I was island EVP/General Manger for Chris for two years and while the comments talk about his A&R expertise and his tremendous ability to foresee the way music was going, I’ll write about Chris as a label chief. He gave the staff extraordinary freedom to market and promote, never interfering or second-guessing what we did. I never had such freedom at any major labels where I was worked. This led to successes with U2, Melissa Etheridge, Anthrax and others. If he trusted you and your ability, you were home free.

Bill Berger

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I worked for CB (as he was known to us) when I was 20. He gave me my first proper industry job – The University of CB as I call it.

Obsessed by Island Records & the man who had signed so many artists I heard and loved growing up, I had travelled to NY – crashing on the sofa of a friend – expressly to try and meet & work for Chris.

Like so many people who have worked for, or with Chris, we have numerous anecdotes that shaped the executives and people we are today – I have literally dozens & I owe him so much.

What always struck me about Chris – and indeed this is a trait of almost every successful individual I have ever encountered  – was his remarkable and indefatigable curiosity. What did you do at the weekend? Where did you go out? What records were getting a reaction? Who produced it? What’s the best film you’ve seen in the last week? Who directed and who wrote it?

Chris is a visionary entrepreneur who is able to connect with and enable creatives in a way that is unsurpassed – always with dignity and class. Never compromising integrity. His instincts are ungodly and when he’s got a plan…. get with it, or get the fuck out the way!

I asked Chris on a number of occasions when I was with him why he hadn’t written a book – he shrugged it off. It wasn’t his style.

It was always about the artists and their art, and I guess the idea of a book felt incongruous. But I’m so glad he finally did it – his story is important. I can’t wait to read it.
Legend.

Will Bloomfield

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Reading the other folks’ Chris Blackwell stories, I recalled that I have a few of my own. First one was when I was doing a cover story on him for Gavin. He’s an easy interview. You just go down the list of all the amazing artists he worked with, and just check off the list. When we got to Marianne Faithful, he asked if I could hold one a few seconds, he had to take a quick call. I was on hold for 45 minutes, and when he popped back on the line, he dove right into a Marianne story. He didn’t miss a beat. When I got to Bob Marley, I told him that I’d seen the Wailers at the Boarding House in SF, July 4th, 1975. He remembered one amazing thing about that tour, that the band would come out and Bob with sing with his back to the audience and would only turn around once the band was cooking. Sure enough, he was right! When I got to asking about Steve Winwood, he told me nicely that he just couldn’t reply. Winwood had left the label, and he frankly told me he was unable to talk about it. We did a few events with him for Gavin, and he was always elegantly informal. A friend of mine, drummer David Beal who I met through another great drummer, Michael Shrieve, ended up working with Chris on some early music film DVD projects in New York. So when David hit San Francisco, he gave me a call, asking if I wanted to meet up for a drink. We met at a little dive bar in the Mission, and there sat fucking Chris Blackwell, as informal as ever, the most under-dressed dude in the room, flip flops, etc. I recall he wore a dark hoodie with Havana written across the front. I was amused that the other folks in the bar, mostly kids, probably had no idea they were in the midst of such greatness. When I left Gavin to go to a startup, we talked again…can’t remember the circumstances. But I do remember him asking me if I knew of any hotels for sale. As a matter of fact, I told him that the grand old Claremont Hotel in Berkeley was said to be on the block. I wonder if he checked into it. I still have his email address. I wonder if it’s still valid…

Kent Zimmerman

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when I was doing A & R for colorblind A&M in the early 90s , we were trying to sign Tracy Bonham.  At her showcase at the knitting factory in ny ny,  nearly everybody was there

Al Cafaro , showed up last minute  wearing a big black cowboy hat.  It was already too late. Chris had already given Tracy a beautiful 50s Gretsch guitar as a party favor.  The rest is history .  she went on to have her big hit “mother mother “ shortly Thereafter.

Anthony J. Resta

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Hi Bob — I never met Chris and have no stories to add, except these two:  when I worked at CBS Records during the 1970’s, in the Epic Records group, we shared the 13th floor of Black Rock with CBS Records International.  CBS Records International distributed Island in parts of the world and Island releases were always available if you knew who to ask from the International promotion and PR staff.  Those Jamaican albums were wonderful.  U-Roy, Mighty Diamonds, I-Roy, in particular, truly fueled my love for the music.

