Paul McGuinness (born 16 June 1951) is the founder of ''Principle Management Limited'', a popular music act management company based in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, in the Republic of Ireland. He was the manager of the rock band U2 from 1978 to 2013.

Early life

McGuinness was born in a British military hospital at

Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river above the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In rela ...

, Westphalia in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where his father, Philip McGuinness (a

Liverpudlian Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

) was serving with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. His mother Sheila McGuinness née Lyne, was a schoolteacher from County Kerry, Ireland. There were three children in the family: Paul, Niall, and Katy. McGuinness received his early formal education in Ireland at the private Jesuit boarding school Clongowes Wood College. From there he went on to

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he directed plays, edited the magazine T.C.D. Miscellany, and promoted gigs, but dropped out without a degree.

Career

Early years

Before becoming involved with U2, he worked as a film assistant director on productions such as John Boorman's ''

Zardoz ''Zardoz'' is a 1974 science fantasy film written, produced, and directed by John Boorman and starring Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling. It depicts a post-apocalyptic world (which Boorman says, in the audio commentary, may or may not be mat ...

''. For a time, he also managed folk-rock group Spud.

U2

McGuinness first met U2 at a Dublin gig on 25 May 1978 where they were supporting the Gamblers. Following this meeting, McGuinness became U2's manager, having been introduced to the band by Bill Graham, a journalist with Hot Press magazine. He founded Principle Management Limited on 29 March 1984. His original agreement with the band was that the money would be split equally 5 ways, though this was changed later. McGuinness and

Bill Whelan Bill Whelan (born 22 May 1950 in Limerick, Ireland) is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, ''Riverdance'', was a seven-minute display of tradi ...

set up a music publishing company called McGuinness/Whelan Publishing in the late 1980s. Whelan later composed the music for

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions Je ...

. In 2002 McGuinness was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the

Meteor Music Awards A Meteor Ireland Music Award was an accolade bestowed upon professionals in the music industry in Ireland and further afield. They had been bestowed each year since 2001, replacing the IRMA Ireland Music Awards held in the 1990s. Promoted by ...

Point Theatre The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall Q ...

Dublin and U2 won the best Irish Band Award. Noted for his business acumen, he has been responsible for U2 3D concert films, U2-branded iPods, sponsorship from BlackBerry and the first-ever concert streamed live on YouTube. McGuinness is regarded as the fifth member of U2, although in an interview with '' The Irish Press'' in 1985, when asked if he was the fifth member of U2, he replied "the fifth member of U2 is in Adam (Clayton)'s trousers". He is also regarded as one of the most successful managers in the music business. McGuinness stepped down as manager of U2 after 34 years on 13 November 2013, with Madonna's manager Guy Oseary succeeding him in 2014 when he sold Principle to Live Nation.

Other activities

He was a founding partner of

TV3 (Ireland) Virgin Media One, also called Virgin One, is an Irish free-to-air television channel owned by Virgin Media Ireland (part of Liberty Global), operated through its subsidiary Virgin Media Television. The channel was known until 30 August 20 ...

and was one of the owners of Ardmore Film Studios. He became a member of the

Arts Council of Ireland The Arts Council (sometimes called the Arts Council of Ireland; legally ga, An Chomhairle Ealaíon) is the independent "Irish government agency for developing the arts." About It was established in 1951 by the Government of Ireland, to encour ...

on 1 January 1988, having been appointed by

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...

and served until February 2000 when he resigned. He has been an advocate on behalf of artists, record labels, and music publishers. On 28 January 2008, in a speech at the Midem music industry convention in Cannes, McGuinness specifically accused companies such as Apple, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook of building "multi-billion dollar industries on the back of our content without paying for it". In 2015, he founded Primo Productions, a film and TV company. Primo has produced 3 Seasons of '' Riviera'', a drama set in the South of France. McGuinness wrote the "list of ingredients" for the show: "Rich people behaving badly in the sun, yachts, Maseratis, great clothes, beautiful women, art fraud, money laundering through the auction houses, Russians, English people, American, French. Murder, adultery". Everyday life on the Côte d’Azur. McGuinness's production partner is Kris Thykier of Archery Pictures. The show was originally commissioned by Anne Mensah of SKY Atlantic.

Personal life

McGuinness married Kathy Gilfillan in 1977. They met whilst he was studying at Trinity. Gilfillan is director of The Lilliput Press. They have 2 children.

References

External links

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RTE archives
Paul McGuinness talks about how he came to be the manager of U2 {{DEFAULTSORT:McGuinness, Paul 1951 births U2 Living people Music industry executives People from Rinteln People educated at Clongowes Wood College Alumni of Trinity College Dublin People from Monkstown, County Dublin