COVER STORY
Ace faces: Damian Christian shot for Music Week at Warner Music HQ in London, September 2019
“Some people take themselves too seriously. I try to do things in a slightly different way”
DAMIAN CHRISTIAN, ATLANTIC H
musicweek.com
ave you heard the one about the promotions exec and the Radio 1 DJ who flew all the way to New York to see a band, got “overly refreshed” and ended up telling the group they’d played a great set before the gig had even happened? How about the one about the
plugger who tried to order a taxi to Amsterdam from Copenhagen after a riotous Aqua launch junket? Or the one about the West London boy who took on Marilyn Manson in a drinking contest and won, before putting the star in a headlock, prompting the God Of Fuck to demand his security “get this maniac away from me”? If you haven’t, you really should spend an hour or two in the company of Damian Christian. They just don’t make executives like the Atlantic UK head of promotions and Warner Music UK SVP of promotional strategy any more. Whether working his magic on playlists or TV bookings or delivering swaggering, competition-baiting speeches at the Music Week Awards – where he and his Atlantic colleagues have triumphed in the Promotions Team section in 10 of the last 11 years – he is a living, breathing, bantering throwback to the ’90s, when execs were every bit as quote-worthy and rock‘n’roll as their artists. But beneath what Christian dubs his “bravado” lies a consummate professional who has remained at the very top of his game for over 30 years. After stints at RCA and MCA, he arrived at Atlantic (then East West) 20 years ago and has become one of the label’s most influential executives. That influence seems likely to grow after the shock departure of label president Ben Cook, after Cook admitted wearing an offensive Run DMC costume at a party. We initially meet before the scandal, but Christian subsequently comments: “I had a good working relationship with Ben and we enjoyed some great moments in a very successful period in Atlantic’s history. We are now all 100% focused and excited for the next chapter.” And you should never doubt Christian’s focus. Despite his “lairy” reputation, he’s renowned for his forensic, long game approach to plugging, taking over a year to work Portugal The Man’s Feel It Still to No.1 on the airplay chart and successfully taking the likes of Ed Sheeran and Stormzy across radio’s usually strict genre and demographic barriers.
“Damian or Big D as I call him is undeniably a music industry legend,” says Stormzy. “The GOAT of his field and the top fucking boy, big facts. I’ll vouch for that any day of the week.”
“Damian is our guy,” Ed Sheeran tells Music Week. “I love him and can’t imagine, nor would ever want, anyone else in that position.”
“I’ve known Damian for over 15 years from when I first joined Atlantic in 2003 and he used to regularly torment the new kids,” quips Sheeran’s manager, Grumpy Old
25.11.19 Music Week | 17
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