We got Stanley Clark on the bill when Bob Marley & the Wailers played Madison Square Garden.  I still say that was the greatest show I have ever had the pleasure of attending.  The entire social and ethnic fabric of New York together that night in the Garden, from babes in arms to the elderly, grandmas and grandpas, all swaying together in harmony to Marley.  It was an absolutely magical evening.

Jim Charne

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Chris was the first record company person I met. It was 1969 and he along with legendary manager John Gaydon (King Crimson, Roxy Music and other British greats ) came to Beverly Hills mansion I shared with my boss Jerry Goldstein. Chris had a cool and laid back style. He was with his elegant black girl friend named Esther. We all have great memories, the lists of artists he discovered and how great a ‘record man’ he is.

I love his style… I remember his desk always had a bowl of pistachios, fresh fruit and a huge poster behind him  that said in enormous letters..”WHEN YOU DON’T PROMOTE A TERRIBLE THING HAPPENS’, and in tiny type below was the word ’nothing’. Cool running, jeans, black leather motorcycle jacket, and sandals. Always gracious  and interested in music. I have kept in touch over the years and will be sending my edition to Jamaica for his signature.

Bruce Garfield

Haven’t read the book, but will soon. I know many of the stories and made a few with the legend himself albeit briefly, but as much as anyone I’ve encountered on my music journey, Chris Blackwell was the coolest,  and shrewdest I was lucky enough to learn from and smoke many a phat joints with. (How many people can say Chris picked them up in a helicopter in Kingston, flew to his hotel home at Golden Eye and then jumped on individual jet skis and raced him around the island? I did!)  Chris was James Bond with a spliff sans the gun.

I met Chris in 1988 through Marty Schwartz, who was working at Island Pictures. He had hired my partner Matt Dike to DJ a party he was throwing for a movie premiere. Matt had told Marty about a label he was starting and Marty was eager to please Chris (as anyone who worked for Chris would know could lead to bigger and better things) and set up a meeting for us to meet him. We had been shopping a tape of rappers we were producing at the time for our one year old indie label Delicious Vinyl. We had already self distributed  12” records on Tone Loc, Young MC, Mellow Man Ace and Def Jef and was hoping it was just a matter of time we would start getting some interest from majors, as we were running low on money and muscle, but getting lots of airplay on KDAY here in LA.

Well thanks to Marty, Chris took a meeting with us and as much as he may have liked what he heard, I got the impression he saw something in us that may have reminded him of starting Island 28 yrs earlier. He respected the fact we were doing it all ourselves, and he also knew hip hop was here to stay, as he had just had a taste of it with Eric B and Rakim on his 4th and Broadway label.

Anyway, long story short, he gave us a 50k advance, which was 10 times what we started the label with and a 16 point royalty. I remember sitting with him in his backyard above the Chateau Marmont, 26 yrs old, wet behind the ears, high on his weed, with a lawyer I had hired from the yellow pages, negotiating with him on things I knew nothing about regarding packaging deductions and 75% on sales of CD’s and shit that would cost us a ton of bread when we delivered our first album Tone Loc “Loc’ed After Dark”.  Who knew? Chris knew.  lol.

But, he also was quick to let us renegotiate that horrible deal less than a year later, (with our new lawyer, the great Peter Paterno) before we dropped our second album, Young MC’s “Stone Cold Rhymin”.  I remember telling him I wish I knew then what I knew now, and he just laughed. It was like, welcome to the record business kid.

Being in biz with Chris as we were starting to have success just made the process so much easier for a couple of young cocky DJ’s turned hip hop producers who thought are shit didn’t stink. He spoke our language and was as excited about music as we were. How lucky were we? We didn’t even know at the time.

He would put us up at the legendary Essex House in NYC, which I only knew about through SNL commercials as a kid. Lol. (He had a fly penthouse there ) We had access to his houses for videos and anyone on the Island roster for features or collaborations. We got to work with the legendary Etta James for a feature on the Def Jef underground classic “Dropping Rhymes on Drums” He flew us to DC to work and produce tracks with our Go Go idols, Trouble Funk. He basically gave us the keys to his castle so we could flex and make a name for our label. Who does that these days?

