licence,” Christian reminisces. “I was 19, had no experience and nine points on my licence!”
Management founder Stuart Camp. “But he has always been hands down the best promo guy there is, quite literally willing to fight for his acts. His success rate at Atlantic speaks volumes, as does the dedicated team he has had around for that time too. They’re second to none – forgiving last year’s Music Week Awards blip! – under his leadership and long may it continue.”
And while Christian might be a Marmite figure to some – especially a few of his rival pluggers – his colleagues at Warner are well aware of his worth.
“Damian’s passion for music and what he does goes right to his core and he never stops pushing himself to be the best,” says Ed Howard, MD of Sheeran’s label Asylum. “He’s a consummate plugger who, over the last 20 years, has seized every opportunity for his artists and for Atlantic. Needless to say he, and the team he has built, have been crucial to all that we have achieved at Asylum since inception. He’s very much loved and respected by colleagues, managers and artists and his drive for excellence and enjoyment of his job uplifts those around him. He’s truly one of a kind and we feel very fortunate to have him play such a pivotal role in the Atlantic family.” Some might assume the changing media landscape might not suit a self-confessed “old school” exec like Christian. But while he admits being a late adopter of most technology (he only got a Blackberry having turned up to one of his son’s cancelled football games because he didn’t get the email), he now has key relationships at streaming services as well as at every radio station in the land. And he is nothing if not adaptable. After all, he started his music biz career as “gopher” to then-Radio 1 DJ Gary Davis, having answered an Evening Standard ad looking for a tour manager.
“You had to be 24, with experience and a clean driving 18 | Music Week 25.11.19
Onward Christian: Damian Christian has been at Atlantic for 20 years
Nonetheless, Christian “blagged” the job and, as with most things, went all-in, becoming Davis’ right-hand man, in charge of everything from mowing the lawn to doing security in “moody” nightclubs, dealing with “herberts” and “situations”. Whenever he popped back into his local in Chiswick, drinkers would great him with Davis’ trademark jingle: “Wooh, Damian Christian”. “I loved it,” Christian laughs, sat on his balcony at Atlantic in autumn sunshine. “I had a company car, I was the first person with a phone, but it was really hard work.” At the time Christian had a healthy suspicion for the “smarmy” pluggers who would court Davis, but eventually joined RCA’s promotions department. After initial bafflement at how often he was expected to go out for lunch (“My mates would phone and say ‘Bollocks, you’re not going for lunch again?’ and I’d be like, ‘I think that’s what I do now’”), he embraced the lifestyle, moving to MCA and then, in 1999, moving his department over en masse to East West (one of his team, Carrie Curtis, is still there with him today). Incredibly successful campaigns for everyone from David Gray and James Blunt to Anne-Marie and Jess Glynne followed and the rest is Music Week Awards history, with the team winning multiple gongs in that time, including nine in a row (Christian has so many in his office some are stacked up to be used as a paperweight). After losing out to Jane Arthy and her Warner team in 2018, Atlantic regained its crown this year, a victory Christian celebrated with a classic speech – taking in being “on the Mozam” (Google it) and why “there’s a lot of cunts in the music industry” before telling his hecklers to “fuck off” and signing off with his catchphrase (half-inched from football hooligan drama The Firm), “We come in peace, we’ll leave you in pieces”. It will no doubt make an amusing footnote in the book Christian currently has several offers to write.
The Damian Christian we meet today, however, is not that guy. Instead, he is here to talk eruditely about 20 glorious years at Atlantic, the importance of his team (Curtis, Deirdre Moran, Holly Marshall, Will Puxley and Christian’s son, Charlie) and the fine art of plugging. And get a bit ‘lively’, natch…
“My ego gets quite hungry. It needs a snack every 15 minutes these days”
DAMIAN
CHRISTIAN ATLANTIC
When you arrived at Atlantic, did you think you’d still be here 20 years later?
“No. I mean, I’m a loyal character. I was at RCA for five years and MCA for seven. In the first few years here, I actually thought it might end quite quickly because we weren’t having much success at the time. Max [Lousada, now Warner Music Group CEO] and I always referred to it as walking the plank because we had nothing. Then all of a sudden something happened and we ended up getting on this roll.”
What changed?
“David Gray was enormous but it didn’t feel like we grew as a label then, it felt like we were David Gray Records. Then James Blunt came along. I never thought I would see record sales like it. The charts used to come in on Sunday and it would put a big smile on your face going into work on Monday, knowing that you’d got this absolute winner. Then, over the last 12 years, there’s been something very exciting or a real big seller every year. That’s a credit to the A&R guys for signing so well and the American label for giving us some massive records.”
And then along came Ed Sheeran...
“It’s been one of the best things I’ve ever been involved in. Just when you think you can’t top something, along comes
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