Ceremony: Rebecca Boulton and Andy Robinson with the


Managers’ Manager Award at this year’s Artist & Manager Awards


RESTORING ORDER


New Order managers Rebecca Boulton and Andy Robinson were extremely popular winners at the 2019 Artist & Manager Awards. Here, the Prime Management duo lift the lid on a rollercoaster 20-year stint that has gone from tragedy to triumph...


------ BY JAMES HANLEY ------ T 38 | Music Week 25.11.19


he late, great Factory Records boss Tony Wilson lived by the rule that, when forced to pick between truth and legend, print the legend.


In that same spirit, legend has it that the elaborate sleeve for the 12” of the Factory-issued Blue Monday by fellow Manchester greats New Order was so expensive to produce that each copy sold at a loss. A great tale for sure, but one that struggles to stand up to scrutiny.


“I wasn’t involved when Blue Monday was originally released [in 1983], but I think that must be a myth,” says Prime Management’s Rebecca Boulton, who has managed the band alongside Andy Robinson since the death of their legendary predecessor Rob Gretton 20 years ago.


“Lesley [Gilbert], Rob’s widow, worked at Factory when [Blue Monday] came out and I’ve asked her about that,” Boulton tells Music Week. “I said, ‘That can’t be right, because you wouldn’t carry on selling it?’ And she said, ‘No, it wasn’t at a loss. We might have started doing some but then, as soon as we realised, we just pulled it’.” Then there’s The Haçienda, the fabled Manchester nightclub and venue conceived by Gretton, which was graced by future icons such as Madonna, The Stone Roses and The Smiths and served as a backdrop to the rise of rave culture, acid house and the seminal Madchester scene.


musicweek.com


PHOTOS: Andy Willsher


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