Tony Howard

Anthony Howard, music agent: born London 12 June 1939; married 1975 Nancy Adler (two sons, one daughter); died London 26 November 2001.

Tony Howard may be a footnote in the musical history of the Sixties and Seventies but, without him, much of the best live music of that era would never have made it to the stage.

From 1965 into the early Seventies, first Blaises and then the Speakeasy were the clubs where musicians and scene-makers gathered night after night. Howard's imaginative programming brought them an eclectic mix of the best domestic and imported acts, including the Byrds, Joni Mitchell, Ike and Tina Turner, and Vanilla Fudge. It was Howard who, on one legendary occasion, let an unknown American guitarist named Jimi Hendrix sit in with the Brian Auger Trinity.

Inspired by his uncle Eddie Calvert, the bandleader, Howard's Hackney childhood was filled with jazz. By the early Sixties he was reviewing it for the NME. A love of blues led him to the Pretty Things and their manager hired him as an agent.

By 1965, the Bryan Morrison Agency was exclusive booker for Blaises, organised tours by American R&B groups and was building a reputation on the pop scene. By 1968 Howard was exclusive agent for the Speakeasy, Revolution and even UFO and had helped assemble a roster that included Pink Floyd and Fairport Convention as well as Herbie Goins and the Night-timers.

A merger with Brian Epstein's agency NEMS followed, where Howard took on groups like Humble Pie, Jeff Beck and T-Rex. His mid-Seventies clients included Marc Bolan, Tom Robinson and Hawkwind. In 1975, he married Nancy Adler and settled in Chelsea near his beloved football ground.

After Bolan's death in a car crash in 1977, Howard left management and opened a weekly dance club called 2is with the DJ Jeff Dexter. In the Eighties he helped Nancy start a successful children's modelling agency called Little Boats. He remained friends with Pink Floyd, often tour-managing them during the Eighties and Nineties.

Tony Howard's gruff exterior and sceptical wit camouflaged his tremendous gift for looking after people. Many musicians he had booked or managed remained devoted friends long after professional contact ceased. Nancy and his three children (Felix, Parker and Oona) were the centre of his life, but an extended collection of friends and former colleagues considered themselves part of a wider family.

His funeral saw a large and vivid gathering of Runyonesque characters. Tony Howard had no interest in religion, so there was no service, but a rough-voiced cantor sang the kaddish with a commitment and soulfulness that called to mind the unforgettable nights when London's café society were treated to the best music Tony's fertile taste could devise.

Joe Boyd