Larry Parnes

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Larry Parnes (full name Laurence Maurice Parnes) was born 1930, in Willesden, London; died 4 August 1989, London. British pop group manager and impresario. He was jocularly known as "Parnes, shillings and pence", because of his known reticence in paying performers their worth.

Larry Parnes had a reputation for signing singers and giving them evocative names, including Tommy Steele (Tommy Hicks), Marty Wilde (Reg Smith | Reg Patterson), Billy Fury (Ronald Wycherley), Vince Eager (born Roy Taylor, 4.6.1940, in Lincoln, Lincolnshire), Dickie Pride (born Richard Charles Knellar, 21.10.1941, at 74 Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey; died 26.3.1969, at 74 Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath), Duffy Power (born Ray Howard, 9.9.1941, in Fulham, south-west London), Johnny Gentle (born John Askew, 8.12.1940, in Nightingale Square, near Scotland Road, Vauxhall, North Liverpool), and Georgie Fame (Clive Powell). Songwriters like Lionel Bart provided original material.

He auditioned, and then turned down The Silver Beetles - who were yet to change their name to The Beatles - as a backing band for Billy Fury, who also came from Liverpool, but he did employ them to back Johnny Gentle.

In 1967, he announced that he had out-grown the world of pop and would be devoting himself to the theatre. In 1972, he bought the 12-year lease for the Cambridge Theatre. During the 1970s, he administered the business affairs of the Olympic ice-skater John Curry.

Parnes was also a horse racing fan, and owned horses, including "Cambridge Gold", named after his involvement in the Cambridge Theatre and John Curry.

He died from meningitis in London aged 59.