Roger Davies (manager)

Biography

Roger Davies was born in 1952 and grew up in Melbourne. In 1970 he left university to become a roadie for a progressive rock band, Company Caine. In the following year he relocated to Sydney and worked for a booking agency, Consolidated Rock – set up by Michael Browning and Michael Gudinski. In October 1972, with a fellow work mate, Michael Chugg, he set up Sunrise booking agency.

Sherbert

Davies became the talent manager for pop-rock group, Sherbet; he was impressed by the group's attitude: their "willingness to work anywhere, anytime, whatever it took." According to musicologist, Ian McFarlane, "Under the direction of astute manager Roger Davies, the band also pioneered the concept of the national rock tour by undertaking arduous, cross-country treks to play in the far-flung corners of the continent. Sherbet's carefully cultivated image tended to alienate the 'serious' music fan, although the band's ability to deliver well-crafted pop music has never been in doubt.". Unusually for the time, Sherbet, under Davies’ direction, the band established its own record label, publishing company and merchandising company. With no previous management experience, Davies proceeded along the path he perceived successful English bands to have taken. Starting the record label was a major innovation and for a band to have a merchandising company was ahead of its time.

Sherbet evolved from a soul-based covers band into a teen-oriented pop, rock outfit that relied mostly on original material. They had eleven singles peak in the Australian top ten. From 1975 Davies and Sherbet turned their attention to the international market. The single, "Howzat" (1976), was inspired by the sport of cricket, which went to number one in Australia, and New Zealand. It was a Top 10 hit in several European countries – including number four on the UK Singles Chart, It had less chart success in the United States where it reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. Nevertheless, its success led to an extensive international tour from 1976 to 1977.

The group's foray into the US market began in 1977 with their album, Photoplay, retitled, Magazine, which failed to chart there. They signed with RSO Records and changed their name to Highway but still had no US charting with the subsequent album, Highway 1 (1978). In mid-1979 the group disbanded and Davies remained in the US; the band returned to Australia and reformed as the Sherbs in 1980.

Olivia Newton-John

In 1978 in the US Roger Davies became the manager for Steve Kipner (ex-Steve and the Board, Tin Tin), a singer-songwriter, who had been in Australia during the 1960s. Davies also worked for Olivia Newton-John's then-manager, Lee Kramer. Kipner had co-written "Physical" for Tina Turner, another of Kramer's clients, who thought it "too obvious" and rejected it. Davies and Kramer heard Kipner's demo and decided they would offer it to Newton-John. She recorded it, but felt the lyrics were "too rude to release." In 1981 Davies took over Newton-John's management following her split with Kramer.

In September 1981 "Physical" was issued and provided Newton-John with an international hit including staying at the top of the US charts for ten weeks. Davies helped continue her commercial success during the early 1980s, including her studio albums, Physical (October 1981) and Soul Kiss (October 1985), and her North American Physical Tour (1982).

Tina Turner

In 1980 Roger Davies' employer Lee Kramer became the manager of singer, Tina Turner. Turner had divorced her husband, Ike, in March 1978 and by 1979 was without a record contract. To support herself, Turner had worked on the club circuit, Davies and Kramer saw her perform live at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco in February 1980; where "She said 'I want to get out of here and play rock venues'." Turner asked Kramer to be her manager and Davies reluctantly went along with the plan. Davies used his industry contacts to put together a comeback and by 1981 he was Turner's manager. He advised Turner to drop her cabaret ensemble and remodel her show into a grittier rock'n'roll showcase. In that year Davies booked Turner at The Ritz in New York City for a series of gigs.

Turner's return to popularity began in the United Kingdom with a cover version of The Temptations' "Ball of Confusion" (1982), and was followed by a cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" (November 1983), which was a hit in Europe. Her major breakthrough came with "What's Love Got to Do with It" (June 1984), a track written by Terry Britten (ex-The Twilights). Turner had disliked the song and originally turned it down, despite her reservations, it provided her with her first US number-one hit. Her single, "Private Dancer" (October), (penned by Mark Knopfler) was an international hit and the related album Private Dancer became one of the biggest successes of the 1980s, earning Turner three Grammy Awards in 1985, and re-establishing her as one of the world's top rock performers. Turner accepted the role of "Aunty Entity" in the Australian film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (July 1985).

In 1993 What's Love Got to Do with It, a biopic about Turner by Kurt Loder, was filmed with Angela Bassett in the lead role and Australian singer-actor James Reyne (former lead singer of Australian Crawl) portraying Davies – however it was Kramer who should have been depicted at that point of her career. Davies was satirically portrayed by Alec Baldwin in a sketch on Saturday Night Live when Turner guested on the program.

