Jake Riviera (born Andrew Jakeman, February 1948, in Edgware, Middlesex) is a music business entrepreneur best known for his management of such performers as Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe and as co-founder (with Dave Robinson) of pioneering British indie label Stiff Records.
Riviera was in school bands and local groups in north-west London in the 60s, and became road manager of pub-rock act Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers in the early 70s.[1]
Assuming the role of manager, he engineered a street-level marketing campaign on behalf of the hard-gigging group by working with the late graphic designer Barney Bubbles.[2]
In 1975, Riviera organised Naughty Rhythms, a package tour featuring Chilli Willi, Dr. Feelgood, and Kokomo. When pub-rock failed to make the leap out of smaller venues, Chilli Willi split and Riviera became tour manager for Dr Feelgood. Touring with the group in the US he encountered independent local record labels in used record stores and was inspired on his return to the UK in spring 1976 to found Stiff (music business parlance for a flop) with Robinson, then manager of Graham Parker & the Rumour.
Riviera signed The Damned - who he also managed - to Stiff in September 1976, ensuring that the group was the first punk group to release a record with their October 1976 single 'New Rose'.
Riviera also managed other early Stiff signings Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, who was also in-house producer. He recruited Barney Bubbles into the fold, where the designer worked with Riviera on an impressive run of record sleeves, posters, badges and adverts for Lowe, the Damned, Costello and such singular performers as Ian Dury, Wreckless Eric and the veteran music hall star Max Wall.[1]
In autumn 1977 Riviera left and moved on to a deal with new label Radar Records, set up by former UA Records executives Martin Davies and Andrew Lauder.
Costello and Lowe scored successes with such respective albums as This Year's Model and Jesus of Cool (released as Pure Pop For Now People In the US) before they joined Riviera at his and Lauder's new label launch F-Beat in 1980. As at Radar, Bubbles was the label's art-director.
With F-Beat also releasing new music by contemporary artists such as Lowe's wife Carlene Carter and Clive Langer & the Boxes, Riviera, Lauder and Costello pioneered appreciation of archive music by reissuing albums by a range of artists on their Demon and Edsel imprints, including classic albums by Al Green, The Pretty Things and The Merseybeats.
F-Beat folded in the mid-80s, by which time Demon had developed into a large specialist label with several offshoots. It was acquired by Crimson productions in 1998 and now lays claim to being Britain's biggest independent music group. Riviera worked with Costello until 1993 and still manages Nick Lowe.