Guy Stevens

Guy Stevens (13 April 1943 – 28 August 1981) born in East Dulwich, London, worked in a number of different roles in the British music industry including producer and manager. He gave the rock bands Procol Harum and Mott the Hoople their distinctive names.

Career

Stevens was involved in the early history of Island Records and also ran the UK division of the Sue record label for Chris Blackwell. Stevens used the Sue label to put out obscure American singles not only from the U.S. Sue group of labels, but from any number of tiny independent record companies, and some of the bigger ones. It became widely influential. Stevens was also president of the Chuck Berry Appreciation Society, and had a say in the UK releases that Pye International put out by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and others on the Chess and Checker labels. It was Guy Stevens who brought Berry to the UK for his first tour after paying his bail to get him out of jail for offences under the Mann Act.

While working for Island, Stevens was fundamental in the formation of Mott the Hoople. The band was originally called "Silence," with the line-up of Stan Tippins on vocals, Mick Ralphs on lead guitar, Verden Allen on keyboards, Overend Watts on bass, and Dale Griffin on drums. Envisioning a band with a sound that would be a combination of The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, Stevens recruited and mentored Ian Hunter as lead singer, and demoted Stan Tippins to road manager. Stevens also named the band after the Willard Manus novel, that he had read while in prison serving time for a drug offence.