Fact #87099
When:
Short story:
Sir Elton John gives evidence at the start of a High Court case in London, England, UK, in which the singer-songwriter is suing Andrew Haydon, of his former management company John Reid Enterprises, and the City accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which looked after his business interests.Full article:
Elton John : I used to be very proud of the fact that I had the same manager (John Reid) for 27 years. I thought we had a bond so deep, because of our personal relationship that we had for five years. (Now) I won't even acknowledge him if we're in the same place. I don't wish him any harm. I hope he has a great life. But that part of my life is gone. I've moved on since then. It's been nearly three years and I have a new team of people.
Andrew Zweck [agent, Sensible Events] : There was a wave of major artists leaving major managers, a whole lot of them, around that time. Sting left Miles Copeland, Eric Clapton left Roger Forrester, Elton John left John Reid. I'm sure money was at the root of them all.
A common thread in some of them was they were recovering addicts, Clapton and Elton with alcohol, for example, and so maybe they were coming out of their addictions and realising that they had to take control of things for themselves. Self-reliance became an issue in their lives. Then they realised they were paying big commissions to managers who were not really in tune with them. I know that Clapton, for example, had his Crossroads Charity that he wanted to work on but Roger Forrester was not very sympathetic to that. I think he saw it as a waste of money.
Mark Knopfler also parted company with his manager of may years, Ed Bicknell, in 2000, after whichPaul Crockford became his manager, and I became his agent.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black for Audience magazine, June 2013)
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Andrew Zweck [agent, Sensible Events] : There was a wave of major artists leaving major managers, a whole lot of them, around that time. Sting left Miles Copeland, Eric Clapton left Roger Forrester, Elton John left John Reid. I'm sure money was at the root of them all.
A common thread in some of them was they were recovering addicts, Clapton and Elton with alcohol, for example, and so maybe they were coming out of their addictions and realising that they had to take control of things for themselves. Self-reliance became an issue in their lives. Then they realised they were paying big commissions to managers who were not really in tune with them. I know that Clapton, for example, had his Crossroads Charity that he wanted to work on but Roger Forrester was not very sympathetic to that. I think he saw it as a waste of money.
Mark Knopfler also parted company with his manager of may years, Ed Bicknell, in 2000, after whichPaul Crockford became his manager, and I became his agent.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black for Audience magazine, June 2013)