The only book written by an accountant that I’ve ever read. But, an accountant to The Rolling Stones! He later became a record company owner and executive, producer of films and musicals, and a variety of other business things in the entertainment world that I don’t really understand.
The concept of this memoir is that no one knew at the time, or could have predicted, how iconic and successful the rock and pop musicians of the 60s and 70s would become. Otherwise he would have made better deals, signed artists he had turned down such as Queen, kept stuff that would be worth a mint today instead of chucking it away, etc. It’s not a complete autobiography, rather an explanation of what it was like to work in management at the time. Laurence Myers takes pride in his successes and accepts his failings. I liked the honesty of his celebrating having made a lot of money and kicking himself whenever he lost it. Apparently the idea of the ‘compilation album’ is down to him (along with a number of other ventures), so thank you, Laurence.
I liked the anecdotes which liberally pepper this book. Do you want to know what happened when he let Iggy Pop stay in his house? Or what it was like to spend time with David and Angie Bowie? Or how he tried to tempt Stevie Wonder away from Motown? And there’s a lot of more of that kind of thing. What I didn’t enjoy were the finance and business bits. They weren’t interesting and I didn’t understand them.
There were some similarities to David Stark’s book (which I liked better than this one, but then it had a lot more Beatles content). Both authors have some background in common and I’d be surprised if they never met.
Published in 2019 by B & B Books.
This sounds like an interesting memoir. You don’t ever think about the stories an accountant has to tell but depending on who they work for it sounds like they may have some fascinating tales to share. Excellent review!
Yes it was certainly unusual, I’d never have thought I’d read an accountant’s memoir 😀 Thanks!
Fascinating, although more than slightly horrified to learn he turned down Queen!
Yes, I’m sure he regretted that!