Unfortunately, Camelot with Blackwell ended as quickly as it started. Unbeknownst to us, he was about to sell Island to Polygram for like 300 million bucks.

We went from being the young hot label at Island, working with the great Chris Blackwell as our boss to being thrown into a corporate shit show of labels consolidated under an umbrella called PLG.  Talk about a buzz kill. I won’t go into that tragedy, but let’s just say it was never the same again. Yes, records were made and sold, but it became a lot harder, much more cut throat, and a lot less fun.

I always wonder what would have happened if we could have had a 10 year run with Chris instead of those 18 months.  Who knows, but I’m grateful I got to know the man and learn from him and chase his wake on that jet ski going full throttle!

Mike Ross
Delicious Vinyl

Richie Furay was a member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco and the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band and has a new album of country covers produced by Val Garay. Richie is open and honest and tells a good story. You’re gonna dig the insider truth.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/richie-furay/id1316200737?i=1000564949441

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/5dfe49ad-da21-465c-a151-d70b52db04ce/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-richie-furay

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/richie-furay-203695341

He’s big everywhere but Texas. And maybe Santa Barbara. But in the rest of America HE SELLS OUT!

This is the artist development story of the year, and it’s been growing for the last half decade. Strings is finally breaking through.

You might have seen him briefly during the Grammy telecast, then again he was on that outdoor stage playing during commercial, so if you blinked, you missed him. And nobody watched the Grammy telecast anyway, at least no one on the cutting edge, who believes in music as opposed to stardom.

You won’t find Billy Strings in the Spotify Top 50. His success is not hit-based.

Used to be success of this magnitude was impossible without a ton of radio play on a specific track. But the recordings are not selling Billy Strings tickets, it’s the experience. As opposed to going out with production, hard drives, click tracks…his performances are organic, they evidence humanity, and that’s the essence of attraction. Machines are cold, blood is warm.

Now if you read through the concert grosses you’ll notice that they don’t align with the aforementioned Spotify Top 50. That’s a different game. Of course Olivia Rodrigo is doing well, but almost all of the big sellers are heritage acts. However, these numbers can be skewed, by virtue of who is on tour, the venues they’re playing, what they’re charging for tickets, was the gross even reported… But in truth, most of today’s hit music is not live-based, it’s recording-based, and the two worlds don’t necessarily align.

So Billy Strings sold an average of 4,457 tickets per show. For a gross of $251,545 per gig. Selling 94% of the tickets available.

Strings went clean at Red Rocks. 18,650 tickets for a gross of $1,78,178. Tickets were only $55 to $60, and Red Rocks is like the Hollywood Bowl, stuff sells out there that doesn’t elsewhere, but notice this is a different ethos from the touring dinosaurs. Tickets are cheap because music is the draw, as opposed to image. Yes, there was an article about Strings in “Relix,” but you won’t find him on the gossip sites, you don’t know who he’s dating, you don’t see him in TV commercials. Strings is the antithesis of the twenty first century paradigm, which is you maximize your income right away, because you may not last.

Strings only did 98% in Saint Augustine, Florida. But there were three shows. 13,637 tickets were sold. The gross was $720,261. Tickets were $39.50 to $74.50.

Like I said, Strings couldn’t sell every ticket in Santa Barbara, he only sold 80% of two gigs. Then again, the second was on Sunday, and it’s always harder to move tickets on that day as opposed to Friday and Saturday. But Strings grossed $518,755 on 7,859 tickets priced from $39.50 to $84.50.

Strings sold out two shows in Cincinnati $8,653 for a gross of $376,783. And tickets were under a hundred dollars, as they were for all of the Strings shows.

Strings went clean in Austin, which is almost a separate state from the rest of Texas, 4,374 tickets sold for a gross of $275,423.

Clean in San Diego: 4,370 sold for a gross of $220,235.

Clean in Denver at the Mission Ballroom: 3,803/$212,940.

