Simon Napier Bell, Rock Star Manager chatted with Anjan Dutt, musician-actor-director on 12th August 2016 at Taj Bengal on the occasion of An Author’s Afternoon. The event was presented by Shree Cement in association with Prabha Khaitan Foundation, Siyahi, Taj Bengal and T2.

Simon has been a rock and pop manager since the 1960’s and worked with many pop stars and groups like Wham, Eric Clapton, George Michael, Japan, Boney M among others. According to him he worked with each of them for seven or eight years and moved on. Although he started as a songwriter he moved on to managing musicians. He has several success stories in his career. Taking George Michael to China in the 1980s is one such case.

On being asked what makes him choose an artiste he wants to work with, he said that apart from being a good singer and dancer with good looks what is needed is an obsession to become a star. It is this energy in the artiste that makes Bell choose the artiste. He also calls himself an opportunist. “A manager is hired to spot opportunities. The artiste is so focused on where he is going that he doesn’t see left or right. The manager sees left, right, behind and above. So, the artiste hires an opportunist.”

Simon Napier Bell has written several books on music industry and often speaks about how to run successful creative businesses.