James Reyne

Whilst managing Tina Turner Davies was also the manager of Australian based singer-songwriter James Reyne, known for his work in the rock band Australian Crawl.  The eponymous album James Reyne was released on1987 Capitol Records, interestingly Olivia Newton-John is credited on guest vocals.  Hard Reyne was the follow up album released 29 May 1989 also on Capitol Records.

Reyne later played the part of Roger Davies in the movie of Tina Turner's life-story, the semi-autobiographical 1993 film “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. Interestingly years later, the American artist, Pink, saw the film and asked her record label to “arrange a meeting with the guy who managed Tina as she wanted him to manager her”. In 2001 Davies became Pink's manager.

Tony Joe White

In 1989 Davies was approached by various artists for artist management, and with Tina Turner's career consolidated, Davies took on a few more acts. He agreed to manage the blues singer/songwriter Tony Joe White from Louisiana, who worked with Tina Turner on the four songs he had written for the 1989 “Foreign Affair” album. Davies negotiated a record contract with Polydor for Tony Joe and co-produced three albums; 1991's Closer to the Truth, 1993 The Path of a Decent Groove, and 1995 Lake Placid Blues. Tony Joe White is also credited on Joe Cocker’s 1996 album Organic, for the songs Heart Full of Rain, and High Lonesome Blue.

Janet Jackson

Davies was then approached by US lawyer, Don Passman, to manage Janet Jackson who at the time was a successful MTV artist being managed by her father. As Tina Turner had moved to Europe and was wanting to slow down, Davies agreed to manage Janet Jackson, confident he could take her to a new level.

The first project they worked on was the “Rhythm Nation 1814” album and tour. The record on A&M Records was ambitious, with a social slant, very different to what Janet had done before. It reached #1 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified six times platinum, eventually selling 14 million copies worldwide. It was certified the #1 selling album of the year in 1990 winning multiple music awards and the corresponding video won a Grammy. The subsequent “Rhythm Nation” tour, the artist’s first ever tour, became the most successful debut tour by any recording artist. It played to over two million people, grossing $28 million in the US.

In 1991, following the success of Rhythm Nation 1814, Davies negotiated a highly publicised multi-million dollar contract with Virgin Records, citing Janet the highest paid female recording artist in contemporary music. The following year Janet recorded her next album “Janet” released 1993, it debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and the album’s #1 hit single “That’s the Way Love Goes” won a Grammy award for Best R & B song. The album was certified six times platinum, with worldwide sales of 20 million copies.

The album entitled “Janet” was released in May 1993. The record opened at number one on the Billboard 200 and was certified six times platinum, selling over 20 million copies worldwide. The lead single “That’s the Way Love Goes” won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks.

In 1997 Davies launched the “Velvet Rope” album, which reached top five status on global record charts. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and was certified triple platinum. Janet embarked on “The Velvet rope” tour, selling out stadiums across North America, Europe Japan, Australia and NZ. The concert was filmed for an HBO broadcast and received over 15 million viewers, surpassing the ratings of the four major networks and winning an Emmy for outstanding technical direction/camera work. The show was a massive production of theatrics and pyrotechnics and the video, produced by Davies, has been judged by multiple critics to portray the most influential choreography and setting of any music video, achieving legendary status.

The album “All for You” was released in April 2001. It entered at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 605,000 copies sold, the highest first-week sales of her career. The title song broke the overall airplay debut record with a first week audience of seventy million. It topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks, also reaching the top ten in eleven countries. The album was certified double platinum, selling nine million copies worldwide.

In July 2001, Janet embarked on the All for You Tour, and on the final date, in Hawaii, the show was filmed and broadcast as a concert special for HBO drawing an audience of twelve million viewers. The special was nominated for an Emmy Award and the subsequent video was a major hit, reaching #1 in Australia.

Having sold over 100 million records, Janet Jackson is ranked as one of the best-selling artists in the history of contemporary music. In 2016 Billboard magazine released its list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, placing her at number seven.

Dalbello

Roger Davies became the manager of Canadian singer-songwriter, Dalbello (aka Lisa Dal Bello), after she had released her fourth album, whomanfoursays (1984). For that album she had worked with Mick Ronson (David Bowie) as producer and musician. Davies preferred to work with other UK-based producers as he previously had a negative meeting with Ronson at an interview for production work for Turner. According to Sam Lederman (Ronson's then-manager) "We met with Tina and Roger all day but Mick got tongue-tied, he just couldn't explain what he wanted to do."

Dalbello started to record with Rupert Hine producing, but Davies "vetoed the project and suggested that she look for another producer who might be more commercial." Dalbello provided demo versions of new material, which she had self-produced under an anagramatic pseudonym, Bill da' Salleo. The ruse convinced Davies and the label, A&R, to approve da' Salleo as the producer for an album. Eventually Davies was told that Dalbello herself had produced the album, he "began to question the strength of the album's production and commercial viability." The project was delayed and finally issued as she in 1987.