But Strings was “soft” in Irving, TX, 84% sold: 3,641/$196,849.

Clean in Boston: 3,500/$176,086.

Clean in Cleveland: 3,119/$169,105.

54% in Houston: 2,512/$138,831. But that was a Thursday night in April. And that’s the last gig/gross Billy Strings has on the chart.

Now if you’ve been paying attention, you know that Kate Bush has a #1 record with “Running Up That Hill” as a result of the track being featured in the new season of “Stranger Things.” Most of the talk is about the value of a synch. But really, that’s not what I think is important. I believe this is an INTERNET story. Used to be product had to be manufactured, labels would have to promote it to radio, there was an inherent delay, momentum was lost and therefore most companies didn’t even try to amplify the use of a catalog cut. But with everything available online instantly, if you hear something you like you can immediately play it.

And anyone around back then, in 1985 when the track was originally released, knows “Running Up That Hill” is both different and better than what’s being sold today. Come on, compare it to the rest of the Spotify Top 50, it’s not even in the LEAGUE!

And we’ve seen this story again and again with the internet. The most famous example being that Fleetwood Mac song being featured in that TikTok clip.

You see greatness never fades, it’s just waiting for the light to shine on it once again, for new generations to be exposed.

Now “Running Up That Hill” went to #3 in the U.K. back in the eighties, but nowhere close in the U.S. They say it went to #30, but I don’t know a single person who got turned on to Kate Bush by Top 40 radio. There must have been some sales. But there was MTV airplay. But the video was not ubiquitous. But Kate Bush is an entire ethos, outside the mainstream, I remember buying “The Kick Inside” and being stunned at her voice and loving “Wuthering Heights.” Bush wasn’t even mainstream back then.

But all the gatekeepers have changed.

And in truth it is the public that is the gatekeeper.

So youngsters drive fresh product made for them up the chart, and this is promoted, but it’s only a small part of the music world today, many never listen to these “hits” at all. They’re foraging for something different, heartfelt songs. With melodies. Which is one of the reasons Morgan Wallen’s double album “Dangerous” is still Top Ten eighteen months in.

And there’s the whole player community. Keeping the music stores alive. People who marvel at playing. And that’s very different from the hit parade. Where it’s computer beats or some nitwit singing a song written by committee selected by their handlers and released in a gussied-up, overproduced final version.

We are going to see more examples of the Billy Strings paradigm.

And I’m not saying it’s going to dominate the business. It takes years to get the word out, to permeate every community, but that’s where the internet helps. And you don’t need radio AT ALL! And since the shows live and breathe, are different each time, you want to go back and experience it again.

I don’t think you’ll get it if you pull up Strings’s songs on Spotify. It’s not like he’s got a transcendent voice. But you will hear the picking. But it’s all refined, aligned in the studio. Whereas live, it’s a CELEBRATION!

And we all know you can only get this hit at the show. Web streams can’t compete, they’re a poor facsimile.

Strings is gonna get bigger. But who is the next Strings? Someone who’s been doing it for years, practicing in the shadows, not spamming the labels to sign them for an instant hit.

This is a great story, I can’t wait for more!

Bob, I worked with Chris for almost 11 years. From 1989 to 2000.  He is a true legend, a true entrepreneur and truly loved by almost everyone who’s lives he touched. He was literally the James Bond of the music business. A style of doing business and dealing with artists that was simply unique.   Her thought global when most thought local. Almost everything I’ve learned in the music and any meager success I may have had I owe to Chris Blackwell and his tutelage.

