TONY DEFRIES
Tony Defries is a British former pop music manager. Defries worked in the 1960’s music scene with such figures as Mickie Most and Allen Klein, before turning his attention to David Bowie. Defries represented Bowie through his rise to stardom and also helped to launch the solo careers of Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Mick Ronson, Mott the Hoople, Luther Vandross, and John Mellencamp. (More from Wikipedia)
John Mellencamp is just John Mellencamp these days; but in the beginning, it wasn’t like that at all. Early on, he was signed by David Bowie’s manager Tony Defries, who put out his first album in 1976. Mellencamp was infuriated to find out that the album, Chestnut Street Incident had been released under the name Johnny Cougar (he was already 25 by then and seems a little old to be a “Johnny”). To add insult to injury, his label MCA Records dropped him; and his second album, The Kid Inside stayed on a shelf for several years until he was able to break through.
(July 2012)
