In At The Sharp End (Stories From The Front Line Of The Music Business)

Anyone interested in music will consider this to be essential reading! Covering every genre, it provides intimate inside stories about many artists, songwriters, and music execs never previously documented. Those included are KYLIE MINOGUE, BURT BACHARACH, GEORGE MARTIN, BOB GELDOF, STOCK/AITKEN/WATERMAN, SIMON COWELL, RONNIE WOOD, JUSTIN HAYWARD, GRAHAM GOULDMAN, LEO SAYER, PAUL JONES, JASON DONOVAN, SINITTA, ALLAN CLARKE (The Hollies) and many more. Revelations: How Kylie nearly missed her big chance; when Simon Cowell lost it all; how George Martin signed The Beatles out of pure sympathy; the rise and subsequent disappearance of Clive Calder – the wealthiest man in music; what motivated Bob Geldof to stage the greatest show of all time; where the classic songs originated from: Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Lieber and Stoller, Neil Sedaka, Gene Pitney, Randy Edelman, Tony Hatch, Tony Macaulay, Roger Greenway, Les Reed/Barry Mason plus modern day songwriter of the year, Jamie Hartman.

Ron McCreight is the longest serving “plugger” in the history of the music business, starting in a Tin Pan Alley music publishing house during the 1960s and working through the next 7 decades adopting various roles. His joint venture Promotion/PR company, with Pete Waterman, Sharp End, went on to become the most successful of its kind, representing over 200 top 40 hit singles in its 15-year history. In the 70’s McCreight combined his promotion and publishing activities with writing a weekly column for US trade magazine, Record World, when he interviewed some of the world’s top stars. More recently, he has operated independently for various record companies and publishers including Eagle Rock and Cherry Red.

Customer Reviews

5.0

3 reviews

Lee Theasby, Harrismix

) Fantastic retrospective by one of the top guys in the music industry! What a fantastic book! Ron is legendary, one of the top pluggers at Radio One he was responsible for so many hit records in the 60's, 70's, 80's 90's - you name it and Ron has plugged them all which means making the producers and DJ's aware of the big upcoming hits and ultimately getting them on the playlist so they can become hits. Ron has worked with everyone from Simon Cowell to Simon Harris - George Martin, Kylie & Jason and pretty much all the PWL stars. This is the inside of the real pop music biz in the UK and highly recommended AAAAA+++++
DC

A fascinating insight into an amazing career in the music industry! Having spent many years working in the industry, I found In At The Sharp End a truly fascinating read. No other 'plugger' in history can claim to have worked in the industry across seven decades - Ron’s been there, seen it and done it. And for someone with so many huge successes under his belt, his modesty throughout is truly endearing. Of course, as with anyone who has worked in any industry for so long, there were also days where things didn't go entirely to plan. Thankfully, Ron doesn’t shy away from recounting these moments which, at the time, must have been incredibly stressful – reminding us that the life of a plugger is not for the faint-hearted! The book isn’t all about Ron, though, with many pages serving as wonderful tributes to the huge cast of music industry figures he’s worked with over the years who, whether you know it or not, have played a significant role in the development and success of many artists whose records have invariably become the soundtrack of our lives. Bravo!
Rac

Great insight into the music industry - this was a fascinating read. I loved reading about Ron’s amazing career and his time at Sharp End. Thoroughly recommend this book!

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