TONY CALDER,
1943-2018

Immediate Records co-founder Tony Calder, who signed the Bay City Rollers, managed Marianne Faithfull and Eddy Grant and got his start promoting The Beatles’ first single, died Tuesday of complications from pneumonia at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He was 74.

Calder got his start at Decca Records, where he met future business partner Andrew Loog Oldham. Brian Epstein hired Calder to promote The Beatles’ first single “Love Me Do” in 1962 and soon after, Calder and Loog Oldham former the PR company Image. They managed The Rolling Stones and promoted The Beach Boys and Freddie and the Dreamers.

The two then formed Immediate Records in 1965, releasing records by Small Faces, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, The Nice and early singles from Fleetwood Mac and Humble Pie. The label closed in 1970.

During that time, Calder also managed Marianne Faithfull, producing two of her Top 10 U.K. singles, “Come and Stay With Me” and “This Little Bird.” Post-Immediate, Calder became a booking agent, guiding The Bay City Rollers’ to Bell Records and, in 1975, was named CEO of NEMS Records where he signed Black Sabbath and Faithfull.

In 1978, he began managing Eddy Grant and in the late 1980s formed the Big Wave Group that had hits with Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers.