Allison McGourty
| Allison McGourty | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Allison Claire McGourty Bristol, England |
| Residence | London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Producer and writer |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Home town | London, UK |
| Website | |
| Lo-Max Records | |
Allison Claire McGourty is a British producer, writer and photographer. She is the creator, writer and producer of an ongoing major multimedia project called American Epic exploring the early history of American recorded music.
In 2003, McGourty founded the British independent record label LO-MAX Records, whose releases are distributed throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Shortly afterwards, she signed the New Jersey-based rock band The Wrens to the label after spotting them at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas. The band, and their 2005 Lo-Max album The Meadowlands, subsequently received critical acclaim from the UK press.[1] Other signings to the label include The Go-Betweens and Kevin Ayers.
In 2010, McGourty signed the Greenlandic singer-songwriter Simon Lynge, whose debut album, The Future, reached the top of the Amazon.com UK Rock Charts in the week of its release, as well as gaining the artist considerable media attention, with several radio interviews,[2] and features in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Scotsman,[3] and the German edition of Rolling Stone. McGourty has written, directed and produced a short film in Greenland about Lynge.[4]
McGourty is also the founder and director of Lo-Max Publishing Ltd (trading as Maida Vale Music), which publishes the work of the American musician Frank Fairfield and that of Simon Lynge. Lynge’s music has been featured on the US television shows Lie to Me and Brothers & Sisters.
McGourty has overseen marketing campaigns as a consultant for many musicians, including Jeff Buckley, the Go-Betweens, Kevin Ayers, Justin Adams, Nico Muhly and Bic Runga.
McGourty is also a photographer who has taken a series of professional portraits of published authors for their books, including Charles Shaar Murray,[5] Cathi Unsworth[6] and Tony Barrell.[7]
Since 2004, McGourty has run an internship programme for students participating in the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries at Syracuse University in New York state.[8] This programme involves mentoring Syracuse students at Lo-Max Records in London.
McGourty has homes in London, UK, and Santa Monica, California.
Biography
Early life
McGourty was born in Bristol, England, lived briefly in Venice, Italy, and grew up by the Gleniffer Braes, on the fringes of Barrhead in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, where she attended the Cross Arthurlie Primary School. From an early age she was a successful competitive horsewoman, qualifying for the Horse of the Year Show. At Barrhead High School she became a grade-A student and won an award for history studies. She also played clarinet in the school orchestra, and tenor saxophone in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland.
From 1982 to 1987, McGourty attended Staffordshire University in England, gaining a Bachelor of Science degree (with honours) in computer science and French. For the third year of her degree course, she lived in Paris and worked for Électricité de France (EDF).
Early career
McGourty was employed by the international management consultancy firm Deloitte & Touche before joining Reuters in 1990, where she was part of the launch team for the company's Visnews satellite transmission service. Between 1995 and 2003 she worked for the BBC, where she was business manager for the UK Horizons television channel (specialising in documentary programming) before moving on to the BBC World Service.
Musical influences
McGourty has credited her passion for music to her family. Her father, the newspaper executive Tom McGourty[9] from Glasgow, would make regular journeys to New Orleans and to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC to collect rare jazz and blues records. Her sister Christine is a flautist and pianist, her brother Gordon is a guitarist, and her maternal great-uncle Franz Wiederhofer was lead violinist in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
References
- ↑ Michael Hann (9 March 2006). "The Wrens: ULU, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ↑ "Celebrity Interview With Simon Lynge". More Radio. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ↑ Custom byline text: From the archive (14 January 2010). "Interview: Simon Lynge – singer/songwriter". The Scotsman. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ↑ "Simon Lynge in Greenland". Lo-Max Records. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "Charles Shaar Murray". Headpress. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "Cathi Unsworth". Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "Tony Barrell (journalist)". Wikipedia. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "Bandier Program/Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts". Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ↑ Custom byline text: From the archive (25 May 2006). "Obituary of Tom McGourty". The Herald. Retrieved 9 February 2012.