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Sandy Roberton

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Sandy Roberton
Birth nameAlexander William Roberton
Born(1942-07-07)7 July 1942
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died25 July 2022(2022-07-25) (aged 80)
London, England
Occupation(s)Record producer, businessman
Websiteworldsend.com/about/

Alexander "Sandy" William Roberton (July 7, 1942 – July 25, 2022) was a British record producer and businessman.

Early years

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Roberton was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 7 July 1942. At the age of six, he emigrated with his parents to Africa,[1] where his father, Robert, worked as a tractor technician in the British government’s post-war Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme in East Africa. Roberton spent his early years in Tanganyika and Kenya, where he became involved in the local music scene. As a teenager Roberton performed in the band Les Hombres.[2][3]

Career

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In 1963, Roberton moved to London to pursue a career in music. He took day jobs at Olivetti typewriters and the department store C&A.[4] He began performing at the Dive Bar at the King's Head pub in Soho, where he was frequently joined on stage by an old school bandmate, Rick Tykiff. The pair signed a record deal with record producer Tom Springfield, the brother of singer Dusty Springfield, where they made several singles in 1965 for the Decca and Mercury labels, including "Half as Much", "I Remember Baby", and "Lost My Girl".[5] The latter two tracks were produced and arranged by songwriter Les Reed.[6]

After Tykiff's departure, Roberton began a brief solo career in 1966 and released a cover of Neil Diamond's 'Solitary Man'[7] with Columbia under the name Sandy. A cover of Bob Dylan's 'Baby You've Been On My Mind', backed by a group named Fleur De Lys, followed in 1967 and was released on Polydor under the name Lucien Alexander.[8][9]

Around this time, Roberton transitioned into music publishing. He ran the London office of Chess Records' publishing companies Arc Music,[a] Regent Music[b] and Jewel Music[c] through the offices of music publishers Chappell & Co.[d] in Mayfair. Their writers included Blues figures Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley.[16] He also ran the London office of Bill Lowery's company Lowery Music,[e] whose writers included Joe South, Tommy Roe, Mac Davis, and Billy Joe Royal.

His role primarily involved persuading UK artists to record songs from the catalogues of these companies. One song he helped produce, Georgie Fame's cover of Billy Stewart's 'Sitting In The Park', went to number 12 in the UK music charts in December 1966.[19] The Jewel Music song 'It Ain't Right' by Little Walter was one of several Blues covers used on John Mayall's 1966 album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton.[20]

The album led to him leaving Chappell and joining producer Mike Vernon and his brother Richard at Blue Horizon, a specialist blues label that Vernon had established in 1965.[21] They set up two Blue Horizon music publishing companies, Goodie Two Shoes Music and Uncle Doris Music.[22] In the late 1960s, the label became closely associated with the emerging British blues scene, releasing music by artists such as Chicken Shack, Duster Bennett, Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie) and Fleetwood Mac, including Fleetwood Mac's debut album in 1968.[23]

In 1967, Roberton moved into music production and produced two singles[f] by The Chocolate Watch Band,[g] an English band featuring Gary Osborne.[citation needed]

September Productions

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In 1968, Roberton formed his own music production and artist management company, September Productions Ltd. One of his first signings was The Liverpool Scene, a poetry and music collective from Liverpool featuring poet Adrian Henri, guitarist Andy Roberts, Mike Evans,[25] Mike Hart, Percy Jones, and Brian Dodson. Roberton co-produced their first album, Amazing Adventures Of..., along with DJ John Peel, who had featured their music on his BBC radio shows.[26]

In their two years under his management, Liverpool Scene released four albums[h] on the RCA label; played on the same day as Bob Dylan at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival in front of 150,000 fans; and toured on a three-act bill with Blodwyn Pig and Led Zeppelin, which included playing at the Royal Albert Hall in London.[28] The band broke up in May 1970 after a financially disastrous US tour.[29]

