Philip Reece Warren (12 March 1938 – 23 January 2002) was a New Zealand music promoter, manager, agent and later a politician.

Background

He came from Kingsland, an

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

suburb, and went to

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in ...

. He was the father of two children and was married to Pat Warren who died in 2000.''New Zealand Herald'', 23 January 200
ARC chairman Phil Warren dies of a heart attack by Bernard Orsman
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Music and career as an entertainment promoter

In 1955, he was a drummer playing part-time. He also started work at Begg's Music Store that year.Sergent.com.a

/ref> In 1956 at the age of 17, he also formed Prestige Records which was used to distribute independent material from overseas labels. In 1958, he signed up

Johnny Devlin John Lockett Devlin (born 11 May 1938) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and rock musician, who has been compared to Elvis Presley. His cover of Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" in 1958 went to number one in the New Zealand charts with s ...

and recorded him. He purchased the Fuller's Entertainment Bureau from founder Mary Throll in the mid 1960s. Under his control, it became one of the biggest management and booking agencies in New Zealand. He had

Ray Columbus Raymond John Patrick Columbus (4 November 1942 – 29 November 2016) was a New Zealand Benny Award-winning singer and songwriter, television host, music manager and entertainer, with a career spanning six decades. As the lead singer of Ray Colum ...

and Lew Pryme working for him, managing Fuller's. At the time, the Fuller's roster included

Sandy Edmonds Sandy Edmonds (born Rosalie L. Edmondson, 8 November 1948 – 19 December 2022) was a British-born pop singer and model, who achieved widespread popularity in New Zealand in the 1960s. At the height of her popularity she was New Zealand's mo ...

The Keil Isles ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, The Chicks,

The Rumour The Rumour was an English rock band in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known as the backup band for Graham Parker, whose early records (from 1976 to 1980) were credited to Graham Parker & The Rumour. However, The Rumour also ...

, and

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. One of the artists he would book regularly was Tahitian singer, George Tumahai. Warren promoted and funded

Redwood 70 The Redwood 70 National Music Convention, commonly referred to as Redwood 70, was a music festival held on Auckland Anniversary Weekend in Swanson, West Auckland, New Zealand in 1970. Held six months after the Woodstock festival in the United ...

, the first modern New Zealand multi-day music festival. Held in

Swanson Swanson is a brand of TV dinners, broths, and canned poultry made for the North American and Hong Kong markets. The former "Swanson Company" was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, where it developed improvements of the frozen dinner. The TV dinner bu ...

West Auckland, New Zealand West Auckland ( mi, Te Uru o Tāmaki Makaurau) is one of the major geographical areas of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. Much of the area is dominated by the Waitākere Ranges, the eastern slopes of the Miocene era Waitākere volcan ...

, the festival resulted in a loss, but had a major impact on the music scene in the country, influencing future festivals held later in the 1970s. In early 1972, a syndicate headed by Lew Pryme and Glen Tabuteau purchased Fuller's Entertainment Bureau from Warren. In late 1972, Warren spotted singer Andy Waretini on the New faces contest, and later booked him for the summer period to appear at selected holiday centres with

David Whitfield David Whitfield (2 February 1925 – 15 January 1980) was a popular British male tenor vocalist from Hull. He became the first British artist to have a UK No.1 single in the UK and in the United States with " Cara Mia", featuring Mantovani an ...

, an entertainer from the UK. In May 1974, he engaged The Bulldogs All Star Goodtime Band as a supporting act for

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

and the Dillinger Show band on their New Zealand tour. In 1975 he was presented the

Benny Award The Benny Award is bestowed on a New Zealand variety entertainer. It is presented annually by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, a non-for-profit organisation and showbusiness club, founded in 1966 and awarded to a variety performer who ha ...

from the

Variety Artists Club of New Zealand The Variety Artists Club of New Zealand Inc (VAC) is a non-for-profit organisation and show business club. It was founded in 1966 and became an incorporated society in 1972. The VAC was formed to promote goodwill within the New Zealand enterta ...

for his contribution to New Zealand entertainment. He was presented a Scroll of Honour and made a Life Member of the VAC in 1995 and 1996 respectively.

Political career

In a 1979 by-election he stood as an independent for the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

, placing fourth. He stood again at the 1980 local elections on the Citizens & Ratepayers ticket and was successful. In 1988 he was appointed deputy mayor of Auckland following the death of Harold Goodman. Following mayor

Catherine Tizard Dame Catherine Anne Tizard (née Maclean; 4 April 1931 – 31 October 2021) was a New Zealand politician who served as mayor of Auckland City from 1983 to 1990, and the 16th governor-general of New Zealand from 1990 to 1996. She was the first ...

's resignation in 1990, Warren contested the subsequent by-election for the mayoralty. He was initially the favourite and lead in opinion polls, but surprisingly finished a distant sixth. In later years he was Chairman of the

Auckland Regional Council The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The AR ...

. In the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours, Warren was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services.

Death

On 23 January 2002, he died of a heart attack at age 63.

References

External links

AudioCulture profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Phil 1938 births 2002 deaths Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Auckland City Councillors Auckland regional councillors People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School New Zealand musicians Companions of the Queen's Service Order New Zealand justices of the peace Impresarios