Born: 9 April, 1926, in New York.
Died: 25 October, 2009, in Norwalk, Connecticutt, aged 83.DEE Anthony managed the careers of musicians such as Peter Frampton and Joe Cocker with a blunt, streetwise style that made him a ro
ck power broker in the 1970s.
In a four-decade career that began in the 1950s, Anthony had a varied portfolio, working, at various times, with Tony Bennett, Jethro Tull, the J Geils Band, Devo and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. But his greatest successes – and most conspicuous flops – were with Frampton, the British guitarist and singer. They began their association around 1969, when Frampton's band, Humble Pie, hired Anthony aiming to break into the American market. Anthony, who had worked with groups including Traffic and Spooky Tooth, had the band prove itself by touring extensively, and a 1971 live album, Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore, became a minor hit.
Frampton soon left Humble Pie but remained with Anthony, who kept him on the road. Their plan was to make another live record, and Frampton Comes Alive!, released in early 1976, was a huge hit selling millions of copies. It became a new template for the blockbuster live album and established Frampton as a shaggy-haired rock pin-up.
An aggressive negotiator and a hands-on talent coach, Anthony thought big but kept a keen eye on business details. In Fred Goodman's 1997 book The Mansion on the Hill, record executive Mario Medious recalls Anthony telling him his three rules of success: "Get the money"; "remember to get the money"; and "don't forget to always remember to get the money".
Anthony helped Frampton Comes Alive! become a phenomenon, but under his guidance Frampton's career also suffered. Anthony pushed his client quickly to follow the blockbuster with a new album, and the resulting effort, I'm in You, failed to hit the same heights.
Then Frampton starred with the Bee Gees in Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a 1978 film loosely based on Beatles songs. It was a commercial failure, derided by critics as bombastic and ill-conceived.
Frampton and Anthony soon parted ways. In the 1980s Anthony worked with Devo, Basia and the Australian songwriter Peter Allen. He retired in the mid-1990s.
Born Anthony D'Addario, Anthony grew up in New York's tough Bronx area and served in the submarine force of the United States navy during the Second World War. Returning to the Bronx after the war, he began booking nightclub dates for his friend the singer Jerry Vale and eventually became Tony Bennett's road manager. He changed his name in the late 1950s. In 1968, with his brother Bill Anthony, he founded Bandana Enterprises, which managed Joe Cocker, the MC5, Ten Years After and others.
His first marriage, to Harriet Cohen, ended in divorce.
He is survived by his wife, Valerie, four daughters, two brothers and
six grandchildren.
