alwaysprintthemyth
Alan Edwards at the V&A
 

Alan Edwards
Alan Edwards is the CEO of The Outside Organisation, a PR company that represents a powerful and eclectic set of clients including David Bowie, The Who, SSE Arena Wembley, Bon Jovi and Led Zepplin. Through his 40 year career in PR Alan has worked with an astonishing array of clients including Amy Winehouse, Shakira, P Diddy, Bon Jovi, Britney Spears, Usher, and Naomi Campbell. The Rolling Stones, Prince, Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, The Beckhams, Sunderland Football Club and The Spice Girls.

Alan was born in 1955 in South London and brought up in Sussex. After a year as a freelance reviewer for music papers like Sounds and Record Mirror Alan was offered a job by the doyen of music PRs, Keith Altham, whose clients included The Who and Marc Bolan. In his spare time Edwards began representing punk bands, a real passion for him - including key movers like The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks and The Damned. As the movement exploded, he set up his own company operating out of a squat. In 1981 Alan was summoned to New York for a meeting with Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger. On arrival, he was asked to sit down before firing a volley of questions about the global media. As Alan had spent lots of time in the back of vans touring the world with his punk clients he was already thinking beyond UK media – and passed the Jagger test! David Bowie (who he still represents to this day), Duran Duran, Bryan Ferry all followed in quick succession as new clients.

The company continued to grow quickly throughout the eighties working with artists as varied as UB40, Robert Palmer, INXS and The Cure. In 1997 Edwards received a call from the offices of Virgin Music asking him to be in their building in 45 minutes. When he saw the helicopters hovering overhead and limousines outside Virgin's HQ, it dawned on Edwards that he was about to be asked to represent the Spice Girls - then in their global brand heyday and soon to be selling out stadiums from the US to the Far East. Alan met the girls and was asked by Victoria Beckham what kind of shoes he was wearing. The classic brand – Hush Puppies – met with the approval of Posh and the rest and Alan was in! His experience probably counted for something too …

The Spice Girls as clients no doubt took the company to another level and led to a whole host of pop acts following in their wake. Edwards ended up the leading pop PR in the UK handling Atomic Kitten, Boyzone, Westlife, All Saints and Leona Lewis along with the Spice juggernaut. Edwards has consulted for government committees and alongside the core entertainment work he has worked with numerous businesses and corporations including the acquisition and later sale of Channel 5 by Richard Desmond’s Northern and Shell the Guy Hands/EMI takeover; the sale of Chrysalis to BMG to and work with AEG, the owners of SSE Arena, Wembley and The 02. On the charity front Edwards has been involved in campaigns including Teenage Cancer Trust, Nordoff Robbins and the Prince’s Trust.


 

Dates
Tuesday 21 April - Dylan Jones OBE
Wednesday 22 April - Dan Wootton
Thursday 23 April - Tony Parsons
Friday 24 April - guest tbc
Saturday 25 April - Tom Watson MP
Tuesday 28 April - Sir John Hegarty
Wednesday 29 April- Sarah Sands
Thursday 30 April (8:30 - 10 pm) - Dennis Morris
Friday 1 May - Alastair Campbell
Saturday 2 May - Jeremy Deller
Tuesday 5th May (7 - 8:30 pm) - Hala Jaber
Tuesday 5th May (8:30 - 10 pm) - Sir Bob Geldof
Wednesday 6th May - Lynne Franks
Thursday 7th May - Paddy Harverson
Friday 8 May - Lord Tim Bell
Saturday 9 May -Ken Sunshine

Click here to buy tickets

Victoria & Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.