What Makes a Great A&R ? ….Part 4

OK so what makes me qualified to tell you what makes a GREAt A&R ? ….Simple I AM A GREAT A&R…I signed :

Loose Ends
Maxi Priest
Inner City
Soul II Soul
LeftField
MN8
Grooverider
DJ Rap
Mantronix
Pressure Drop

and sadly quite a few that weren't successful……………..but that's part of an A&R's life….no A&R has anything better than a 20% success rate…..the music business is a business based on failure and rejection so it's important to enjoy your successes and accept the failures with dignity…..that may sound harsh,especially for the artists who,for whatever reason,didn't achieve the success that hoped and dreamed they would have….

I signed 3 artists who I signed that I still listen to and simply can't understand why they weren't huge…it causes me great pain even to this day…they are

Temper Temper
Floy Joy
Johnson

all 3 made brilliant albums….Temper Temper ( Melanie Williams and Eric Gooden ) made what I think is the greatest British Soul album ever….beg,borrow or steal a copy !
I was the first A&R to ask Don Was to produce any artist other than Was Not Was…he produced 2 Floy Joy albums for me ,including " Weak In The Presence of Beauty " that was a huge hit for Alison Moyet….and in so doing he met Gemma ..they've been married for over 20 years..A&R isn't just about the music…it's alchemy…putting great people together…
Johnson…Noah and Raine recorded a BRILLIANT album Produced by Andrew Hale from Sade…it's a wonderful collection of great songs…how it wash't HUGE is beyond me….again beg,borrow or steal a  copy …the album is called " Hard Mouth To Feed "…



So next post will be about how and why I became the GREAT A&R I am……..

I AM The Soul Guru…...