Larry Mestel

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Chris Blackwell. there is absolutely nothing to say, other then he was the true essence of what some call a “record man”. the artists ALWAYS mattered more then the money. a great song or album (on anyone’s label) excites him more then how much money he or they were making.

what he did at Island, was true magnificence! the label was all about the talent and it revolved around his core beliefs and loves as a human being within the world as he saw it. he taught us that music is a universal language and sent me on my path of discovering that alternative music was not about charts, but about feelings. those that spoke languages we did not understand, but made us groove and dance and laugh and cry.

sure, we all remember him bringing Bob Marley and U2 to the world, but it was so much more. Traffic, King Sunny Ade, Ali Farka Toure, Nick Drake, John Martyn, the B-52’s, Fairport Convention, Jimmy Cliff, Sly & Robbie, Toots and the Maytals, Joe Cocker, Tom Tom Club as well as the aforementioned Free, Cat Stevens, Marianne Faithful, Grace Jones, Tom Waits and so many, many more.

genius is a word that gets thrown around so casually and i am not sure what it’s true meaning is anymore, but i believe it is held up for those that reach higher and deeper then us mere mortals and therefore affect change in the world. Chris Blackwell is a all of that and more. he has always been my guiding light and i am forever in his debt in more ways then he will ever know.

long may he run…

Gary Gersh

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It was 86-88 when Chris Blackwell offered me a job at Island Pictures. I had just completed the Rock of the 80’s TV Series for Paramount, then TV development for Pierre Cossette Prod. I had one hand in music the other in TV/film. Having written a few screenplays I was trying to sell ideas…always a tough call in LA.

Chris saw that and gave me an office at Island Pics.

I met Matt Dike who had a club….Power Tools in downtown LA, where few traveled at that time.

I hired Matt to DJ a Island film release party for Mondo New York.

To this day Power Tools was the coolest club ever, Matt had GO GO cages hanging from the 30’ ceilings.

Studio 54, Limelight, etc could not compare to Power Tools.

Later, Matt played me tracks he made at his loft on Santa Monica.

Tone Loc’s WildThing, Young MC’s Bust a Move… among the tracks.

I called Chris and asked if he would sign these guys, Delicious Vinyl.

He did on the spot, I called friends at KROQ, had lunch with Lee Masters Prez MTV at the Sunset Marquee.

A few days later Wild Thing went on power rotation at KROQ and MTV.

The rest is history.

That is Chris Blackwell, he had what all great record guys have..gut instincts, great ears, and the will to move on it.

They don’t make em like that anymore.

Chris is eternal as is the music he championed.

Marty Schwartz,

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Hey Bob,
thanks for the heads up, can’t wait to read it.

Even though I’ve only met the man once, it was a memorable encounter and hands down one of those magic nights that only seem to happen in New York or LA. It was September 10, 2010, Fashion’s Night Out (a questionable but very fun attempt to get people spending again after 2008/09) when all the major stores in NYC were open late, full with special events and appearances all over town.

Chris Blackwell had a book signing for the just released The Story of Island Records: Keep On Running at Barneys, and I went with my friend Lori who had been Branson’s right-hand for 25 years and knew him that way. As we get there, I see Chris signing and chatting with the admirers standing in line, but as I turn around, another one of my heroes, Harry Belafonte, is casually browsing the cashmere sweaters on the shelf. Of course, he was there to support his friend Chris, so I respectfully kept my distance and just enjoyed the scenery. My friend Lori comes back from talking to Chris and says he’s inviting us to come to his house after, would I like to go? Hmm, let me check my schedule and have my people call your people… OF COURSE I want to go. This night is getting better by the minute.

We get to Blackwell’s penthouse on the Upper West Side, which stretches across the whole building, filled with amazing photos from many of the Island acts, especially those of Marley. It’s a small gathering, and there’s a dreadlocked dude working the iTunes in Chris’ living room, where a few fine ladies are eager to dance. But… this must be the only Jamaican in New York who doesn’t know how to rock a crowd, I mean I was shocked how bad his music selection was, and this at Chris friggin’ Blackwell’s house?! No way will these lovely dancehall queens be deprived! Long story short, the guy let me, the white boy, take over, I plug in my iPhone and start DJ’ing (it helped that I had a DJ residency at Lenny Kravitz & Denzel Washington’s Bowery lounge at the time, so I had jams on standby), and we’re off to the races, everybody startin’ to get down.

Now, and you can’t make this up, as if on cue, in STRUTS Grace Jones in a hoodie, miniskirt, and high heels, and starts to “breakdance”!!! in the middle of the floor. In high heels. Needless to say, I was in total bliss mode, you couldn’t wipe off that grin on my face, even more so afterward when she came up to me, we hugged it out and ended up talking for a good half an hour.

