Colin Lester

Colin Lester

Colin Lester is a British artist manager of R&B, Pop and Rock Music acts. He was born May 26, 1960 in Hampstead,London, England.

Lester has managed the careers for numerous commercially successful British and international artists. He was awarded ‘The Peter Grant Award’ for outstanding achievement from the United Kingdom’s Music Manager Forum in 2002.

In 2007, Lester was awarded the prestigious ‘Gold Badge Award’ by BASCA (The British Academy of Songwriters and Composers Association) for his work with UK songwriters. The following year, in 2008, Lester was made a 'Visiting Fellow' of Southampton Solent University where he also lectures on topics of the ‘Music Industry’.

Lester owned a significant stake in the recording company Wildstar Records for which he also acted as co-director and co-owned artist management Wildlife Entertainment.

Professional Life

Management

Lester began his career in the music business as a guitarist with London Glam Rock outfit ‘The Eyes’. At the young age of 19, Lester and ‘The Eyes’ signed their first recording contract in 1979 with Don Arden’s Jet Records. Following the demise of ‘The Eyes’ 2 years later, Lester decided to enter into artist management. His first major signing was the alternative UK indie band Daisy Chainsaw followed by signings of singer/songwriter Martyn Joseph and Manchester duo, JJ, both of whom he successfully negotiated recording contracts for with ‘CBS Records’ now known as ‘Sony Records’.

In 1994, Lester joined the management company ‘Wildlife Entertainment’ in partnership with Ian McAndrew, who had previously managed Tasmin Archer and Bomb The Bass to manage London Funksters ‘The Brand New Heavies’. Under Wildlife’s guidance, The Brand New Heavies produced their album, ‘Brother Sister’ which achieved multi-Platinum success around the world. Wildlife Entertainment also managed Carleen Anderson who followed her success with the Young Disciples with an acclaimed solo career.

In 1996 Wildlife Entertainment took charge of the career of Scottish four-piece Travis who signed to Andy MacDonald’s Independiente Records after the release of their debut album. 'Travis’ second album, ‘The Man Who’ was released in 1999 and established Travis as one of the biggest selling UK acts between 1999 and 2002. In 1997, Lester together with McAndrew formed the UK Record Label ‘Wildstar Records’ in partnership with Capital Radio and Telstar Records. Wildstar Records enjoyed immediate success with South London soul singer ‘Connor Reeves’ before scoring top 5 hits with ‘Lutricia McNeal’, ‘Alda’ and ‘Fierce’.

In 1999, Lester discovered and signed 18 year old Craig David. His Wildstar debut ‘Fill Me In’ made Craig David the youngest male solo artist ever to achieve a number one single, and his subsequent hits, ‘7 Days’ and ‘Walking Away’, boosted sales of Craig David's debut album ‘Born To Do It’ to over 7 million copies including 1.8 million sales in North America. To date Craig David, under Lester’s management, has sold in excess of 13 million records. In 2003 Lester and McAndrew, in partnership with Geoff Barradale, signed Sheffield four-piece Arctic Monkeys. Their debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s what I’m Not’ was released in January 2006, and was the biggest selling debut album by a band in the UK of all time. It entered the UK charts at #1 where it remained for 5 weeks and has so far sold in excess of 2 million copies around the world.

In 2005 Wildlife took singer/songwriter Stephen Fretwell under their umbrella whose debut album, ‘Magpie’ attained Gold status in the UK. As Wildlife Entertainment, in partnership with Ian McAndrew, Lester has overseen global record sales in excess of 25 million records. In October 2008, Lester demerged from Wildlife Entertainment and formed CLM Entertainment, a UK company with a focus on creating stronger artist brands and generating greater revenue streams for artists. Soon after being told by Martyn Berg about a live performance by The Alfonz at the Bull & Gate in London , Colin Lester signed the band to CLM and in 2009 had them play at Glastonbury, their first major festival.

Lester’s vision for CLM Entertainment is that the company will be defined by the artists it signs.

Artists

Management History

Artists previously signed by Colin Lester:

• Craig David
• Travis
• Arctic Monkeys
• Daisy Chainsaw
• The Brand New Heavies
• Remi Nicole
• Julian Velard
• The Alfonz
• James Owen Fender
• Dan Priddy

Awards

• The Peter Grant Award - 2002 - by UK Music Manager Forum
• Gold Badge Award - 2007 by BASCA (The British Academy of Songwriters and Composers Association)
• Visiting Fellow - 2008 by Southampton Solent University, UK

External links

• Official website
• Music Week Publication
• US Billboard Publication
• Southampton University News

References

Author Name: Knersi Kners