Ellis was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, in 1943.[4] He graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with an honours degree in mathematics and metallurgy. He began booking concerts at colleges on a part-time basis in 1966, and in 1967 he got into business with Chris Wright, forming the Ellis-Wright Agency. The act that brought them attention was Reparata and the Delrons whose record in the UK, "Captain of Your Ship" was climbing the charts. Ellis brought the group to England for two successful tours in 1968. For many years, he kept their file open, deeming it good luck. In 1968 they also expanded their activities to include artist management with Ellis managing Clouds and Jethro Tull, and Chris managing Ten Years After and Procol Harum. He co-produced several Jethro Tull records: This Was (1968), Stand Up (1969), Benefit (1970) and Aqualung (1971).
After buying out Ellis in 1985, Wright sold the Chrysalis Records label to EMI in 1991, and finally sold the entire operation to a consortium consisting of BMG and private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 2010.[3]
Ellis took a science degree at university, but while there he took the position of Social Secretary of the Students Union and presented pop and rock groups at his university for the first time. Later he began writing music journalism for his college paper. In 1965, his attempt at interviewing Bob Dylan was filmed for D.A. Pennebaker's film Dont Look Back; Dylan is shown in an intellectual joust with Ellis in a circular conversation that is at times good natured, and at other times tense.[5]
Subsequently, Ellis developed one of the most successful track records in contemporary music for discovering, developing and exploiting the commercial potential of young recording artists. With his partner, Chris Wright, he built a small artist booking agency into one of the most successful independent groups of companies in the music industry with subsidiaries involved in artist management, booking, recording studios, record labels, music publishing, concert promotion and venue management. In one capacity or another their company, Chrysalis, represented every important influence in British music in the 1970s. In addition to artists that it directly managed, Chrysalis booked Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, Roxy Music, Curved Air, Yes and King Crimson, signed David Bowie to a music publishing contract, entered the recording studio business with Sir George Martin (The Beatles producer), directed concert tours and for a time ran London's Rainbow Theatre.
By 1969 Ellis had started to produce albums. One record which influenced him was "Classical Gas" for its amazing orchestration. His productions include all of the early Jethro Tull albums and based on their success, he and his partner formed Chrysalis Records. The label established itself with artists such as Jethro Tull, Clouds, Ten Years After, Procol Harum, Robin Trower, Leo Sayer, Spandau Ballet, Steeleye Span and numerous others who achieved success through Chrysalis and its licensees around the world.[6]
By the end of 1974, Chrysalis was firmly established as one of the leading independent record labels and music publishers in the world. Ellis moved to Los Angeles to build the American arm of the group and to give it a more focused identity. He continued to build on Chrysalis's track record for credible music whilst applying his philosophy of maintaining a close personal involvement with all aspects of his signed artists' careers. By way of examples, having seen an unknown New York based punk rock group, he purchased their contract from a small record label that could not afford to market them properly. That group was Blondie, and their first single on Chrysalis "Rip Her to Shreds" (1976) was a hit in 35 countries.
Also in New York, he heard Pat Benatar in a small club; with Chrysalis, she went on to sell millions of records, as did Huey Lewis and The News, a rock band from San Francisco. After the breakup of UK punk band, Generation X, Ellis took the lead singer to America and launched the career of Billy Idol. In each of these cases, and there are others, the common factor was Ellis' personal devotion of time, effort and career planning that took the artists to international success. Yet it is ironic that the first band he ever signed to management, Clouds, had their career founder because of lack of management supervision. This was mainly bad luck and timing, for the Chrysalis empire began to rapidly expand at that very moment, and the success of Jethro Tull also meant that Ellis could not devote the time he typically wanted to spend on his artistes.
In 1980, Ellis set up a new Chrysalis division, Chrysalis Visual Programming. He made the music industry's first ever sell-through long form VHS video album with Blondie's Eat to the Beat (1980) (which was re-released in a remastered limited edition CD/DVD release in late June 2007). He went on to produce other long form videos including one featuring Scottish comedian, Billy Connolly, produced two made-for-TV movies and developed the award-winning TV series Max Headroom (TV series) (1987–88), still considered by critics on both sides of the Atlantic to be one of the most innovative television series in recent history.
Ellis was elected Chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for a two-year term and remains the only non-American to have been elected to this office. He has also held the Chairmanship of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and served for five years as a member of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). In 1985, Ellis dissolved his association with Chrysalis selling his interests to his partner. Within a few years, the record division, which he had been very influential in creating, had been sold off to EMI Records.
In 1990, Ellis formed Imago Records (The Imago Recording Company), a joint venture with BMG. In its four years of operation he signed six artists who sold over 100,000 units of their debut album in the US alone: Baby Animals, Captain Hollywood, The Rollins Band, Aimee Mann, Paula Cole, and Love Spit Love. Of those, Baby Animals' first record sold 500,000 worldwide (4 times platinum in Australia) and the Rollins Band sold 250,000 units in the US on their first and 500,000 on their second albums. The joint venture was dissolved in 1994 with Ellis retaining ownership of the Imago catalogue and artist contracts.
Paula Cole's second album has had two US top ten singles and has achieved double platinum status; that is sales of 2 million units. She was nominated for Grammy Awards in seven major categories including "Album of the Year", "Song of the Year", "Record of the Year" and "Producer of the Year", She was awarded the Grammy for "Best New Artist".
