Larry Parnes
Encyclopedia
Laurence Maurice "Larry" Parnes (1930 - 4 August 1989) was an English
pop
manager
and impresario
. He has been described as "the first major British rock manager... Parnes' stable encompassed most of the most successful pre-Beatles British rock singers."
, London
. After leaving school he began work in a clothing store, and by the age of 18 ran a women's clothing shop in Romford
, Essex
. He then bought a share in a bar in Romilly Street, Soho
. He agreed to invest in a touring play, The House of Shame, which became both successful and notorious in 1954 after its publicist, John Kennedy, persuaded two actresses to stand outside the theatre dressed as prostitutes. In 1956, with Kennedy, he started to manage young rock and roll
singer Tommy Hicks, who anglicised the name of his Swedish grandfather to become known as Tommy Steele
. Steele achieved popular success, some of his songs being co-written by Parnes' friend Lionel Bart
, and Parnes succeeded in presenting Steele as an "all-round entertainer".
After Steele's success, Parnes looked to find other young men who he could groom to become pop stars. At Bart's suggestion, he next signed Reg Patterson (né Smith), who he re-christened Marty Wilde
, and who also rose to pop stardom in the UK. Parnes developed a network of contacts within the British recording industry and entertainment business, with leading British songwriters providing songs for his growing stable of talent, and many of his protégés achieving success in the British pop charts
. A flamboyant gay man, Parnes' approach was to select, and then groom, handsome young men who would be attractive to a teenage audience. He also gave them new stage names, supposedly to reflect the image he wanted them to portray. Among those he managed with at least some degree of success were Billy Fury
(originally Ron Wycherley), Vince Eager
(Roy Taylor), Dickie Pride
(Richard Knellar), Lance Fortune
(Chris Morris), Duffy Power
(Ray Howard), Johnny Gentle
(John Askew), Terry Dene
(Terence Williams), Nelson Keene
(Malcolm Holland), and Georgie Fame
(Clive Powell). He also managed Tommy Bruce
, and Joe Brown
, but failed to persuade the latter to change his name to Elmer Twitch. Richie Unterberger
at Allmusic commented:
The BBC TV programme Panorama
featured Parnes as a 'beat
svengali', the press gave him the nickname "Mr. Parnes, Shillings and Pence
", and he was parodied by Peter Sellers
on the 1959 album Songs For Swinging Sellers. He took a robust approach towards his charges, employing them himself and paying them a weekly wage, rather than being employed by them. According to one report:
Parnes also promoted concerts, including the 1960 tour by Gene Vincent
and Eddie Cochran
during which Cochran was killed in a road crash. Later the same year he hired a Liverpool
beat group, then known as the Silver Beetles, to back one of his singers, Johnny Gentle, on a short tour of Scotland
; although Gentle tried to persuade him to manage the group, Parnes decided not to do so. He developed the idea of the package tour, for which his stars toured the country together in a bus, playing one-night stands around the country. In 1962, he hired The Tornados
as backing group for Billy Fury, and also claimed to have given "their first breaks" to entertainers Jimmy Tarbuck
, Rolf Harris
and Mike Yarwood
.
After the rise of the Beatles and other groups, Parnes' attitude and approach rapidly became old-fashioned. In 1967 he announced that he was going to devote himself to the theatre
, and in 1968 put on Fortune and Men's Eyes, a play about homosexuality
in a Canadian prison, but it lost money. He bought a lease of the Cambridge Theatre
in 1972, and put on the hit musical
s Charlie Girl
and Chicago
there. During the 1970s he ran the business affairs of the Olympic
ice skater John Curry
. He also persuaded actress Joan Collins
to perform her first West End
play
, The Last Of Mrs Cheyney in 1976.
Parnes was a horse racing
fan
, and owned racehorses, including 'Cambridge Gold', named after his involvement in the Cambridge Theatre and John Curry. He had a penthouse
property in South Kensington
, and country mansions in Send
, Surrey
, and Icklesham, East Sussex
.
