Died On This Date (April 22, 2009) John Weller / Paul Weller’s Father and Manager
themusicsover John Weller
1931 – April 22, 2009
John Weller was probably Paul Weller’s biggest fan. Their “professional” relationship began the day John bought son, Paul his first guitar whan he was just a child. At the time, John worked as a cab driver. When Paul formed his first band, the Jam, in 1972, John could be found booking them gigs and talking them up in around their home of Surrey, England. By 1977, John was managing the band. After the Jam disbanded in 1982, John continued to guide his son’s prolific career as a member of the Style Council, and as a solo artist for the next thirty years. John Weller was in deteriorating health over the past few years, and passed away on April 22, 2009 at the age of 77.
Malcolm McLaren was a trendsetting English fashion store proprietor who became internationally famous as the manager of the New York Dolls and Sex Pistols. During the early ’70s, McLaren opened a clothing store on London’s trendy King’s Road. In no time, it became a favorite destination for the area’s young rock crowd. While making buying trips to New York, he met up with the New York Dolls and soon began creating their stage costumes. He eventually took over management duties. By the middle of the decade, McLaren was managing the Sex Pistols, initially due to their sense of outrageous fashion rather than their musical abilities. The partnership would quickly evolve into what many credit as being the flash point of punk rock. After the band’s disintegration, McLaren worked with Adam Ant and Bow Wow Wow. He also had a moderately successful recording career of his own. His “Buffalo Gals” and “Double Dutch” were hits in the UK and US. McLaren continued to stay in the public eye, at least in the UK, well into the 2000s with various projects. Malcolm McLaren died of cancer on April 8, 2010. He was 64.
Scotland born Tam Paton was the manager and main mouthpiece for 70s pop sensations, the Bay City Rollers. Paton helped develop a squeaky clean image for the band by claiming for instance, that the guys preferred milk over alcohol. “Rollermania” exploded around the world thanks to such hits as “Saturday Night” and “Shang-a-lang.” The band fired Paton in 1979 afterwhich he went on to earn millions in real estate. In 2003, Rollers guitarist Pat McGlynn announced that Paton, who was openly gay, raped him while on tour in 1977. The allegations though never doubted were never proven true. Paton was convicted of sex and drug related offenses in later years. He died as a result of an apparent heart attack on April 8, 2009.
Kit Lambert was the son of British composer, Constant Lambert. After a stint in the army he returned to Britain to work in film. He teamed up with director Chris Stamp to make a documentary about an unknown band. That band was the High Numbers who would later become better known as the Who. The film would never be finished as Lambert decided to manage the Who instead. It was Lambert who convinced Pete Townshend to move on from their simple pops songs and start to create the more complex sounds that would result in their classic Tommy album. The resulting success of the Who ultimate lead to the demise of their relationship with Lambert who was eventually replaced. The ’70s were not good to Lambert as he continued to deal with a substance abuse problem. At one point he was made a Ward of the Court in order to avoid prison on drug charges. Because of this, he barely saw any money from the fortune that was made of off his productions of Who and 