Sade

In March 1991 Davies added the British band Sade to his management stable after an approach from the band’s lawyer in London.

The first album under Davies’ management was Love Deluxe, the band's fourth album released in 1992. It hit top 10 in several countries and achieved quadruple platinum status in the US. The album was the basis for the Love Deluxe tour and the single “No Ordinary Love” won a Grammy Award for best R & B performance. The album has sold over 7,000,000 copies.

Sade then released “The Best of Sade” on 31st October 1994, going quadruple platinum in the US went on to sell 11,708,000 copies.

In November 2000 the album, Lovers Rock, was released as the band’s fifth studio album, achieving triple platinum status and winning the Grammy Award for best pop vocal album in 2002. A successful North American tour followed.

After another extended break, Sade’s sixth studio album Soldier of Love was released February 2010. It debuted at #1 in 16 countries including the US where it topped the Billboard charts for three weeks. It was soon certified double platinum and the title track won the Grammy Award for Best R&B performance by a group.

In May 2011 a second compilation album was released, The Ultimate Collection, and Davies took the band on the road for the first time in 11 years. The “Soldier of Love” tour, a state of the art production, kicked off with 21 arena dates in Europe, starting in Nice, France on 29 April and followed by 54 dates in North America, as well as playing arena dates in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. Demand was such that the band returned to Europe for a further 15 shows and wound up the year with dates in Australia, NZ, and a final date on Friday 16 December 2011 at the Yas Arena, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Pink

Davies has enjoyed continuing success with American singer-songwriter Pink. He took over her management commencing from her second album, 2001's Missundaztood. Pink was unhappy with her direction and reportedly had little control over her first album, so she enlisted the help of singer-songwriter Linda Perry (4 Non Blondes) for her next and personal second album. Davies had been impressed enough with Pink's presence in her first video to review her debut album (which he reportedly did not like), but when he heard some of the early songs Pink wrote with Perry he was intrigued; "She not only sang the tracks, but she acted them out." "She said, 'This song is going to be the first single, and this is how the video should be.' By then I knew I wanted to manage her. I told her that she was taking a huge risk by changing her sound, but she knew that. She was just fearless."

Davies' and Pink's determination paid off. Her second album proved a tremendous hit, with worldwide sales of over 16 million, winning over critics and fans alike and earning Pink two Grammy nominations, and the single "Get the Party Started" became a Top Five US hit. Pink's 2003 third album Try This sold over 3 million copies worldwide, and earned Pink her second Grammy Award for her song "Trouble".

Her fourth album, 2006's I'm Not Dead, sold over 6 million copies worldwide, and its tour of the same name smashed attendance records in Australia and Europe for a solo female artist.

In 2009, Pink's fifth album "Funhouse" outsold her "I'm Not Dead" album and produced the hit singles "So What" and "Sober". Her "Funhouse" arena tour played to over two million people at 160 sold out dates worldwide, and in 2010, she followed it up with her "Funhouse Summer Carnival Tour", playing 34 European stadium and festival shows in 14 countries in 12 weeks, adding a further one million fans.

Whilst promoting the album The Truth About Love, in the 20 August 2012 edition of http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/480362/pink-the-billboard-cover-story was significant to her on-going success: "...I can say this factually and not opinion -- the best manager in the business. He's the most respected person I've ever met. He has also been in the game for so many years and he still is the guy carrying your bags through the airport. He's my biggest cheerleader. After every night he's at the soundboards with me and he's checking my sound and making sure my outfit fits correctly. He's just helping me through all of this because he manages people like Sade, Cher, Tina Turner and Joe Cocker-legends who've been touring forever. He's believed in me and he's kept me going when I didn't have it in me for myself. He's a wealth of experience. I find myself wanting to impress him even more."

1990 Performance Magazine USA

Davies was voted Best International Manager

2003 55th Primetime Emmy Awards

Davies received a Primetime Emmy Award on Sunday, September 21, 2003 for Producer of Cher The Farewell Tour in the category Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special

2004 Music Managers Awards

Davies was awarded the Lifetime Membership Award at the 2004 MMF Music Managers Awards by the MMF [Music Managers Forum (Australia)].

2008 APRA Awards

Davies was honoured by the Australian music industry. Famed within the music industry for his incredible career, he was awarded one of their highest accolades – the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Music. The award was presented at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) awards ceremony in Sydney Australia on 16 June 2008. CEO of APRA/AMCOS, Brett Cottle, also said:

Pink pre-recorded a message of congratulations to Davies for the ceremony, in which she said:

"I wouldn't be where I was without you – your reputation is impeccable, the respect that you've garnered over the years is amazing and well deserved."

Currently

With his company, RDWM / RD Worldwide Management / Roger Davies Worldwide Management, Roger Davies currently manages artists Tina Turner, Cher, Pink, Sade. and the musical estate of Joe Cocker.