John Reid (born 9 September 1949) is a Scottish former music manager, known for being the manager and former lover of singer

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

, as well as for managing the British rock band Queen.

Life and career

Reid was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, the son of John Reid, a

welder In a broad sense, a welder is anyone, amateur or professional, who uses welding equipment, perhaps especially one who uses such equipment fairly often. In a narrower sense, a welder is a tradesperson who specializes in fusing materials together ...

, and Betty, a shop worker. Apart from three years in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, he was brought up in the

Gallowhill Gallowhill is a housing estate in the north east of Paisley, a town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Its approximate boundaries are formed by the M8 motorway to the north, the A741 Renfrew Rd to the west, to the south the Inverclyde railway line w ...

district of Paisley. He attended

St Mirin's Academy St Mirin's Academy was a Catholic senior secondary school for boys founded in 1922 in Paisley, Scotland, and which closed in 1976. The school was dedicated to St Mirin, the patron saint of the town and of the Diocese of Paisley. The Academy's La ...

, where he was a fellow pupil with singers Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan. At the age of 16 he attended Stow College in Glasgow where he studied marine engineering, but dropped out to move to London in 1967. Reid began his music management career in 1967 at the age of 18 as a promoter for EMI. At the age of 19, he became the Tamla

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

label manager for the UK. In 1971, Reid set up his own company with a few hundred pounds in savings and a £5,000 loan. In 1970, Reid met

, then known as Reg Dwight, at a Motown Christmas party. They moved in with each other, and began a romantic relationship as well as a business one, as John became Reid's first client. Their personal relationship ended after five years, but he remained John's manager until 1998. Their professional relationship ended over a leaked letter detailing John's spending, which was found by Benjamin Pell and published in the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ci ...

''. The ending of their business relationship in 1998 led to a legal action in 2000. Reid settled out of court by paying John £3.4 million. Reid's company earned more than £73 million from representing John between 1970 and 1998. In 1974, in New Zealand, in a widely reported incident, Reid threw champagne in the face of a party host and punched the Auckland model and journalist Judith Baragwanath in the face when she came to the man's defence, sending her to the floor. Later the same night he was involved in an altercation with a second journalist at a nightclub. He was convicted and sentenced to a month in prison for assault, and settled with Baragwanath for NZ $2500. Between 1975 and 1978, Reid was the manager of British rock group Queen. In 1994, he was the manager for Irish dancer Michael Flatley. After Flatley left ''

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions ...

'' and ended his relationship with Reid, Flatley paid Reid approximately £1 million to settle a wrongful termination lawsuit. Reid retired from management in 1999. In 2005 and 2006, Reid was a judge on the Australian version of '' The X Factor'' alongside Mark Holden and Kate Ceberano. In 1998, Reid sold his art collection, estimated to have been worth £2 million.

In popular culture

Reid was portrayed by Aidan Gillen in the 2018 Queen biopic ''

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack ...

'', and by Richard Madden in the 2019 Elton John biopic '' Rocketman''. Both actors are known for their previous roles in Fantasy

Drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

series,

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the firs ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, John 1949 births Living people Businesspeople from Paisley, Renfrewshire Elton John Gay men LGBT people from Scotland People educated at St Mirin's Academy Queen (band) Scottish expatriates in Australia Scottish music managers Scottish television personalities LGBT businesspeople