As the night progresses, I make my way into the kitchen, where Chris is holding court with pals, among them our mutual friend Tommy Silverman, legendary label founder of Tommy Boy Records in his own right. I’m thinking, but of course Tommy is here, it all makes sense, movers and shakers always stay within close proximity to each other, game recognizes game.

Chris, ever the cool gentleman, then sits me down at his kitchen island and we start to chat after he pours me a big glass of his own Blackwell Rum punch while his Jamaican chef is whipping up delicious food for everyone. For a music fanboy like myself, that night was a slice of heaven.

Fredrick Weiss

PS: I did run into Harry Belafonte at a movie screening a couple of years later and got the chance to meet that legend then, as well.

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Jim was VP of sales at Island from 84 to 87. I was running Tower 4th&Broadway for part of that time. Upstairs/Downstairs. Chris traveled light; same white leather jeans which he’d pair with a t-shirt from whatever airport gift shop(s) he happened to depart from that day.

That was indeed, the High Life.

Randi Swindel

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One of the highlights of my 15 year stint in the music business was sharing a spliff which Blackwell rolled from one of my cigarettes in the Chelsea offices of Kurfirst-Blackwell Entertainment and Palm Pictures where I was an intern back in 2004. The truth was that even Blackwell still got nervous before interviews and needed the calming effect of cannabis to get through it. Reading your perception that you didn’t truly know him after 320 pages makes me wonder if revealing too much of himself in the interview was part of the anxiety.

-Stu Walker

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You are right on U2, Bob
I remember listen to The Fly the first time in the car with me dad. He pulled over so we could listen to the song. We didn’t understand the song, it was so far behind of everything else you heard those dats on the radio.
It was indeed spectacular!

I bought Achting Baby and it was so great.

Kris Keijser

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Hey Bob,
I know exactly how it was.
I worked through all of it.
So I’m really looking forward to reading “The Islander”.
Great review.
Thanks.
Michael Wright

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I LOVE Chris Blackwell. Before I could sign my contract with Island Records in 1988 I had to go meet Chris at his house.

I was getting the biggest deal Island had ever given a new artist so I thought I was special but I really wasn’t.

Turns out Chris wanted to talk to me about my weird blend of Hendrix meets James Brown guitar funk rock and to maybe get me into a Latin Rock thing.

He said he thought the world was ready for a new young Carlos Santana on guitar.

I was like Huh??? Then I explained that I was not Mexican but I was a Native American Apache and I did not speak Spanish.

I could tell he was a little bugged that I wasn’t into it but he was cool and I signed the contract.

When he would be in the Island office in London, NYC or Hollywood people would all be nervous but I would just walk in and talk to him about all the amazing music he had been responsible for that I loved like Blind Faith, Nick Drake and the amazing My Boy Lollipop which I loved as a kid. He was amazing to talk to about music history.

Chris would walk into a semi formal room of ballers with a pair of sandals and a Hawaiian print shirt and sometimes get asked to leave when people thought he was a bum.

I LOVED that and I really loved that I got to work with him.

Stevie Salas

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Ref:Chris Blackwell

Looking forward to this book.

In the UK Island was VERY well known to music nerds in the 70’s.

The label logo, either the pink one or the cartoon palm tree one, was a signifier of quality, of something different, exciting, bold.

The first Roxy Music album, mind bending, like something beamed in from Mars, Free – how could they be so authentically gritty, they were teenagers, King Crimson – reinvented and unrecognizable with every release, Sparks – deranged subversive pop with a smile and a bite, Marley – spreading the gospel of Jamaica to  the world, and of course,THAT voice – with Spencer Davis, then with Traffic and then solo, that VOICE – undeniable.

If it was on Island, I went out and bought it – simple as that.

