.style4 {color: #FFFFFF; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; } .style5 {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; } -->
Robert Rowland
- North East Agent
Robert Rowland Director of the Northeast Territory for Red Entertainment comes to Red with an amazing background steeped in music. He was born in St. Annes, England, a suburb of Blackpool, which is a major seaside resort in NW England. His mother was English and his father was American. He traveled between both countries as a child, and attended a British boarding school before moving permanently to Queens, NY. About his early exposure to music he says, “My mother loved music and had several records in the house by artists such as Kay Starr and Teresa Brewer. However, my early love of rock and roll set in when at the early age of 6, I would read magazines such as Hit Parader that contained the lyrics to all the latest hits by artists such as Chuck Berry and Fats Domino.” He goes on, “While living in England, I listened to my Grandparent’s record collections which were mainly old 78s of Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, and soundtrack albums of Broadway musicals. That gave me a well balanced love of all types of Pop music. However, it was in boarding school in England that I really got the R&R “bug”. The 1st records I remember buying were “Nut Rocker” by B. Bumble & The Stingers, and “Red River Valley” by Duane Eddy. I started listening as often as possible to the only rock station at that time, Radio Luxembourg and became a fan of English pop artists such as Cliff Richard and Billy Fury. Music though was changing and it was the beginning of a movement that brought about The Beatles and other British Invasion groups.” He continues, “While attending Forest Hills HS, I became part of a singing “Doo Wop” group, and later started singing with local bands. The most successful band I was in at the time was The Tangerine Puppets. It included Tommy Erdelyi and John Cummings, who a few years later would form The Ramones. I was always the businessman for the bands and got the jobs we needed. Disenchanted with where it was taking me and my lack of big success performing, led me to get a job with a small time agent who booked my band. That job led to another with Supreme Artists, a large College booking agency where I also had my own roster that included several known Blues and Rock acts.” After 3 years with Supreme Artists, Robert joined up with Connie DeNave Mgt. Connie, a legend in Public Relations, who represented everyone from The Rolling Stones to Dick Clark, and managed Robert Palmer and singer Rhetta Hughes. Together Robert and Connie managed comedienne Nancy Parker, Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Julie Gold and others. Later, Rowland formed his own management company and represented rock acts such as The Rattlers and a popular 80s all-girl band The Catholic Girls. Simultaneously, Robert was the talent buyer for well-known NYC rock clubs such as The Cat Club, Nirvana, and The Bitter End. In 1994, this led to his re-entering the booking agency world when he became an agent at Talent Consultants International. Remaining there for 14 years, Robert signed many acts including Nancy Sinatra, drummer Carl Palmer, Dave Davies (The Kinks) and many more. In May of 2008, he left TCI to join Red Entertainment as an agent . About his joining Red he says, “ At Red I can offer the acts the understanding that comes with having experience both as a performer and as a manager. Knowing what is good for the artist in the long-run and not just short term…why a particular booking is important to one’s career besides the money factor and what a new artist has to achieve in order to become successful. With my varied background I am not limited to one genre of musical style. As a music lover, the satisfaction I get from my job, is that I have worked and still work, with artists that have had a huge influence on my life.”
back to Agents Main >
