The Insights Collection was created to provide an insider's view to the stories and lessons learned from the incredible career of Tony Michaelides, one of the most respected record pluggers to ever come out of the UK.

TONY MICHAELIDES: BIOGRAPHY

With an irrefutable reputation achieved over thirty-plus years working with a stellar cast of clients (New Order, The Stone Roses, REM, Happy Mondays, The Police, Massive Attack, Bob Marley, Matchbox Twenty, The Pixies, Elvis Costello, and Peter Gabriel -- to name but a few) it is not for nothing that U2’s manager, Paul McGuinness, has said, “Tony Michaelides has long been one of the UK’s foremost record promoters and undoubtedly one of the best that U2 have had the pleasure of working with.”

Tony is recognized and respected by both the artists he has nurtured and by his peers for the wealth of experience gained through a career that has spanned working within Transatlantic and Island Records to founding and running his own promotions company, TMP, for over 20 years -- one of the most successful in Britain. He began working with Circa Records and their artists (Massive Attack, Neneh Cherry, etc) from its inception and also instigated all regional promotion at Factory Records, where he worked for 10 years.

Tony forged a long-standing relationship with BMG, enjoying their most successful period ever with Annie Lennox, Whitney Houston, Take That, Natalie Imbruglia, Westlife, and Puff Daddy. It was here he spent several years working with the now-legendary Simon’s: Fuller and Cowell.  In 1984, together with running his promotion company, Tony was asked to step-in and replace Mark Radcliffe on Piccadilly Radio, presenting their specialist music programme. It was a gig that lasted over 12 years.

1996 marked a personal highlight when Tony was asked to be publicist for David Bowie’s Earthling tour, responsible for all press, radio, and television. The following year, TMP linked to Lippman Entertainment, one of the world’s most successful management companies as well as acting as consultants to Warner Chappell’s LA office and Atlantic Records’ New York office.

As the new millennium dawned, changes beckoned. Record companies were downsizing and Tony declared: “if I can no longer do it the way I want, then I don’t want to do it all.” Thus began the next phase of his career, as a consultant for the Manchester Business Consortium, as a Member of The Brits Voting Academy and as consultant and advisor to The Music Managers Forum Master classes. He became a regular panelist and moderator at the UK’s major music conference, “In the City,” and was also one of the founding members of The Manchester Music City Network.

Mentoring sessions in Canada and the UK continued until Tony moved to the USA after being granted a Green Card as an “Alien of Extraordinary Ability,” a prestigious accolade in itself and awarded only to those who have reached the pinnacle of their careers in the music and arts.

Bono said at the Point Theatre in Dublin, as the Rattle & Hum tour closed, “(we’re) going to go away now and dream it up all over again.”

That was about the size of it for Tony. With such an illustrious career, it seemed a natural progression to document it all in a book.

“Insights from the Engine Room” is Tony’s first in a collection of Insider Insights. Throw in speaking, mentoring and coaching with a multitude of stories to tell and you have it.

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