A first solo album by guitarist Andy Roberts, Home Grown,[30] produced by Roberton and recorded during his final days with Liverpool Scene, was released on RCA in March 1970.[i] A second album, Everyone,[32] by his post-Liverpool Scene band Everyone, was released on the B & C record label[j] in 1971, in a deal Roberton negotiated when the RCA relationship came to an end. In a magazine interview in 2013, Roberton said that when his relationship with RCA ended, he had been approached by Lee Gopthal, co-owner of Trojan Records, who wanted to move into different areas of music and sign his own acts.[34]

By the time the Everyone album was released the band no longer existed,[k] and Roberton and Roberts had begun working with singer Iain Matthews, whose debut solo LP, If You Saw Thro' My Eyes, the first of a three-album deal with Vertigo Records, was released in May 1971.[36] Roberton was brought in as producer, uncredited, at Roberts' suggestion when the original producer began missing recording sessions.[37] This was the beginning of a long relationship with Matthews, in which Roberton produced the third album of the Vertigo deal, Journeys From Gospel Oak (recorded in November 1972[38] but not released until 1974).[39] He produced four more of Matthews' solo albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s on his own record label, Rockburgh Records.

As a producer, Roberton's recording studio was Sound Techniques in Old Church Street, Chelsea, an 18th-century former dairy that had been turned into a studio in 1965 by sound engineers Geoff Frost and John Wood.[40] The September Productions' stable of artists included Scottish folk singer Shelagh McDonald, singer Keith Christmas, and flautist Harold McNair, all of whom had albums produced by Roberton and released on B & C in the early 1970s. Among the others were English folk rock band Decameron, Spirogyra, American singer Marc Ellington, and artists on the 1970s folk scene including Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, Gay and Terry Woods; and in the early 1980s, singer John Martyn, who he managed and produced.[41]

His biggest breakthrough was with Steeleye Span, the British folk rock band formed by Ashley Hutchings following his departure from Fairport Convention in November 1969.[42] Roberton produced their first three albums: Hark! The Village Wait released on RCA in 1970,[43] Please to See the King released on the B & C label in 1971,[44] and Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again released on Pegasus in 1971.[45] Roberton was a producer in the British folk rock scene, along with John Wood, Joe Boyd, and Tony Cox. He also co-produced with Ashley Hutchings the album No Roses[46] by Shirley Collins and The Albion Country Band, which was nominated as 'Folk Album Of The Year' in August 1971 by Melody Maker journalist Karl Dallas.[47]

Roberton also managed and produced folk rock/country rock band Plainsong, which was formed at the end of 1971 by Andy Roberts and Iain Matthews with pianist and bass player David Richards and guitarist Bobby Ronga.[48] The band's debut album, produced by Roberton, In Search of Amelia Earhart, received critical acclaim when it was released in October 1972. Record Mirror called it "The Contemporary Folk Record of the Year";[49] and rock journalist Charles Shaar Murray, reviewing the album in New Musical Express, described it as "one of the classic albums of 1972".[50][l]

The band broke up acrimoniously at the end of December 1972 and Matthews and Roberts pursued separate careers as solo artists. Matthews signed with Elektra Records and went to California to work with former Monkee-turned-record producer Michael Nesmith.[52] Roberts recorded two solo albums with Sandy Roberton as producer which were released in 1973 on the Elektra label, Urban Cowboy[53] and Andy Roberts And The Great Stampede.[54]

Matthews and Roberton worked together again in 1973 and co-produced the album If It Was So Simple by Longdancer,[55] a folk rock band that included Dave Stewart. Stewart found fame in the 1980s with singer Annie Lennox in The Eurythmics.

Rockburgh Records

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In 1977, Roberton formed his own record label, Rockburgh Records. The name was derived from a combination of Rock and Roll and Edinburgh, his place of birth. Rockburgh Records existed from 1977 to 1981 and released more than 40 albums and singles by a roster of artists which included The Woods Band (Gay and Terry Woods), British singer-songwriter Allan Taylor, Australian rock band Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, former Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, and Iain Matthews.