Ellis and his French wife Daniele live in the British Virgin Islands and New York. He is a member of the Metropolitan Opera Club of New York City and has served on its board of directors. As Chairman of the BPI in 1990, Ellis was responsible for the establishment of the BRIT School of Performing Arts in Croydon, Surrey, funded by British Recording Industry Trust.
In 2015, he was a speaker at the Music Matters conference in Singapore.[6]
Related Research Articles
Jethro Tull are an English rock band formed in Luton, England, in 1967. Initially playing blues rock and jazz fusion, the band soon incorporated elements of English folk, hard rock and classical music, forging a signature progressive rock sound. The group’s bandleader, founder, principal composer and only constant member is Ian Anderson, a multi-instrumentalist who mainly plays flute and acoustic guitar and is also the lead vocalist. The group has featured a succession of musicians throughout the decades, including significant contributors such as guitarists Mick Abrahams and Martin Barre ; keyboardists John Evan, Dee Palmer, Peter-John Vettese and Andrew Giddings; drummers Clive Bunker, Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow and Doane Perry; and bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, John Glascock, Dave Pegg and Jonathan Noyce.
Thick as a Brick is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 3 March 1972. The album contains a continuous piece of music, split over two sides of an LP record, and is intended as a parody of the concept album genre. The original packaging, designed as a 12-page newspaper, claims the album to be a musical adaptation of an epic poem by fictional eight-year-old genius Gerald Bostock, though the lyrics were actually written by the band's frontman, Ian Anderson.
Aqualung is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 19 March 1971, by Chrysalis Records. It is widely regarded as a concept album featuring a central theme of "the distinction between religion and God", though the band have said there was no intention to make a concept album, and that only a few songs have a unifying theme. Aqualung's success signalled a turning point in the career of the band, which went on to become a major radio and touring act.
A Passion Play is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released in July 1973 in both the UK and US. Following in the same style as the band's previous album Thick as a Brick (1972), A Passion Play is a concept album comprising individual songs arranged into a single continuous piece of music. The album's concept follows the spiritual journey of a recently deceased man in the afterlife, exploring themes of morality, religion and good and evil. The album's accompanying tour was considered the high water mark of Jethro Tull's elaborate stage productions, involving a full performance of the album accompanied by physical props, sketches and projected video.
Procol Harum were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for their baroque and classical influence, Procol Harum's music is described as psychedelic rock and proto-prog with hints of the blues, R&B, and soul.
Chrysalis Records is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Agency.
Roots to Branches is the 19th studio album by the British band Jethro Tull released in September 1995. It carries characteristics of Tull's classic 1970s progressive rock and folk rock roots alongside jazz and Arabic and Indian influences. All songs were written by Ian Anderson and recorded at his home studio. This is the last Tull album to feature Dave Pegg on the bass, and the first to feature keyboardist Andrew Giddings as an official band member, although he had contributed to Catfish Rising (1991) on a sessional basis. As a result, the album notably features the five longest serving members to date in Jethro Tull’s history. It was also the final Tull album to be released through long-time label Chrysalis Records.
Stand Up is the second studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1969. It was the first Jethro Tull album to feature guitarist Martin Barre, who would go on to become the band's longtime guitarist until its initial dissolution in 2012. Before recording sessions for the album began, the band's original guitarist Mick Abrahams departed the band as a result of musical differences with frontman and primary songwriter Ian Anderson; Abrahams wanted to stay with the blues rock sound of their 1968 debut, This Was, while Anderson wished to add other musical influences such as folk rock.
Dave Pegg is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, primarily a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of folk and rock groups including the Ian Campbell Folk Group and Jethro Tull.
Edwin "Eddie" Jobson is an English musician noted for his use of synthesizers. He has been a member of several progressive rock bands, including Curved Air, Roxy Music, U.K. and Jethro Tull. He was also part of Frank Zappa's band in 1976–77. Aside from his keyboard work Jobson has also gained acclaim for his violin playing. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards. In March 2019 Jobson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Roxy Music.
War Child is the seventh studio album by Jethro Tull, released in October 1974. It was released almost a year and a half after the release of A Passion Play. The turmoil over criticism of the previous album surrounded the production of War Child, which obliged the band to do press conferences and explain their plans for the future.
Songs from the Wood is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released on 11 February 1977 by Chrysalis Records. The album is considered to be the first of three folk rock albums released by the band at the end of the 1970s: Songs from the Wood,Heavy Horses (1978) and Stormwatch (1979).
Robin Leonard Trower is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum throughout 1967–1971, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio known as the Robin Trower Band.
20 Years of Jethro Tull (1988) is a video by Jethro Tull, also known as Jethro Tull: This Is the First 20 Years. It consists of interviews with fans, frontman Ian Anderson, Terry Ellis and Chris Wright of Chrysalis Records, and John Gee of the Marquee Club, giving a rough chronology of the band, interspersed with clips from music videos and live performances. Many of the live performances are culled from the Madison Square Garden performance during the 1978 Heavy Horses tour.
Chrysalis Music is a British independent music publisher.
M.U. – The Best of Jethro Tull, released in 1976, is the first proper greatest hits album by Jethro Tull. It spans the years 1969 to 1975. The earlier Living in the Past (1972) compilation mainly dealt with non-album material, but this album only features one previously unreleased song, "Rainbow Blues".
Matthew "Matt" Pegg is an English musician and bass guitarist.
Geoffrey Charles Whitehorn is a guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has played as a member of If, Crawler and Procol Harum.
Imago Records was an American independent record label, which was active during the early 1990s. It was started by Terry Ellis after he left his previous record label, Chrysalis Records.
Chris Wright, CBE is a British music industry executive.
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