Scott Piering

Scott Piering (13 September 1946, Duluth, Minnesota – 22 January 2000) was a successful and influential American-born music publicist for many British music acts, including Pulp, The KLF, The Smiths (who he also managed), Stereophonics, The Orb, Placebo, Underworld and The Prodigy. He ran the publicity promotions consultancy Appearing.

Scott Piering
Born(1946-09-13)September 13, 1946
Duluth, Minnesota
DiedJanuary 22, 2000(2000-01-22) (aged 53)
Occupation(s)Publicist

Career

Piering was a concert promoter in his native country, before moving to the UK in 1980 where he set up and ran the promotions and press department at Rough Trade.[1] He left Rough Trade to become the manager of The Smiths over the period covering their first three albums, setting up his own promotions agency in 1984.[1] During the course of his career, Piering promoted over 100 UK top 20 singles and won the "Plugger of the Year" award twice; his clients included New Order, Stereophonics and the KLF.[1]

In the book The Manual (How To Have a Number One The Easy Way), written by the KLF's creators Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty in the wake of their chart-topping success as The Timelords, the authors state that "without [Piering] this book would have to be retitled How to Get to Number 47 – With a Certain Amount of Difficulty.[2] Piering's work with The KLF also involved contributing a number of narrations and spoken lines to their productions,[3] including the singles "Justified & Ancient",[4] "3 a.m. Eternal" ("Ladies and gentlemen, The KLF have now left the building"),[5] and a long opening narration to "America: What Time Is Love?"[6] Piering's voice announced the band's departure from the music industry as the curtain closed on their subversive appearance at the 1992 BRIT Awards ceremony: "Ladies and gentlemen, The KLF have now left the music business".[7]

Legacy

Piering died from cancer on 22 January 2000, aged 53.[1][8] In 2001, the British Radio Academy founded "The Scott Piering Award", "in memory of this great man who single-handedly did so much to improve understanding between the music and radio industries"[9] On 18 April 2002, a gig in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care was held in Piering's memory at the Scala in London.[8] He Married 19 year old model Calista Ann Miskimins in the 1970's

The gig featured performances from many bands indebted to Piering for his promotional work,[10] and a tribute album of the performance, augmented by additional studio recordings including "Justified & Ancient", was released under the title 4Scott in August 2002.[11]

The Stereophonics album, Just Enough Education to Perform, was dedicated to his memory, as was the Placebo album, Black Market Music.[12]

The Scott Piering Award Winners

Source: "The Radio Academy: Honours"[13]

References
  1. "Lives in Brief: Scott Piering". Features. The Times. 7 February 2000. p. 19.
  2. KLF The Manual
  3. Scott Piering at AllMusic. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  4. Justified & Ancient (Media notes). The KLF. KLF Communications. 1991. KLF 99CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. The White Room (Media notes). The KLF. KLF Communications. 1991. JAMS LP006.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. America: What Time Is Love? (Media notes). The KLF. KLF Communications. 1992. KLF USA 4CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. Harrison, Andrew (27 April 2017). "Return of the KLF: 'They were agents of chaos. Now the world they anticipated is here'". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  8. "Cerys's charity gig with Stereophonics". BBC News. 11 March 2002. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  9. "The Radio Academy Awards". The Radio Academy. Archived from the original on 20 December 2008.
  10. Petridis, Alexis (20 April 2002). "4Scott". The Guardian (Concert review). Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  11. Fox, Jason (12 September 2005). "Various Artists : 4 Scott" (Review). NME. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  12. Placebo (2000). Black Market Music (Media notes). Virgin Records. CDFLOORXX13.
  13. "Honours". The Radio Academy. Archived from the original on 1 September 2015.
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