| Larry Parnes | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Laurence Maurice Parnes |
| Born | 1930 London, England |
| Died | 4 August 1989 London |
| Genres | manager, promoter |
| Years active | 1954–1981 |
| Associated acts | Tommy Steele Billy Fury Marty Wilde Vince Eager etc. |
Laurence Maurice "Larry" Parnes (1930 - 4 August 1989)[1] 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."[2]
Parnes was born in Willesden, 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.[3] 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".[4]
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.[4] Richie Unterberger at Allmusic commented:[2]
"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 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.[5] He took a robust approach towards his charges, employing them himself and paying them a weekly wage, rather than being employed by them.[6][7] According to one report:[4]
"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 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.[2] 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.[6] 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.[6]
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 musicals 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:[4]
"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 dogs, Prince and Duke, whose cremated remains were prominently displayed in his South Kensington penthouse."