Starmakers and Svengalis: The History of British Pop Management

by Johnny Rogan

For the first time ever, the inside story of British pop management from 1955 to the present [published in 1988]. Johnny Rogan explores the diverse roles of the pop manager through a series of 17 case Larry Parnes, the great pioneer of British rock'n'roll; Ken Pitt, who nurtured Bowie to his first big hit - then lost him; Brian Epstein, the man behind the Beatles; Andrew Oldham, the Stones' supremo; Simon Napier-Bell - from the Yardbirds to Marc Boland to Wham!; the flamboyant and controversial Sex Pistols' svengali, Malcolm McLaren; enigmatic Joy Division/New Order manager, Rob Gretton - and many more. Rogan has interviewed scores of entrepreneurs over the years and his penetrating analyses of their grand designs, millionaire coups, litigious battles and spectacular falls brilliantly convey the perilous nature of pop management. These stories are not only intriguing in themselves but provide fresh insights into the careers of many of the most important artistes of our time. "Starmakers and Svengalis" is a cornucopia of charismatic characters, wealth, glamour, power, scandal, violence and tragedy; it is compulsive reading for anyone interested in popular culture or the evolution of the music business over the period of 30 years, up to the late 1980s.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Tosh]

Johnny Rogan went out and interviewed all the great British rock n' roll managers. As one can gather by some of my writing on this website as well as on my blog, I am totally obsessed with the 'creative' British manager.

This is a very good book, and I think it maybe out of print at the moment. Hoepfully it will come back in print.

[Nigel Sutcliffe]

Starmakers and Svengalis:
The History of British Pop Management by Johnny Rogan is a non-academic, well-researched book that explores the history of British pop management through case studies of iconic managers like Larry Parnes, Brian Epstein, and Andrew Oldham. The book, published in 1988, covers the period from 1955 to the late 1980s and is praised for its engaging and revealing stories about the music business, though some reviews note it is more of a personal opinion piece than a strictly factual account.

[Jordan Phizacklea-Cullen]

A paean to a (perhaps thankfully) lost era of the band manager as innovater as much as impresario, this is also a meticulously-researched (well before the age of the internet) study of British pop history, which has a well-rounded final assessment on what makes a great manager.