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In 1979 he was offered a job in the A&R department at Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin, where he stayed for the next 13 years, rising to head that division. A&R stands for “artists and repertoire”, and involves both finding new talent, and looking after the development of a label’s existing artists.<\/p>\n
Looking back, he says the 1980s was “a great period for British pop music, a different world to today”. During the decade record sales soared, further fuelled by the introduction of the compact disc, which meant that many music lovers bought CD versions of albums they already owned on vinyl or cassette.<\/p>\n
During his time at Virgin, he worked with acts such as Phil Collins, Culture Club, the Human League, and Simple Minds.<\/p>\n
“I worked very closely with Phil Collins in particular, and I have nothing but good things to say about him, he is a lovely man,” says Jeremy. “Even at the height of his success he was quite insecure. He thought it could all disappear overnight.<\/p>\n
“He used to send me demos of his songs to check out, and he’d say that I was the only person who would tell him anything other than the sun shines out of his proverbial.<\/p>\n
“And Culture Club were in the office all the time. They’d just turn up unannounced, but you always knew when they were on their way, because a group of their really dedicated fans would arrive about 15 minutes beforehand, and stand outside.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n