Robert ‘Stiggy’ Stigwood – what a life story! What an inspiration!
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/obituaries/article4657448.ece
…from this:
‘He left Australia in 1955 and worked his way to Britain, hitchhiking lifts on land and from oil tankers at sea. He arrived in Britain with dysentery and just a few pounds in his pocket. Several jobs later, he and a friend set up a small theatrical agency on London’s Charing Cross Road’
to this…
‘Simon Napier-Bell called him:
“the single most important pop impresario in the world” who created “the blueprint of success for all future pop entrepreneurs”.’
He built himself up from nothing, hit hard times:
‘…..Stigwood had to call in the receivers halfway through the tour with debts of £40,000 (about £725,000 at today’s prices)….’
but he picked himself up, dusted himself off and climbed to the very summit….Bee-Gees, Cream and Clapton, The Beatles (for a time, whilst Brian Epstein was alive), ‘Saturday Night Fever’, ‘Grease’, John Travolta, ‘Hair’, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Time Rice/’Jesus Christ Superstar’….the list goes on…
We have so much to thank Stiggy and the impresarios for – without them, the wonderful music, the movies, the musicals, the elements in life that give us so much pleasure, we’d never see them. The likes of Robert Stigwood (and he was one of the giants!), they spot the talent and they bring it to us. It’s a ‘team thing’: Bee Gees, Clapton, Lord Lloyd Webber and Sir Tim Rice, Stiggy needed them but they needed Stiggy, it was a beautiful alignment of stars (and we are talking about some of the brightest, most impressive, sparkling stars) that shone upon us and added, and will continue to add, so much value and quality to our lives.
I, for one, am very grateful to Robert Stigwood. I heartily thank him.
RIP
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