John O'Driscoll Preston (1950–2017) was a British music industry executive.

Early life

John O'Driscoll Preston was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, the son of Major Ian Preston, a

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

officer who later worked for an Edinburgh brewery, and an actress mother who insisted on using her unusual middle name, Michael Preston (née Cochrane). He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into ...

followed by

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

, where he studied history, and

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, where he earned a degree in Latin American history in 1972.

Career

Preston started his career with Bruce's Record Shops in Scotland, then joined

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

in 1977. In 1984, he was managing director of

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

UK. Preston was the managing director of

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

UK from 1985 to 1989, and chairman of BMG from 1989 to 1998. Preston chaired the UK Labour Party's

Rock the Vote Rock the Vote is a non-profit progressive-aligned organization in the United States whose stated mission is "to engage and build the political power of young Americans." The organization was founded in 1990 by Virgin Records America Co-Chairman ...

campaign for

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

. Preston worked with musicians including Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart,

M People M People (stylised as ''M''People) is an English dance music band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who form ...

and

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

. Music industry people he gave early career opportunities to include

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of '' The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on ...

, Hugh Goldsmith, David Joseph, Jeremy Marsh and

Korda Marshall Infectious Music is an independent record label owned by BMG, whose bands have included Alt-J, Ash and The Subways. History Infectious Music was established in 1993 as Infectious Records by former Zerra One drummer Korda Marshall after lea ...

, and he was the first chairman of a record company to promote two women to the level of label managing director,

Lisa Anderson Lisa Anderson (born October 16, 1950) is an American political scientist and the former President of the American University in Cairo (AUC). Research and career A specialist on Middle Eastern and North African politics, Anderson served as the P ...

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, and Diana Graham at Arista.

Personal life

Preston was married to Roz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, John 1950 births 2017 deaths British music industry executives People from Nottingham People educated at Shrewsbury School Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Liverpool