed the actor John Leyton who soon became a teenage heart-throb in 1960 thanks to his appearance in a TV drama based on Biggles. Leyton had ambitions to sing, but was rejected by the major record companies; so Stigwood took him to the producer Joe Meek, who produced the singles "Tell Laura I Love Her" and "Girl on the Floor Above" (October 1960). According to Tony Kent (Meek's personal assistant at the time), although Meek was present at the recording for the latter, Stigwood assumed the role of dominant co-producer. Neither record made much impact, but Leyton's third single, "Johnny Remember Me", produced by Meek and released in the UK on 28 July 1961,[7] became a UK No.1 hit after Stigwood arranged for Leyton to perform it while playing the role of a fictional pop singer called Johnny St. Cyr, performing the song on the new Associated Television drama Harpers West One.[8] Stigwood and Meek licensed the song to EMI Records, who had previously refused the opportunity to sign Leyton for themselves.[6] This action put the men amongst the first independent record producers in the UK.[2]
Other artists Stigwood signed to a management/recording deal included
One of the first musical acts he managed during this period was Junco Partners, a blues band which succeeded
Some of the acts he promoted in the mid-60s lost Stigwood money, including UK tours by Chuck Berry and P. J. Proby, and he came close to bankruptcy during this period.[2][10]
In 1966 he began managing
Diversification
In 1967, at the suggestion of Beatles manager
Also during 1967, Stigwood purchased a controlling interest in Associated London Scripts, a writers' agency co-founded by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes in 1954, in which many of Britain's best comedy and television scriptwriters had been involved. Beryl Vertue from ALS was appointed as deputy chairman. Vertue was responsible for selling the formats to US producers of the TV series All in the Family and Sanford and Son, which were adapted from the popular British TV shows Till Death Us Do Part and Steptoe and Son.[12]
Stigwood produced the Broadway shows Hair and Oh! Calcutta! for the West End stage in 1968 and 1970 respectively. In 1971, he produced the first theatrical production of Jesus Christ Superstar - initially in the USA - beginning a successful working relationship with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice which continued later in the decade with Evita.
1970s to 1990s
Stigwood also moved into film and TV production in the early 1970s. By this time both of his major music acts were in the doldrums. The Bee Gees broke up briefly in 1970, and after reuniting they floundered for several years, reaching a self-acknowledged "rock bottom". At this time the former chart toppers were reduced to playing the working men's club circuit in northern England.
Although Cream had disbanded in late 1968, lead guitarist Eric Clapton remained in a contract with RSO. His next project, the highly-touted super-band
Soon afterwards, Clapton suggested the Bee Gees might also benefit from a change of scene, and so they moved with their band into the same house on Ocean Boulevard to record their album
Stigwood expanded into film production with success. His first feature film was a hit screen adaptation of
Stigwood signed actor John Travolta to a million dollar three-picture contract in 1976. Many in the film industry were reportedly sceptical, because Travolta was at that time known as a TV actor;[13] but RSO Films' next production, Saturday Night Fever, made him a leading movie star. The film had an unlikely source - a supposedly factual magazine article which Stigwood had licensed.[10] The double-LP soundtrack, written by and featuring the Bee Gees, became the biggest selling soundtrack album ever released. Stigwood followed this with a hugely successful film adaptation of the stage rock'n'roll musical Grease (1978), which co-starred Travolta and Australian singer Olivia Newton-John. Stigwood insisted that additional songs be added to the soundtrack, including the theme tune penned by Barry Gibb and songs by fellow Australian songwriter-producer John Farrar. Gibb and Stigwood's production partner Allan Carr convinced Stigwood to bring Frankie Valli on to sing the title track, though Valli distrusted Stigwood for the amount of control he exercised over bands under his tutelage and declined to do any further records for him.[14]
Not all of Stigwood's films were popular. The third film of his Travolta deal, Moment by Moment, which co-starred Lily Tomlin, was panned by critics and is credited with turning Travolta into 'box office poison'.[15] Also in 1978, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was another critical flop.
But of the 19 singles to hit the top of the Billboard charts in 1978, eight were from RSO.
Stigwood set up
Other notable films produced by Stigwood include
Later years
Stigwood remained active during his later years, primarily in musical theatre, taking a role in stage revivals of Grease and a theatrical adaptation of Saturday Night Fever. In 2005, he sold the Barton Manor estate on the Isle of Wight, which had been his home for many years.[18]
Stigwood was homosexual.[19]
Death
Stigwood died in London on 4 January 2016, aged 81.[20][21][22]
Major productions
Stage musicals
- Hair
- Oh! Calcutta!
- The Dirtiest Show in Town
- Sing a Rude Song
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Pippin
- John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert
- Tony Award for Best Musical in the US)
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- Saturday Night Fever
Films
- Jesus Christ Superstar (as co-producer)
- Tommy
- Bugsy Malone (as executive producer)
- Saturday Night Fever
- Grease
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Moment by Moment
- Times Square
- Fame (as soundtrack producer)
- The Empire Strikes Back (as soundtrack producer)
- The Fan
- Gallipoli
- Grease 2
- Staying Alive
- Evita
Other
- Music for UNICEF Concert (as organiser and executive producer)
References
- General
- Tony Kent Holloway Road Hit Factory (Radio Interview, 2007)
- Simon Napier-Bell: You Don't Have To Say You Love Me (Ebury Press, 1998)
- Johnny Rogan: Starmakers & Svengalis: The History of British Pop Management (Macdonald Queen Anne Press, 1988, ISBN 0-356-15138-7)
- Frank Rose: "How Can You Mend A Broken Group? The Bee Gees Did It With Disco" Rolling Stone, 14 July 1977
- Ruhlmann, William. "Robert Stigwood > Biography". Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- Specific
- ^ Ruhlmann
- ^ a b c d "Robert Stigwood obituary". The Guardian. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "Robert Stigwood, music mogul behind Bee Gees, dies age 81". Abc.net.au. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "Robert Stigwood Biography (1934-)". Filmreference.com. 16 April 1934. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ Late Port Pirie-raised music mogul Robert Stigwood who changed the entertainment world The Advertiser, 5 January 2016. Accessed 6 January 2016.
- ^ a b c "RSO prod | Robert Stigwood Part 1". Rsoprod.com. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "John Leyton – Johnny Remember Me". 45cat.com. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
- ^ "Harpers West One". IMDb.com. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
- ^ "Blues in Britain". Freespace.virgin.net. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ a b c "Robert Stigwood: Impresario who managed the Bee Gees". The Independent. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "The Beatles definitely did not like Robert Stigwood | BeatlesHistorian.com gives a unique part of Beatles history every week covering Beatles topics not found elsewhere". Beatleshistorian.com. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "Coupling is back! – Biography – Beryl Vertue (executive producer)", BBC Press Office, 16 June 2004
- ^ Kashner, Sam (15 August 2013). "Fever Pitch". Vanityfair.com. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ Willman, Chris (27 August 2023). "Frankie Valli on the Four Seasons' Legacy and Their Massive New 45-Disc Boxed Set: 'We Didn't Want to Try to Sound Like Anybody Else'". Variety. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ^ Ron Weiskind "Movies: Who's a has-been and who still has it in Hollywood", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (magazine), 22 April 2001
- ^ Sisario, Ben (5 January 2016). "Robert Stigwood, Impresario of Rock, Film and Stage, Is Dead at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- The Weekend Australian, 25 April 2020, p.13, Section: Review
- ^ "Exceptional country house estates for sale - Country Life". Countrylife.co.uk. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ Keith Stern Queers in History, Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books, 2009, p. 434
- ^ "Bee Gees Manager Robert Stigwood Dies at 81". Kolotv.com. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ Pocklington, Rebecca (4 January 2016). "Robert Stigwood dies aged 81: Former manager of the Bee Gees and famed film producer passes away". Mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ "Disco-era Film and Music Producer Robert Stigwood Dies at 81". Voice of America. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
External links
- Robert Stigwood at IMDb
- Joseph Brennan: Gibb Songs website
- The Knitting Circle: Popular Music
- Disraeli Gears Cream website
- Saturday Night Fever – The Musical website: Robert Stigwood biography
- Jenni Olson: "Times Square: Cult Classic Revival at Chicago Filmmakers" from OUTLINES (September 1995)
- Robert Stigwood at the Internet Broadway Database