Parnes retired in 1981 and died from meningitis
in London in 1989, aged 59. It is not known what happened to his fortune after his death. His obituary in the Daily Telegraph said:
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
manager
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
and impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
. He has been described as "the first major British rock manager... Parnes' stable encompassed most of the most successful pre-Beatles British rock singers."
Life and career
Parnes was born in WillesdenWillesden
Willesden is an area in North West London which forms part of the London Borough of Brent. It is situated 5 miles north west of Charing Cross...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. After leaving school he began work in a clothing store, and by the age of 18 ran a women's clothing shop in Romford
Romford
Romford is a large suburban town in north east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. He then bought a share in a bar in Romilly Street, Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
. He agreed to invest in a touring play, The House of Shame, which became both successful and notorious in 1954 after its publicist, John Kennedy, persuaded two actresses to stand outside the theatre dressed as prostitutes. In 1956, with Kennedy, he started to manage young rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
singer Tommy Hicks, who anglicised the name of his Swedish grandfather to become known as Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele OBE , is an English entertainer. Steele is widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.-Singer:...
. Steele achieved popular success, some of his songs being co-written by Parnes' friend Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
, and Parnes succeeded in presenting Steele as an "all-round entertainer".
After Steele's success, Parnes looked to find other young men who he could groom to become pop stars. At Bart's suggestion, he next signed Reg Patterson (né Smith), who he re-christened Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, and is the father of pop singers Ricky Wilde, Kim Wilde and Roxanne Wilde.-Career:Wilde was performing under the name Reg Patterson at London's Condor Club in...
, and who also rose to pop stardom in the UK. Parnes developed a network of contacts within the British recording industry and entertainment business, with leading British songwriters providing songs for his growing stable of talent, and many of his protégés achieving success in the British pop charts
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. A flamboyant gay man, Parnes' approach was to select, and then groom, handsome young men who would be attractive to a teenage audience. He also gave them new stage names, supposedly to reflect the image he wanted them to portray. Among those he managed with at least some degree of success were Billy Fury
Billy Fury
Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
(originally Ron Wycherley), Vince Eager
Vince Eager
Vince Eager is a British pop singer.As a teenager, he formed the Harmonica Vagabonds, later the Vagabonds Skiffle Group, with Roy Clark, Mick Fretwell, and bassist Brian Locking. The group reached the final round of a televised "World Skiffle Championship", and were offered a residency at the 2...
(Roy Taylor), Dickie Pride
Dickie Pride
Dickie Pride was a British rock and roll singer. He was one of Larry Parnes' stable of pop music stars, who did not enjoy as successful a career as most of his contemporaries.-Life and career:...
(Richard Knellar), Lance Fortune
Lance Fortune
Chris Morris, better known by the stage name Lance Fortune was an English pop singer.Morris was classically trained on piano...
(Chris Morris), Duffy Power
Duffy Power
Duffy Power is an English blues and rock and roll singer, who achieved some success in the 1960s and has performed and recorded intermittently since then.-Career:...
(Ray Howard), Johnny Gentle
Johnny Gentle
Johnny Gentle is the stage name of John Askew . He was a British pop singer who is now best remembered for having briefly toured Scotland with the Silver Beetles - later known simply as The Beatles - as his backing group in 1960....
(John Askew), Terry Dene
Terry Dene
Terry Dene is a former British pop singer popular in the late 1950s. He achieved three Top Twenty hits between June 1957 and May 1958.-Career:...
(Terence Williams), Nelson Keene
Nelson Keene
Nelson Keene was the stage name of Malcolm Holland . He was a British pop singer at the start of the 1960s.He was born in Farnborough, Hampshire, one of ten children...
(Malcolm Holland), and Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
(Clive Powell). He also managed Tommy Bruce
Tommy Bruce
Tommy Bruce was an English rock 'n' roll singer who had most success in the early 1960s.-Life and career:He was born Thomas Charles Bruce, in Stepney, London...
, and Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
, but failed to persuade the latter to change his name to Elmer Twitch. Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
at Allmusic commented:
"Parnes' performers were groomed as teen idols, rock music being a convenient way to eventually establish all-around entertainers who could also work in straight pop music, variety shows, and film. Image, more than content, was essential to the appeal of Parnes' protégés."
