Kenneth Cooper Pitt (10 November 1922 – 25 February 2019) was a British publicist and

talent manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager, or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of Entertainer, artists within the entertainment industry. The responsibility of a talent manager is to ove ...

, who managed the career of musicians including

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

in the late 1960s.

Biography

Pitt was born in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. In the 1950s, he was responsible for publicising American musicians and bands touring the UK, including

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

, and

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

. His first venture into management was with

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

street singer Danny Purches, but he had more success in the early 1960s with the band

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. They were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The group had two l ...

, whom he persuaded to record the Barry and

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

song "

Do Wah Diddy Diddy "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and originally recorded in 1963, as "Do-Wah-Diddy", by the American vocal group the Exciters. ''Cash Box'' described the Exciters' version as "a sparkling rocker that bubbl ...

". He also managed singer Crispian St. Peters and American group

Goldie and the Gingerbreads Goldie & the Gingerbreads was an all-female American rock band formed in New York in 1962. The quartet, primarily consisting of vocalist Genya "Goldie" Zelkowitz (later Genya Ravan), drummer Ginger Bianco, organist/keyboardist Margo Lewis and ...

. In 1965, Pitt was approached by Ralph Horton with a view to co-managing singer David Jones, who had yet to change his name to David Bowie. Pitt agreed, and in early 1967 became Bowie's sole manager. Pitt ensured that Bowie recorded a wide range of music at that time, and on one occasion, after returning from a trip to the US, introduced Bowie to the debut album by the

Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionist Moe Tuc ...

. At the same time, he sought to find Bowie work in theatre and films, produced Bowie's promotional film '' Love You till Tuesday'', and ensured that Bowie took part in two European song festivals, in Malta and Italy. Pitt managed Bowie at the time of his first hit, "

Space Oddity "Space Oddity" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was first released on 11 July 1969 by Philips and Mercury Records as a 7-inch single, then as the opening track of his second studio album, ''David Bowie''. Produce ...

" in 1969, but Bowie sacked him soon afterwards in favour of Tony DeFries. Pitt gave up artist management at that time, remaining as a consultant to acts touring in the UK. He published a book, ''Bowie: The Pitt Report'', in 1985. Kenneth Pitt died at his home in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England, on 25 February 2019, aged 96. "RIP Kenneth Pit"
''DavidBowie.com'', 27 February 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitt, Kenneth 1922 births 2019 deaths People from Uxbridge English music managers English LGBTQ businesspeople 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English LGBTQ people