Our own editor Harvey Rae will spend next Tuesday, September 12 at Mojos Bar for a very special occasion, in conversation with revered rock manager, author, composer, record producer and film maker Simon Napier-Bell. In a Freo exclusive, Harvey speaks with one of popular music’s most influential practitioners.
As an Artist Manger, Napier-Bell has worked with The Yardbirds (feat Jimmy Page), Dusty Springfield, Ultravox, Marc Bolan and T-Rex, Japan, Asia, Candi Staton, Boney M, Sinéad O’Connor, and most famously he discovered George Michael and Wham.
Wham became the first Western band to ever tour China in the early 80s thanks to Napier-Bell’s persistence.
In Britain, Simon worked alongside Beatles and Stones’ managers Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham, taking notes and observing the workings of the music industry which he later applied to his artists, who all became household names.
He witnessed the explosion of punk rock, advised Malcolm McClaren and watched the birth of dance music and disco.
Simon also discovered Australia’s very own John Paul Young (in a bar of all places) – handing him his debut single Pasadena – originally intended for a female voice.
Simon’s composition credits include co-writing the 60s hit You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me first performed by Dusty Springfield, and then by Elvis Presley. He is the author of four best-selling books on popular music and recently directed two film documentaries.
Simon Napier-Bell, in conversation with X-Press Editor Harvey Rae, next Tuesday, September 12 at Mojos Bar. Tickets on the door.