The BBC TV programme Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
featured Parnes as a 'beat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
svengali', the press gave him the nickname "Mr. Parnes, Shillings and Pence
£sd
£sd was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the Kingdom of England, later the United Kingdom, and ultimately in much of the British Empire...
", and he was parodied by Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
on the 1959 album Songs For Swinging Sellers. He took a robust approach towards his charges, employing them himself and paying them a weekly wage, rather than being employed by them. According to one report:
"Vince Eager began to wonder why he had never received any record royalties. "You're not entitled to any," Larry Parnes told him. "But it says in my contract that I am," Eager protested. "It also says I have power of attorney over you, and I've decided you're not getting any," Parnes replied."
Parnes also promoted concerts, including the 1960 tour by Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
and Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
during which Cochran was killed in a road crash. Later the same year he hired a Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
beat group, then known as the Silver Beetles, to back one of his singers, Johnny Gentle, on a short tour of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
; although Gentle tried to persuade him to manage the group, Parnes decided not to do so. He developed the idea of the package tour, for which his stars toured the country together in a bus, playing one-night stands around the country. In 1962, he hired The Tornados
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...
as backing group for Billy Fury, and also claimed to have given "their first breaks" to entertainers Jimmy Tarbuck
Jimmy Tarbuck
Jimmy Tarbuck OBE or Tarby is an English comedian. Growing up he was a schoolmate of John Lennon.His first television show was It's Tarbuck 65! on ITV in 1964. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game...
, Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
and Mike Yarwood
Mike Yarwood
Mike Yarwood, OBE is an English impressionist and comedian. He was one of Britain's top-rated entertainers, regularly appearing on television from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. He left Bredbury Secondary Modern School in 1956 and worked as a messenger and then salesman at a garment warehouse...
.
After the rise of the Beatles and other groups, Parnes' attitude and approach rapidly became old-fashioned. In 1967 he announced that he was going to devote himself to the theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, and in 1968 put on Fortune and Men's Eyes, a play about homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
in a Canadian prison, but it lost money. He bought a lease of the Cambridge Theatre
Cambridge Theatre
The Cambridge Theatre is a West End theatre, on a corner site in Earlham Street facing Seven Dials, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1929-30. It was designed by Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie; interior partly by Serge Chermayeff, with interior bronze friezes by sculptor Anthony Gibbons...
in 1972, and put on the hit musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
s Charlie Girl
Charlie Girl
Charlie Girl is a musical comedy which premiered in the West End of London at the Adelphi Theatre on December 15, 1965 and played for 2,202 performances, closing on March 27, 1971...
and Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
there. During the 1970s he ran the business affairs of the Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
ice skater John Curry
John Curry
John Anthony Curry, OBE was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 Olympic and World Champion. He was famous for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating.-Early life:...
. He also persuaded actress Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
to perform her first West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
, The Last Of Mrs Cheyney in 1976.
Parnes was a horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
fan
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
, and owned racehorses, including 'Cambridge Gold', named after his involvement in the Cambridge Theatre and John Curry. He had a penthouse
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
property in South Kensington
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
, and country mansions in Send
Send, Surrey
Send is a village in the English county of Surrey. It reputedly got its name as a corruption of the word sand, which was extracted until the 1990s for construction and other purposes at pits nearby. Send is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 where it is named Sande.-History:Send appears in...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, and Icklesham, East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
.
Parnes retired in 1981 and died from meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
in London in 1989, aged 59. It is not known what happened to his fortune after his death. His obituary in the Daily Telegraph said:
"Parnes is said to have renamed some of his stars for their sexual potential, but though he undoubtedly adored the company of young men he was circumspect about mixing business with pleasure. The greatest loves of his life were two Alsatian dogGerman Shepherd DogThe German Shepherd Dog , also known as an Alsatian or just the German Shepherd, is a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog...
s, Prince and Duke, whose cremated remains were prominently displayed in his South Kensington penthouse."