Alan Edwards, pop PR - ‘Bowie was like King Arthur and the Spice Girls like the Pistols’

We’ve known Alan Edwards since the days when we’d ring him for a quote from Blondie or the Stranglers in the late ‘70s and he’s still one of the key figures in music PR. He’s looked after the Stones, Prince, Michael Jackson, Blondie, Amy Winehouse, the Beckhams and many others. No-one is better positioned to see how that world has changed, from the pre-Google days when you could invent a story and the press would happily buy it to a 21st century where his flat was burgled in pursuit of lucrative celebrity leads. PRs, he believes, "are not messengers but storytellers” and his memoir ‘I Was There: Dispatches From A Life In Rock And Roll’ is full of them. He looks back here at …
… striking a £1m photo deal for the Beckhams’ wedding.
… Midge Ure, Gen X and other prime examples of fake news.
… hotel workers, waiters and airline pilots who sold stories to the press.
… the days when a battery-operated portable phone gave you the edge.
… why he was hired by Blondie.
… the chilly, manipulative and inscrutable Lou Reed.
… Bowie’s disappearance in Berlin in the ‘70s and other things that would be impossible in the age of social media.
… Keith Moon in mid-air.
… and how it feels to be hacked.
Order Alan’s book here …
www.amazon.co.uk/Was-There-Di...
The Outside Organisation …
outside-org.co.uk/
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[@Fog99horn]

Really good interview - plus Be Bop Deluxe AND Oxford United in the first 5 minutes!

[@jeffstockton534]

Hard to beat these PRs for the gab. All of a sudden, Dave was wrapping it up. A brisk 42 minutes, thank you, gents.

[@anneliamohara2842]

Great interview ! Thanks from New Jersey .

[@Suburbangeek]

Really enjoyed this interview, guys. Makes a great companion to your Smash Hits/Neil Tennant interview last month(?).

[@martino9134]

"The idea of JJ (or Hugh) apologising for anything is unthinkable.." and risky .. anyone who tried to put down or cancel the Stranglers in the late 70's were at risk of being gaffer taped to the Eiffel Tower 300 feet above the ground.. and Mr Edwards was on hand to make it notorious.