Mervyn Conn (born 5 February 1934) is a British music promoter and entrepreneur.

Biography

Early life and career

Conn born in 1934 started work in the

fashion industry Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

, but by the early 1960s, with the help of his cousin, the comedian Bernie Winters, he had begun running a club, ''Romano's'', in Gerrard Street in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He worked closely with agent Joe Collins (the father of Joan and

Jackie Collins Jacqueline Jill Collins (4 October 1937 – 19 September 2015) was an English romance novelist and actress. She moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and spent most of her career there. She wrote 32 novels, all of which appeared on The New York Times B ...

), and staged the first '' Beatles Christmas Shows'' in 1963.

Management career

He then managed many of the major

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touring shows in the UK, including those headlined by such bands and musicians as P.J. Proby,

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, Billie Jo Spears,

Chubby Checker Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song " The Twis ...

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, the Red Army Ensemble and many more. He also directed the ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' Pop Shows held at

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

in the 1960s. He then launched the annual ''International Festivals of Country Music'' held at the same venue between 1969 and 1991. The shows were later taken into Europe, and featured such stars as Johnny Cash,

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, Billie Jo Spears, 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 ...

. More recently he has been responsible for major touring shows including '' Annie'' starring his own daughter, and ''Three Steps To Heaven''.

Personal life

In 1989, Conn was convicted of a serious sexual assault on his 19-year-old receptionist and was sentenced to eight weeks in prison. In July 2014, he was arrested at Gatwick airport in connection with an alleged historic rape and sexual assault."Celebrity music mogul Mervyn Conn arrested in connection with historic rape and sexual assault allegations"
''The Wimbledon Guardian'', Friday 1 August 2014 In October 2016 Mervyn Conn, then 82, was convicted of historic offences of 2 rapes and 1 sexual assault, and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with a minimum of 7 years before parole can be considered >

Memoirs

In 2010 Conn published an autobiography, ''Mr Music Man: My Life in Showbiz''.

References

1935 births Living people British music industry executives {{UK-business-bio-1930s-stub