MARTIN KIRKUP,
1948-2024

Martin Kirkup, co-founder of Direct Management Group, whose client list included k.d. lang and Katy Perry, died Sunday (2/4) while on vacation in Hawaii with his family. He was 75.

A native of Tynemouth, England, Kirkup and Steven Jensen founded DMG in 1985 and had early successes with Echo & The Bunnymen, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Bryan Ferry and The B-52’s.

They signed a then-unknown Counting Crows in 1991, and would later add David Byrne, Joe Jackson and Seal to the roster. In the early 2000s, Direct also managed Tracy Chapman, The Go-Go’s, Jamie Cullum and Adam Lambert among others.

“Martin Kirkup and I conceived Direct Management while drinking raki at a restaurant high above the Bosphorus in Istanbul, escaping the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984,” Jensen said in a statement. “We were both fans of alternative pop music and focused on establishing a boutique management company to support that exciting genre of music. I’m proud to have built Direct Management with Martin and Bradford Cobb [who became a partner in 2012] to its global presence today, with integrity, honor and ingenuity, much of which was contributed by Martin. His influence is a permanent fixture of the Direct Management culture.”

Kirkup initially came to the U.S. in 1973 as a visiting professor of English Literature at the University of Rhode Island. A year later, A&M Records named him East Coast publicity director, from which he rose to head of the creative services department and then VP of Artist Development in 1979, overseeing campaigns for Squeeze, Joe Jackson, The Police and Joan Armatrading.