Chris Parry (producer)

John Christopher Parry,[1][2] known as Chris Parry (born 7 January 1949), is a New Zealand record producer and former musician, known for being the former manager and producer for The Cure and for founding Fiction Records.

Chris Parry
Birth nameJohn Christopher Parry
Born (1949-01-07) 7 January 1949
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Occupation(s)
  • record producer
  • manager
  • musician
Instrumentsdrums
Years active1967–2001, 2010
Associated acts

Early life

Parry was born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand; the son of Virginia and Thomas, who was British. He grew up with ten siblings:[1] five sisters (Virginia, Margaret, Josephine, Annette and Helen) and five brothers (David, James Richard, Robin and Peter). In 1966, Parry was a management trainee at Philips Electrical.[3]

Career

In 1967, whilst studying at Silverstream College, Parry auditioned as drummer for a band called the Sine Waves, who later renamed themselves the Fourmyula. He has stated “I got the job because I had a truck driver’s licence”.[4] Within a year, the band had hit the charts, reaching number 2 in New Zealand with "Come with Me" and reached number 1 in 1969 with "Nature". The band made two trips to the UK, but were not so successful there. After the band split in 1971, Parry returned to England and spent two years obtaining a diploma in marketing and advertising from the College for Distributive Trades in London.[5][6] He then found a job in the International department at Phonogram Records, under fellow New Zealander John McCready.[7]

In 1974, Parry was offered a job at Polydor in A&R. His first signing was the Chanter Sisters. Punk was in its early days but it was clear that it was going to be big, so Parry went to check out some of these bands. His requests to Polydor in 1976 to sign the Sex Pistols and the Clash were rejected.[8] However, in January 1977, he got a tip from future-Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan to check out the Jam. Parry was convinced and signed them to Polydor in February. He also co-produced the Jam's first three albums as well as the eponymous sole album by the Jolt who he also signed. Later in 1977, he helped convince Polydor to sign Siouxsie and the Banshees after listening to Hong Kong Garden from the BBC's John Peel sessions.[6]

In 1978, Parry began starting his own record label, which was later to be named Fiction, which was to be an imprint of Polydor, after becoming increasingly frustrated with Polydor not listening to his requests. He listened to a demo tape by the Cure and was particularly impressed with "10:15 Saturday Night" and also "Boys Don't Cry". He called them up and a meeting was arranged for August at Polydor's office in Stratford Place. After the meeting, Robert Smith invited Parry to watch them perform at the Laker's Hotel in Redhill on 27 August. After the gig, Parry invited them to a drink at a nearby pub, The Home Cottage, at which he told the Cure he wanted them to be his first signing, which they agreed to and they officially signed in September.[9] Soon after, Parry signed Billy MacKenzie and Alan Rankine, who went on to form the Associates.[10] Along with engineer Mike Hedges, Parry then recorded the Cure's first album Three Imaginary Boys at Morgan Studios, which was released in May 1979. The next four studio albums released were Purple Hearts' Beat That!, the Passions' Michael & Miranda, the Cure's Seventeen Seconds and the Associates' The Affectionate Bunch, all in 1980.[7] Parry managed the Cure until 1988 and Fiction released their music until 2001, when he sold the label to Universal Records.[7] Parry says he "kind of retired from music if you like when I was 52 or 53 in 2001 when I sold everything out".[6]

In 1992, along with Sammy Jacob, Parry launched radio station Xfm (rebranded as Radio X in 2015) in London. The left-field alternative station was a “mix between bFM and early Radio Hauraki” according to Parry, who was managing director. The station was sold to Capital Radio Group in 1998.[7]

In 2010, the Fourmyula reformed in order to promote a box set release. With Parry reprising his role as drummer, they played two concerts, one in February in Auckland and the other in March in Upper Hutt.[7] In September, as part of the Fourmyula, Parry was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.[11]

Personal life

In 1971, Parry first married a woman from Scotland. About this he has said "we were way too young".[4] In 1974, he became a father for the first time.[12] Sometime before the 1990s, Parry had two more children with then-partner Elaine. In 1996, he bought a property on the Coromandel Peninsula, where he has been living since. He remarried in around 2010. In 2016, he met Susan Verkerk, who has since been his partner.[4]

Production credits

Albums

Non-album singles and EPs
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References
  1. Apter 2006, p. 58.
  2. Apter, Jeff (2006). Never Enough: The Story of The Cure. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84449-827-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. "HEADLINER: Rock 'n' roll survivor starts to rejuvenate London's airwaves. Failed drummer, A&R man and Xfm chief Chris Parry talks radio to Claire Beale". campaignlive.com. 24 January 1997. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  4. "Nature enter me: Chris Parry's Coromandel home". thisNZlife. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  5. Apter 2006, pp. 59–60.
  6. "New Zealander Chris Parry on managing The Cure". RNZ. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  7. "Chris Parry - AudioCulture". www.audioculture.co.nz. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  8. Apter 2006, pp. 60–61.
  9. "Searching For The Cure - Record Collector Magazine". recordcollectormag.com. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  10. Apter 2006, p. 68.
  11. Sundae, Hugh (6 September 2010). "The Fourmyula to enter NZ music hall of fame". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  12. Apter 2006, p. 60.
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