He produced four albums for Iain Matthews in the late 70s/early 80s: Stealin' Home (1978), Siamese Friends (1979), Spot of Interference (1980) and Shook (1984). 'Shake It' from Stealin' Home reached no.13 in the US Billboard Hot 100 in February 1979[56] giving Matthews his first hit single since topping the UK charts in 1970 with Matthews' Southern Comfort's cover of 'Woodstock'.[57] All four albums were remastered in 2005 by BGO Records as part of a series of Iain Matthews re-releases; and again in March 2022, with demos, outtakes and live recordings, as part of a 6-CD box set from Cherry Red Records, I Can't Fade Away: The Rockburgh Years (1978-1984).[58]

In 1980, he and Matthews released a 27-track, double album compilation of Matthews' material, Discreet Repeat,[59] which included tracks from the Rockburgh albums they had made together and Matthews' earlier solo 1970s albums, plus some tracks from the Plainsong 'Amelia' album. A shorter version of this compilation was released on CD by Line Records in 1988.[60]

Worlds End Management

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In the early 1980s, Roberton's involvement as a record producer ended and his focus shifted to working with and managing other record producers. The last of the 55 albums he is credited with is producing Well Kept Secret[61][m] by John Martyn, whose management Roberton had taken over in 1980.[63] It was the second of two John Martyn albums released on WEA, the first being 1981's Glorious Fool produced by Phil Collins, and commercially his most successful.[64]

"I started winding down towards the end of the 70s. The last record I produced was a John Martyn record, Well Kept Secret. Phil Thornalley was an engineer I was using and I was really getting fed up with being in the studio all the time and I asked him what he was doing next and he said he didn't know..... so I said let me find you a project and I got him a job and I thought there's a business here... Very few people were doing it at that time, representing producers."

Sandy Roberton, The Art of Music Production interview (2004)[65]

Roberton founded the Worlds End Management Company in Chelsea, London, in 1980 with business partner Paul Brown. The name came from the area of Chelsea in which they had their offices.[66] The company billed itself as "probably the first full service company to ever solely represent record producers, mixers and sound engineers". One of the first clients managed by Worlds End was British record producer Tim Palmer, who Roberton first encountered as a tape operator in the 1980s.[67] Palmer became Roberton's client for nearly 40 years, along with such artists as Robert Plant, David Bowie, Tears For Fears, Pearl Jam.

Worlds End's base moved to Los Angeles in 1985. Roberton became sole owner,[68] and the company represented producers such as The Matrix, a songwriting collective consisting of Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards and Scott Spock, that had a big hit in 2002 with Avril Lavigne's debut studio album Let's Go. He later worked with artists such as Britney Spears, Shakira, Korn and Liz Phair.[69]

In 2007, Roberton set up the independent record label Beverly Martel, which released music by acts such as The Philistines Jr., Amelia Carey, the High Divers and Josh Difford.[70] In 2007, with his daughter Niki, he co-founded the IAMSOUND record label that helped to launch the careers of artists such as Florence and the Machine, Lord Huron, Nikki Lane and Charli XCX.[71]

The Worlds End management company represented over 75 producers during the 1990s and early 2000s. By the time of Roberton's death in 2022, it represented producers and mixers including Tim Palmer, Stephen Lipson, Larry Klein, Brad Wood, Stephen Hague and Ted Hutt.[72]

Personal life

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Roberton married Dinah (née Cullen), his former personal assistant at music publishers Chappell & Co, in December 1968. They had two children, Christian and Nicola.[73] Roberton died in London on 25 July 2022, aged 80, after a short battle with cancer.

