Minchinhampton Market House
Friday 12th April 2024 at 7.30pm
This Music Business
A tale of frustration, invention and innovation
An evening with Richard Smith
Richard Smith started his musical career as a Repertoire Selector in the quaintly named Popular Repertoire Department of The Gramophone Company Limited, better known as EMI Records. He was promoted to Label Manager for Tamla Motown in Germany, based in Cologne, where he spent six years.
This led to work as a Staff Producer, session musician, songwriter, arranger and conductor on pop recordings. Over forty of his songs have been published commercially and recorded, many of which are still on catalogue some fifty years after they were written!
Returning to England he has written and performed music for television (Channel 4 and HTV) and BBC local radio, as well as professional touring theatre. He has worked throughout the country as a performer and entertainer.
Before retirement, he was a mentor for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) in their Professional Development division, delivering programmes for music teachers on subjects such as playing by ear.
He contributed to several ABRSM publications and founded eye for ideas music publishing. This specialises in producing music books to inject fun into school concerts (‘Crazy Crotchets & Quirky Quavers’ duets) and enlightenment into piano practice and composition. In 2022, he sold the business to Camden Music, which continues to offer the books on a worldwide basis.