Mark Hudson

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Thanks, Bob, for this piece on Chris Blackwell – his story needs more telling.  I’ve got a little-known story about him that may surprise some people.  In 1986, before Chris asked Lou Maglia to be the president of Island Records, Lou was casting about between gigs and finding himself in a moment of, shall we say, ‘personal reflection’. Somehow, through a network of music biz connections too byzantine to recount, Lou decided to take an interest in helping a small indie label I was working at in Sacramento called Exit Records.  The twist here is that the label was run by a somewhat radical group of evangelical Christian musicians who also had a desire to do some rather hip and artistic music at a time when neither of those terms were associated with the church and/or pop music in general.  However, after Amy Grant broke through on A&M Records, Exit was able to glom onto that association and managed to get secular distribution on A&M for a time, but we wanted more.  Much more.  And it was at that time when Lou stepped in and actually began trying to help us turn our big dumb thoughts on ‘changing the world for God’ with our music into a reality.

It wasn’t long into that relationship that Lou got the call from Chris Blackwell to come and manage Island Records.  Lou agreed to the gig, with one caveat — that he be allowed to bring our little indie label with a handful of artists (including Charlie Peacock, The 77s and others) into the deal.  We knew this was an insane move on Lou’s part (and we begged him to leave out the religious aspect of our work), but since Chris had already planned a trip to Japan shortly before calling Lou, Chris agreed to fly to Sacramento to come check out our artists and do an “in person” audition at the church we were doing all this at.  We didn’t tell him it was a church, though, for fear of spooking him out, so we tried “sanitizing” the church by removing all manner of anything that would give us away.  Fortunately, since we met in an industrial warehouse space, this wasn’t too difficult to do, but I am beyond confident that Chris saw through the whole silly ruse.

Chris arrived in his characteristic flip flops, shorts and Hawaiin shirt and sat through the auditions one by one.  Suitably impressed, he made his way to the pastor’s office (the pastor’s wife was running the label) to ‘talk business’.  I sat there spellbound, taking in this decidedly worldly man and his calm and relaxed demeanor.  He was most definitely a man of leisure, yet so coolly and calmly passionate about music.  He gave my band a lot of encouragement and told us to get out on the road and start playing lots of clubs (good advice that we took to heart). Then, surprisingly, he decided to cancel his trip to Japan and fly back to New York to ink a “P&D” deal for our label with Island, a situation that was thrilling for all of us.

Unfortunately, shortly after bringing our little label into Island, U2 came out with The Joshua Tree and the entire 30 member staff had to go gonzo 24/7 in order to barely keep up with that level of success.  We got a lot of good press and other perks from Island, but, in point of fact, even other artists who were signed around the same time we were (like our idols The Comsat Angels) were not able to gain much ground sales-wise, given the momentous task it was for a comparatively ’boutique’ label to keep up with a monster album like The Joshua Tree.  Indeed, it would take the entire Atlantic/Atco/Warners machinery to handle it and Island was hanging onto their wigs and keys just trying to keep up.  I’ll bet that U2 would have sold tons more copies of Joshua had it come out on CBS or one of the other majors, but the band remained loyal to Chris, which says a lot.

The only reason I’m telling you all this is that Chris did something for us that he didn’t have to do, and he did it at personal inconvenience to himself simply to please his new label president who happened to take an interest in a ragtag group of musicians trying to do something different.  I have never forgotten his kindness, and I learned a hell of a lot about the music business that I would have never known otherwise.

MICHAEL ROE

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I’ve Been following your posts for many years now. Always an interesting read. Our band is still making music and touring (thanks to our loyal fans as there is no radio that supports new music from vintage artists unfortunately). Look forward to checking out the Chris Blackwell book.

There is a direct connection with Glass Tiger and Island Records. They were the first record label to show interest in the band and helped us cut our early demos. Chris even flew to Canada to see us at a small local pub in Bradford Ontario called “The Village Inn”. We were convinced we would be the next act to get signed by Island in 1986 however as soon as Chris shook our hand we knew it wasn’t in the cards. Our early songs had a tinge of the U2 sound and I guess that was too close for him.

His right hand guy, Doug Chappell here in Canada was our first music industry “believer” and worked hard to get us across the finish line with Island. He sat in on our rehearsals and studio sessions but Chris didn’t hear it so he passed on us. Doug would later leave Island because of that issue. Wasn’t the first time that Doug would find a cool new band and Chris would put the boots to it.