Notes

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  1. ^ Arc Music was established by Chess Records founders Leonard Chess and Phil Chess in 1948 as the music publishing counterpart of their Chess Records label. It is currently owned by the BMG music group.[10]
  2. ^ Regent Music was set up 1940 by Gene Goodman, brother of bandleader Benny Goodman, in New York's Brill Building in 1940. Through a partnership with Chess Records, Regent became the publisher of various Blues and Rock 'n' Roll artists including Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.[11]
  3. ^ 1950 saw Regent purchase the catalogue of Jewel Music Publishing, thereby securing the rights to tracks such as Glenn Miller's famed 'Moonlight Cocktail', 'Sunrise Serenade' and the much-recorded 'You Came A Long Way From St. Louis'.[12] The catalogues of both Regent and Jewel were purchased in March 2022 by New York-based Primary Wave Music in a "multi-million dollar" music industry acquisition.[13]
  4. ^ Chappell & Co. was one of the leading music publishers and piano manufacturers in Great Britain until 1980 when it sold its retail activities to concentrate solely on music publishing.[14] Chappell's music publishing catalogue is currently owned by Warner Chappell Music, part of the Warner Music Group, which acquired it from Polygram for $275 million in 1987.[15]
  5. ^ Lowery Music, based in Atlanta GA and founded by songwriter Bill Lowery,[17] was the publisher of more than 5,000 varied titles including the 1956 Rock 'n' Roll classic Gene Vincent's 'Be Bop A Lula' and Joe South's 1969 smash hit 'Games People Play'. Lowery passed away aged 79 on 8 June 2004.[18]
  6. ^ 'Requiem' and 'The Sound Of The Summer' both released by Decca in 1967.[24]
  7. ^ Not to be confused with the 1960s American garage rock group The Chocolate Watchband
  8. ^ Amazing Adventures Of, Bread On The Night, Heirloon and St. Adrian Co. Broadway And 3rd.[27]
  9. ^ A different version of Home Grown, remixed and with less tracks, would be released by Roberton as part of his B & C deal in 1971.[31]
  10. ^ B & C stands for 'Beat & Commercial'.[33] It had close links to the Charisma label founded in 1969 by Tony Stratton Smith, and also to the record labels Pegasus and Mooncrest.
  11. ^ Everyone, which also featured future Plainsong member David Richards, disbanded in November 1970 after a road crash in which their roadie Paul Scard was killed.[35]
  12. ^ Plainsong's back catalogue from 1972 was re-released in October 2022 as a 6-CD box set, Following Amelia: The 1972 Recordings & More by Cherry Red Records.[51] It features their debut album In Search of Amelia Earhart remastered from the original studio tapes, together with their unreleased second album Now We Are 3 and a host of BBC recordings, demos and live material.
  13. ^ Recorded at RAK Studios, a former Victorian schoolhouse in St John's Wood, London in May 1982, Well Kept Secret was released in September 1982. Produced by Sandy Roberton, the album charted for seven weeks, reaching the Top 20.[62]

