Michael Jeffery (manager)

Frank Michael Jeffery (13 March 1933, Peckham, South London^[1] – 5 March 1973) was an English music business manager of the 1960s who is best known for his management of The Animals and Jimi Hendrix, whom he co-managed for a time with former Animals bassist Chas Chandler. A former associate of noted English pop impresario Don Arden, Jeffery was and remains a controversial figure.

He died in 1973 in a mid-air collision over Nantes, France, whilst aboard an Iberia Airlines DC-9.

Beginnings

Mike Jeffery was born Frank Michael Jeffery in St Giles Hospital in Peckham, South London to Alice Dorothy (née Curle) and Frank Albert Jeffery.^[2][3][4]

Jeffery started his career in music as the owner/manager of venues in Newcastle upon Tyne in north east England; the Marimba coffee bar and the Downbeat jazz club. Eric Burdon of the Animals was a patron of the latter, which eventually became a beat music venue featuring local bands such as The Alan Price Combo (originally The Pagans and soon to be The Animals) as well as The Kylastrons and The Invaders.

After the club was closed due to fire regulations, both establishments burned down. Jeffery then opened the Club A’Gogo in partnership with Ray Grehan, sales manager for the Automaticket company. The Club A'Gogo was to become Newcastle's most celebrated venue, particularly after it was the subject of a best-selling song by The Animals who were house band there (to be replaced by The Junco Partners when The Animals became an international act), and saw 1960s concerts by Captain Beefheart, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, The Graham Bond Organisation, Howlin’ Wolf, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Yardbirds among others. It attracted younger Newcastle clientele such as Sting and Bryan Ferry.^[5]

The Animals

Jeffery contracted to manage The Animals and obtained a recording contract with Columbia, the recordings to be produced by Mickie Most. After the success of their second record "The House of the Rising Sun" the Animals embarked on a tour that spanned most of the USA. Despite this success, Jeffery has been openly condemned by members of The Animals, who blame him for the breakup of the band, claiming that he worked the group into the ground and appropriated most of their earnings.

Jimi Hendrix

When Chas Chandler decided to move into management himself and signed Jimi Hendrix, he needed financial support to launch The Jimi Hendrix Experience and so went into partnership with his old manager, with very mixed feelings. Hence Jeffery became co-manager of the trio, taking care of business while Chandler produced.^[6]

Jeffery has received almost unanimous criticism from Hendrix biographers. Several have alleged that Jeffery siphoned off much of Hendrix's income and channeled it into off-shore bank accounts. When Experience bassist Noel Redding inquired as to where Jeffery was going with briefcases of the band's money, he was asked to leave.

In October 2006 a $15 million auction took place of items of Jeffery's estate including the rights to many of Jimi Hendrix's hits including "Purple Haze" and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)". Experience Hendrix, a company formed and owned by Hendrix's family, have said they will prove they own the titles to these songs and that they intend to sue.^[7]

Hendrix death allegation

Hendrix was pronounced dead on 18 September 1970 at St. Mary Abbotts Hospital, Kensington, London. In May 2009, the UK media reported claims by James "Tappy" Wright that Jeffery had murdered him. Wright, who was a roadie for The Animals in the 1960s, had just written a book, in which he claimed he was with Jeffery in 1971, one year after Hendrix's death, and Jeffery confessed to having murdered Hendrix by plying him with pills and a bottle of wine^[8] in order to kill him and claim on the guitarist's life insurance. At the time of Hendrix's death, the coroner recorded an "open verdict," stating that the cause was "barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit". The pathologist who did the autopsy on Hendrix, Donald Teare, reported a low blood alcohol level.^[9] "Jimi Hendrix was not murdered," says Bob Levine, who was the US manager of the late guitarist at the time of his death in 1970. "Despite the allegations that have recently been made, I need to set the record straight once and for all. Jimi died an accidental death, but he definitely wasn't murdered – not by Michael Jeffery, his UK manager, and certainly not by anybody connected to him. The whole thing is one giant lie."^[10]

Death

Jeffery died in a mid-air collision (1973 Nantes Mid-Air Collision) over Nantes, France on 5 March 1973.

References