Thankfully we also had Capitol Records interested at the time and because of Island’s interest they pushed harder to sign us. We played the Island deal against the Capitol deal and the rest is history – signed with Capitol in 1985 and released our “Thin Red Line” debut album in 1986.

I remember being super nervous that Chris Blackwell was in the audience for that showcase, he represented some super cool bands and I loved the diversity in acts that Island had on their roster. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened to Glass Tiger if we signed with Island. Hard to say! We had an awesome run and are coming up to our 40th year together so no complaints!

Thanks Bob,

Sam Reid (Glass Tiger)

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In the early 1990s I stayed at the Marlin Hotel in Miami Beach at a time when Blackwell was intermittently living in the hotel in his own suite. He owned a number of properties in the area but the Marlin was his favorite.  It was still during the Art Deco Miami revival, and everything about the hotel was hip. Everyone was beautiful. I remember the restaurant was Jamaican-themed and served great authentic jerk chicken.

During our stay I hoped we’d bump into him as we heard he liked to party with guests on occasion. But it was not to be. Nevertheless, my stay was a memorable one, and for someone who was on the road living in hotels at least 100 nights a year for a few decades, that’s saying a lot.

Barry K. Herman, MD, MMM

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Hi Bob,

One of the many reasons I’m happy to have grown up as a kid in the UK. We had Island Records, we had “pirate” radio, who played Island Records, and we had bands -on- Island records that toured the UK regularly. This was “normal life” for us, and we reveled in the luxury of a massively diverse musical culture played in disparate venues. The Oval cricket ground? Yep. The Big Apple in Brighton with the bouncing floor? Absolutely. Rock, reggae, punk, you name it, we had it, and didn’t realize that we had an “edge” on the world of music back then. Blackwell was a music god when I was probably too young to understand what that meant and was dancing at the “youth club” to Monkey Man by Toots and the Maytals. It took years for the US to catch up.. by which time the UK had lost its edge and become corporate junk.

Still miss those days. Thanks for your insightful articles.. 🙂

Jill Henley- now a grandmother, but still a rock chick at heart.

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Maestro,

Love your review of the Blackwell book.

Chris Blackwell is a National Treasure of Jamaica.

Jamaica is a blessed place to have produced so many geniuses. The Greatest Black leader in history, Marcus Garvey who had 6 million followers in the 1930s, long before the internet and social networks!!!

Bob Marley the most important musician of our times. Usain Bolt the greatest runner of all time.

So let’s add to that list, the greatest record man of all time, Chris Blackwell. He created the most progressive and coolest record company in history, Island Records. But with all off this he is still totally unassuming and humble.

There are only 2 pictures of Chris and Bob Marley together as Chris didnt want to appear to be a svengali as Bob didn’t need any help as he was already a genius!!

When Bob was stranded in London in the early 70s, Chris gave Bob US$8000 on a handshake with no contract. No other human would have done this and the executives as Island Records gave Chris hell for this and said he would never see this money again as these were crazy Jamaicans who were going back to Jamaica with his money !! If Chris didn’t own Island Records but had done this at another record company, he would have been fired and put in prison!! But because he owned the company he could take this chance and that is what built the trust and bond between him and Bob.

Another brilliant thing that Chris did for Bob is to tell Bob that he had no chance of getting on black radio in America but should form a black rock band. Chris then took the original Catch a Fire tapes and added the rock element. Wayne Perkins opening guitar intro to Concrete Jungle is one of the greatest openings in music history!! And Rabbit Bundrick from the Who put on the keyboard spin that turned it into a rock masterpiece!!

When Peter Tosh left the Wailers he said some unsavory things about Chris. But instead of Chris being angry, he helped Peter to get a record deal!! Peter was going to sign with a small record label, but instead, Chris got the heavyweight Gary Kurfirst to get Peter a record deal with Columbia the biggest record company in the world!! Now Columbia and Peter Tosh could crush little Island Records and Bob Marley, so this would look like a terrible move. But Chris knew that Columbia would spend a lot of money on reggae and so “All boats rise with the tide”. No other human would have done this for Peter after having just been slagged. But Chris always says “Its just business, dont let personal things affect it”

Native Wayne Jobson

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