Behind The Voices: 3 Hugely Influential Music Managers

Sunday, January 22, 2017.

While music managers don’t get anywhere near the publicity and attention that artists do, they still play a highly important role in keeping the band organized and making sure everything stays on track. They’ve also made some revolutionary contributions to the whole industry at times, too. In this post, we’ll look at just a few of the most successful and influential managers from history to see how it’s really done!

Murray Wilson

I thought we’d start this off with one of the real classics. Murray Wilson became a music manager almost by accident. Wilson was just a teenager when the great depression started. Entertainment was sparse, and he and his siblings would often occupy themselves by singing, sometimes completely original compositions. Wilson grew up loving these songs, and pursued a career as a songwriter. As an adult, he spent a lot of time singing and playing piano for his three sons. When these boys were teenagers, they began singing with other talented teenagers. Murray’s sons eventually wrote a song called “surfin’”, which he helped to get to recorded. This was eventually pressed by Candix, and became the first ever Beach Boys release.

Coran Capshaw

Coran Capshaw is a model businessman, and his career in the music business wasn’t exactly the most typical story in the world. Capshaw started off running a bar in Charlottesville, Virginia, by the name of “Trax” through the 90s. This is where he gave the Dave Matthews Band their first weekly gig. As they began to pick up traction, Capshaw began devoting more and more of his efforts to managing the band and getting their career off the ground. Soon enough, the Dave Matthews Band became one of the most popular touring bands in the US. Since then, Coran Capshaw’s music career has flourished, and in his time he’s worked with such acts as Phish, Lady Antebellum, Chris Stapleton and helped Trey Anastasio with his solo career. Aside from his impressive record in the music industry, Capshaw has also been heavily involved in real estate development in and around the Charlottesville area.

Sharon Osbourne

Here we have one of the most well-known music managers in recent history. Sharon Osbourne had music in her from the day she was born. She was the daughter of Don Arden, the highly successful and often ruthless music mogul, who was the original manager of Black Sabbath. When the band’s lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne, was kicked out mainly for his spiralling alcoholism, Sharon became his personal manager and helped to get his solo career off the ground. While touring in America, they fell madly in love with each other. Although the relationship was certainly rocky in places, they were a great team in terms of music, and Ozzy’s massive renown as a rock and metal figure speaks for itself! Sharon has also worked with acts such as Lita Ford and the Smashing Pumpkins. As I’m sure you know, she’s also had massive success in various reality TV appearances.