References

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  1. ^ Well Kept Secrets - Sandy Roberton's UK Folk Treasure Trove, Dave Thompson, Goldmine, 14 November 2013
  2. ^ Fred Dellar, Sound International, June 1978, p48
  3. ^ Roberton, Sandy (June 1978). "Interview with Fred Dellar". Sound International.
  4. ^ Ian Clayton, In Search Of Plainsong, Route Publishing 2022, p81
  5. ^ Discogs website, Rick and Sandy
  6. ^ The Great Artist Tom Jones, Les Reed website
  7. ^ Discogs website, Sandy
  8. ^ Ian Clayton, In Search Of Plainsong, Route Publishing 2022, p82
  9. ^ Discogs website, Lucien Alexander
  10. ^ BMG buys control of Chess Records publishing company Arc, Music Business Worldwide, 19 January 2016
  11. ^ Gene Goodman, Songwriters Hall of Fame
  12. ^ Primary Wave Purchases Catalogs of Regent Music and Jewel Music, Including Hits From Lionel Hampton, Thelonious Monk, and Others, Digital Music News, 1 March 2022
  13. ^ Primary Wave acquires all rights of Regent Music Corporation and Jewel Music Publishing Co., Music Business Worldwide, 1 March 2022
  14. ^ Chappell & Co. (1810-1987) (Music Publisher), University of Edinburgh Archives Online
  15. ^ Warner Chappell Music, Music Business Worldwide, 2022
  16. ^ About Sandy Roberton, Worlds End Management & Music
  17. ^ Bill Lowery, Songwriters Hall of Fame
  18. ^ Bill Lowery Dies, Celebrity Access
  19. ^ Official Charts
  20. ^ Discogs website, John Mayall with Eric Clapton
  21. ^ The Blue Horizon Story, Jason Reynolds
  22. ^ Ian Clayton, In Search Of Plainsong, Route Publishing 2022, p82
  23. ^ Discogs website, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
  24. ^ Discogs website, The Chocolate Watch Band
  25. ^ Profile: Mike Evans, Hastings Independent Press, 31 May 2019
  26. ^ Ian Clayton, In Search Of Plainsong, Route Publishing 2022, p41
  27. ^ Discogs website, The Liverpool Scene
  28. ^ Royal Albert Hall website
  29. ^ The Liverpool Scene, Andy Roberts website
  30. ^ Discogs website, Home Grown
  31. ^ Discogs website, Home Grown (B & C)
  32. ^ Discogs website, Everyone
  33. ^ Discogs website, B & C Records
  34. ^ Well Kept Secrets - Sandy Roberton's UK Folk Treasure Trove, Dave Thompson, Goldmine magazine, 14 November 2013
  35. ^ Everyone: A Brief History Of The Band, Andy Roberts website
  36. ^ Iain Matthews with Ian Clayton: Thro' My Eyes: A Memoir, Route Publishing, 2018, p99
  37. ^ Iain Matthews with Ian Clayton: Thro' My Eyes: A Memoir, Route Publishing, 2018, p101-102
  38. ^ Ian Clayton, In Search Of Plainsong, Route Publishing 2022, p182
  39. ^ Discogs website, Journeys From Gospel Oak
  40. ^ Sound Techniques - Music From A Dairy
  41. ^ Spiral Earth, 1 August 2022
  42. ^ Steeleye Span - History
  43. ^ Discogs website, Hark! The Village Wait
  44. ^ Discogs website, Please to See the King
  45. ^ Discogs website, Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again
  46. ^ Richie Unterberger album review, allmusic.com
  47. ^ Clinton Heylin, What We Did Instead Of Holidays (Fairport Convention & its extended folk-rock family), Route Publishing, p181 and p192
  48. ^ Ian Clayton, In Search Of Plainsong, Route Publishing 2022, p89-91
  49. ^ Record Mirror album review, October 1972
  50. ^ New Musical Express album review, 28 October 1972
  51. ^ Plainsong Following Amelia
  52. ^ Iain Matthews with Ian Clayton: Thro' My Eyes: A Memoir, Route Publishing, 2018, p122-125
  53. ^ Discogs website, Urban Cowboy
  54. ^ Discogs website, Andy Roberts and The Great Stampede
  55. ^ Iain Matthews with Ian Clayton: Thro' My Eyes: A Memoir, Route Publishing, 2018, p149
  56. ^ Billboard Hot 100 Chart History
  57. ^ Official Charts, 'Woodstock'
  58. ^ Discogs website, I Can't Fade Away: The Rockburgh Years (1978-1984)
  59. ^ Discogs website, Discreet Repeat double album
  60. ^ Discogs website, Discreet Repeat CD
  61. ^ Discogs website, Well Kept Secret
  62. ^ John Martyn One World, Well Kept Secret
  63. ^ Spiral Earth, 1 August 2022
  64. ^ John Martyn One World, Well Kept Secret
  65. ^ The Art Of Music Production interview
  66. ^ Billboard, 29 July 2022
  67. ^ Sandy Roberton on Tim Palmer, Journal on The Art of Record Production, 24 March 2008
  68. ^ About Sandy Roberton, Worlds End Management & Music
  69. ^ Chris Willman, Variety, 27 July 2022
  70. ^ About Beverly Martel Music
  71. ^ CelebrityAccess.com, 14 September 2022
  72. ^ Worlds End Management & Music website
  73. ^ Billboard Business News, 29 July 2022.
[edit]
  • Ian Clayton: In Search Of Plainsong, Route Publishing, 2022; ISBN 978-1901927-87-0
  • Iain Matthews with Ian Clayton: Thro' My Eyes: A Memoir, Route Publishing, 2018; ISBN 978-1901927-75-7
  • Clinton Heylin: What We Did Instead Of Holidays: A History Of Fairport Convention And Its Extended Folk-Rock Family. Route Publishing, 2018; ISBN 978-1901927-73-3