Chris Stamp | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | Christopher Thomas Stamp (1942-07-07)7 July 1942 London, England |
| Died | 24 November 2012(2012-11-24) (aged 70) New York City, US |
| Occupation | Record producer |
| Years active | 1964–2012 |
| Labels | Track |
Christopher Thomas Stamp (7 July 1942 – 24 November 2012)[1][2][3] was an English record producer and manager known for co-managing and producing such musical acts asthe Who andJimi Hendrix in the 1960s and 1970s and co-founding the now defunctTrack Records.[4][5][6] He later became apsychodramatherapist based inNew York State.[7][8][9]
Born into a working-class family, Stamp was raised inLondon'sEast End and was one of six children.[10] Their father, Thomas Stamp, was atugboat captain, and their mother was Ethel (née Perrott).[11] ActorTerence Stamp was his older brother.[10]
Stamp started out as a filmmaker and met business partner and collaboratorKit Lambert while working atShepperton Film Studios as an assistant director—they both worked on such films asI Could Go On Singing,The L-Shaped Room andOf Human Bondage. Eventually the pair came to share a flat in west London, and in 1963 Lambert convinced Stamp that the two should direct their own film about the burgeoningBritish rock scene."Our idea was to find a group that somehow represented the emerging ideas of our time. They would be rebellious, anarchistic and uniquely different from the established English pop scene," said Stamp.[12]
Stamp and Lambert met the members of The Who during one of their performances at the Railway Hotel (no longer standing) inHarrow and Wealdstone. At that time the band was known as The High Numbers.[13]
Stamp and Lambert's contrasting personalities and backgrounds also made an impression on the band; in a 1972Rolling Stone articleKeith Moon said that the two men "were...are...as incongruous a team as [The Who] are".[13] Lambert was anOxford graduate and the son of noted composerConstant Lambert; he spoke proper and high-class English. In contrast, Stamp was five years younger, the son of a tug-boatman, and Keith Moon described Stamp as speaking "in nearly unintelligible East Londoncockney".[13]Roger Daltrey said the following about the pair:
Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp were the fifth and sixth members of The Who: Kit, with his outrageous behaviour and ideas on how to manipulate the media, and Chris, the expert in cool, menace, and scams! Their contribution to the band should never be underestimated.[14]
The duo made a move to acquire the High Numbers from their managerPeter Meaden; Lambert had learned fromThe Beatles' attorney David Jacobs that the band's contract with their previous manager was legally invalid. In effect, Meaden had no legal claim to the band and in 1964 he accepted a buyout for relinquishing control to Stamp and Lambert.
By autumn of that same year Stamp and Lambert convinced the band to change their name back to The Who (a name they were using prior to Meaden's management) and began to focus on the band'sMod image.[15] The band managers also encouraged the band's early Mod look and also encouraged the band to include moreblues andJames Brown andMotown covers in their sets – since this was the sound most enjoyed by the Mod crowd.[15]
The new band managers also shot a short promotional movie for The Who in 1964 which they would sometimes show at the Who's live performances, before the band would take to the stage. Drawing from their filmmaking backgrounds, the duo also began to focus on the Who's stage show. They sent the band for lessons on how to apply stage makeup, and began to insist that the band have control of its own stage lighting during shows, which was virtually unheard of at the time. On occasion, Stamp and Lambert even became part of the act themselves; during one performance in 1966 they lit and tossed fire bombs onto the stage as the band played.[16]
By late 1966, with two hit albums by The Who under their belts, Stamp and Lambert established their own record label. The following year they signed artistJimi Hendrix and founded Track Record Records, eventually known simply as justTrack Records.[17][18][19] Soon the label released its first single, "Purple Haze", followed by their first album,Are You Experienced. Track Records went on to profit from hit singles such as "Fire" by the bandThe Crazy World of Arthur Brown, which reached No. 1 in the UK and Canada and No. 2 on the USBillboard charts, as well as "Eight Miles High" byThe Byrds, which reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Stamp and Lambert also helped launch The Who's seminalrock operaTommy.[20][21]
During a 2005 interview,[21] Roger Daltrey stated the following aboutTommy:
We thought, at least it's dangerous. And we were under the wing of two great managers – Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. They made us believe that if we made it dangerous it would work. It was a period when the record industry was growing so fast and the business couldn't keep up. Bands were leading the way; it was driven by the art and not the business. Now it's driven by the business.
