21 Facts About Larry Parnes

Laurence Maurice Parnes was a British pop manager and impresario.

Larry Parnes was the first major British rock manager, and his stable of singers included many of the most successful British rock and roll singers of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Larry Parnes' reputation was later damaged by testimony from many of the artists he managed in the late fifties and early sixties who alleged they were exploited.

Larry Parnes was born to a Jewish family in Willesden, London, England.

Larry Parnes then bought a share in a bar in Romilly Street, Soho.

Larry Parnes 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 John Kennedy, Larry Parnes began to manage young rock and roll singer Tommy Hicks; he and John Kennedy approached his parents, after Hicks, aged 19, had already signed another contract, which was under the legal age.

Larry Parnes claimed in a court action that he and Kennedy took 40 per cent of Steele's "gross takings", out of which they had to pay 10 per cent to booking agents as well as the costs of Steele's accommodation, advertising and publicity, travel and other aspects "needed to keep Tommy on the road to stardom".

Larry 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 proteges achieving success in the UK Singles Chart.

Larry Parnes managed Tommy Bruce, as well as Joe Brown, who he unsuccessfully tried to persuade to change his name to Elmer Twitch.

Larry Parnes' performers were groomed as teen idols, rock music being a convenient way to eventually establish all-around entertainers who could work in straight pop music, variety shows, and film.

Sometimes, Larry Parnes employed his charges himself rather than being employed by them, and paid them a weekly wage.

Larry Parnes was bitingly satirised as the manipulative "Major Rafe Ralph" by Peter Sellers, from a script by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, on the 1959 album Songs For Swingin' Sellers.

Larry Parnes promoted concerts, including the 1960 tour by Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran during which Cochran was killed in a road crash.

Larry Parnes 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.

Larry Parnes remained an influential impresario even after the rise of the Beatles and other groups had eclipsed those in his stable.

Larry Parnes bought a lease of the Cambridge Theatre in 1972, where during his tenure the first UK production of Chicago played.

Larry Parnes persuaded actress Joan Collins to perform her first West End play, The Last of Mrs Cheyney, at his theatre in 1976.

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

Larry Parnes had a penthouse property in South Kensington, and country mansions in Send, Surrey, and Icklesham, East Sussex.

Larry Parnes retired in 1981 and died from meningitis in London in 1989, aged 59.