Robert Stigwood

Stigwood was born in 1934 in Port Pirie, South Australia, the son of Gwendolyn (Burrows) and Gordon Stigwood, an electrical engineer. He was educated at Sacred Heart College in Adelaide.

Meek's first single with John Leyton, a cover of Ray Peterson's U.S. hit "Tell Laura I Love Her", was released in the U.K. in August 1960. Originally intended for release on Meek's Triumph label, that label had by now folded and the recording was instead leased to the Top Rank label, owned by the Rank Organisation and distributed by EMI. EMI's Columbia label had however issued another British cover version of the song by Ricky Valance, and due to better promotion by the record company, this version was more successful.

Leyton's third single, "Johnny Remember Me", produced by Meek and released in the U.K. on 28 July 1961, became a massive U.K. No.1 hit after Stigwood arranged for Leyton to play the part of a fictional pop singer called Johnny St. Cyr performing the song on the new Associated Television drama Harpers West One.

Other artists Stigwood signed to a management/recording deal included Mike Sarne, whose Komlosy-produced "Come Outside" charted Number One in 1962, and another Meek protégé, Mike Berry, who had scored a hit with the Geoff Goddard-penned "Tribute To Buddy Holly".

Also during 1967, Stigwood purchased a controlling interest in Associated London Scripts, a writers' agency co-founded by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes around 1954, in which many of Britain's best comedy and television scriptwriters had been involved. Beryl Vertue from ALS was appointed as deputy chairman; Vertue was responsible for selling the formats to American producers of the TV series All in the Family and Sanford and Son, which were adapted from the popular British TV shows Till Death Us Do Part and Steptoe and Son.

Cream had split up in late 1968, although lead guitarist Eric Clapton remained signed to RSO, but his next project, the highly touted supergroup Blind Faith, which united Clapton and Ginger Baker with Steve Winwood (ex Traffic) and Ric Grech (ex Family) fizzled out after just one LP. Clapton made a promising solo debut with his critically praised self-titled 1970 album, and followed this by forming a new band, Derek & the Dominos, with ex-members of Delaney and Bonnie's backing group. They recorded an ambitious double-album with considerable input from Duane Allman, whom Clapton met and befriended. Although Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) is now acknowledged as his masterpiece, the album's relatively poor critical and commercial reception was overshadowed by the tragic deaths of Eric Clapton's close friends Jimi Hendrix (who died while the sessions were underway) and the subsequent death of Allman himself in October 1971. These tragedies, combined with the angst of his unrequited love for Patti Boyd, sent Clapton into a downward spiral of depression and drug abuse. Derek & the Dominos broke up before a second album could be completed, Clapton withdrew from performing and he became addicted to heroin for several years. Fortunately, Clapton eventually kicked his habit, and Stigwood took him back to Miami, where he recorded his very successful comeback album 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), which included his US #1 hit version of Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff".

Stigwood moved into film and TV production in the early 1970s. By this time the fortunes of his pop production enterprises had declined greatly, and both his major acts struggled to regain their former glory. The Bee Gees broke up briefly in 1970, and after reuniting they floundered for several years, reaching a self-acknowledged "rock bottom" period in the early 1970s, by which time the former chart toppers had been reduced to playing the working men's club circuit in the north of England.

Other notable films produced by Stigwood include The Fan (1981), Grease 2, Peter Weir's well received Gallipoli (1981), produced under the R&R Films banner - the other "R" being another Australian known for his ruthlessness, Rupert Murdoch - and the 1997 Golden Globe Awards best film winner, Evita, starring Madonna. In 1975, RSO collaborated with Bob Banner Associates to produce a stunt game show, Almost Anything Goes. The program, which aired on the ABC network in the United States, featured three teams of players from small towns in a competition where the emphasis was on good will. The show lasted four seasons.

Robert Stigwood remained active in his later years, primarily in musical theatre. In 2005, he sold the Barton Manor estate on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England.

Stigwood died in London on 4 January 2016. He was 81.