Stamp and Lambert profited well from the music business and were living the lifestyles of the rock stars they managed, which (as Stamp would later admit) also included heavy consumption of drugs: "We were out to lunch, no doubt about that," he said.[9] As the 1970s progressed, the members of The Who were beset by many physical and emotional setbacks, and Lambert's drug use also became so heavy that he began dipping into the Who's royalties. By 1975 Stamp and Lambert were ousted by the band in favour of managerBill Curbishley, and the pair relocated toNew York City to produce AmericanR&B/soul groupLabelle.[6] Track Records continued with releases byShakin Stevens andThe Heartbreakers but folded in 1978.[6]
Following the demise of Track Records, Stamp remained in New York, but Kit Lambert had moved toItaly, dying in 1981 of abrain haemorrhage while at his mother's London home.[9][15] Stamp's drug and alcohol use continued, and in 1987 he entered a drug rehabilitation programme; the experience helped to inspire Stamp to assist others with their addictions and he began to study experiential therapies, includingpsychodrama.[5][22]
Chris Stamp continued to work on Who-related projects and to give interviews about his forays into the music business. He provided liner notes for the 1995 re-release of The Who's 1966 albumA Quick One, and provided a foreword to the 2005 re-release of The Who biographyAnyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of the Who 1958–1978.[12] In 2005, he also gave an informal presentation at theRock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of their programme "From Songwriters to Soundmen: The People Behind the Hits".[23] He also sat on the advisory board of theJohn Entwistle Foundation, formed in honour of The Who's bass guitarist.
In 2014, an American documentary film was made about Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp entitled,Lambert & Stamp. It was produced and directed by James D. Cooper. It had its world premiere at 2014Sundance Film Festival on 20 January 2014.[24][25]
Until his death Stamp worked as apsychodramatherapist andaddiction counsellor. Trained at the Psychodrama Institute of New York and the Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute, he was aLicensed Mental Health Counsellor (LMHC), a Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counsellor (CASAC), a Certified Experiential Therapist (CET), and an Auricular Acupuncture Detox Specialist (ADS). He worked as a consultant for the Freedom Institute in New York City and kept a private practice inEast Hampton, New York.[7][8][26]
Stamp died of cancer on 24 November 2012 atMount Sinai Hospital in New York City.[1][2][3] He was survived by his wife of 33 years, Calixte, his daughters Rosie and Amie, his sons-in-lawEdmund and Nicholas and several grandchildren; Betsy, Thomas, Gracie, Evie, Esmé and Maggie[1] as well as his elder brotherTerence, younger brothers Richard and John, and sister Lynette. He was 70 years old.
| Year | Album | Artist | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Magic Bus | The Who | Executive Producer |
| 1969 | Tommy | The Who | Executive Producer |
| 1971 | Who's Next | The Who | Producer, Executive Producer |
| 1973 | Quadrophenia | The Who | Executive Producer |
| 1975 | Tommy (Original Soundtrack) | Various Artists | Executive Producer |
| 1988 | This is My Generation | The Who | Executive Producer |
| Who's Better, Who's Best | The Who | Executive Producer | |
| Who's Better, Who's Best: The Videos | The Who | Director, Re-editing | |
| 2001 | Who's Next (Bonus tracks) | The Who | Producer, Executive Producer |
| 2003 | No Thanks! The 70s Punk Rebellion | Various Artists | Producer |
| Tommy (Deluxe Edition) | The Who | Executive Producer | |
| 2004 | Early Collection: Magic Bus/Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy | The Who | Executive Producer |
| First Singles Box | The Who | Executive Producer | |
| Quick One (Bonus Tracks) | The Who | Liner Notes | |
| Tommy (DVD) | The Who | Executive Producer |
| Year | Film | Genre | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Of Human Bondage | Drama | Assistant Director |
| 1975 | Tommy | Musical Drama | Executive Producer |
| 1979 | Quadrophenia | Musical Drama | Story Consultant |
| 1994 | Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who | Documentary | Producer |
| 2006 | An Ox's Tale: The John Entwistle Story | Documentary | As himself |
| 2007 | Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who | Documentary | As himself |
| 2014 | Lambert & Stamp | Documentary | As himself |
Chris Stamp, who has died aged 70, helped launch The Who in the mid-1960s, identifying in them the potential to be as incendiary – and thus successful – as The Rolling Stones; he was also the brother of the actor Terence Stamp. . . One of six children of a tugboat captain, Christopher Thomas Stamp was born in London on July 7, 1942 into a working-class East End family.
Christopher Thomas Stamp was born on July 7, 1942, in London to the former Esther Perrott and Thomas Stamp, a tugboat captain on the Thames.
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