Bernard Doherty
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Bernard Doherty (born 3 October 1949, Chelmsford, Essex, UK) is a Public Relations executive in the Music Industry. He is the CEO & co founder of LD Communications,[1] London. He is best known for his work with mainstream rock artists as well as large scale concert tours, festivals and music events in the UK & Europe.Since its inception in 1990 the client roster of his company, LD Communications Ltd has represented The Rolling Stones, P!NK, Jools Holland, Guns n Roses, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Def Leppard, Roxy Music, Genesis, Roger Waters, Shania Twain, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, Pink Floyd & Paul Simon. Bernard Doherty has also set up and managed press & publicity campaigns for major music events including Bob Geldof’s Live Aid 1985 & Live 8/Make Poverty History in 2005,[2] Monsters of Rock Donington, The BRIT Awards,DOWNLOAD Festival Donington, FIFA World Cup Kick Off Concert in South Africa plus all the Hard Rock Calling Festivals, Wireless Festivals in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London and BT London Live for the London Olympics 2012 and V Festival.
Currently masterminding the Rolling Stones World tour '50 And Counting' including their Glastonbury Festival and Hyde Park performances in 2013 plus releases Grrrr Album and Crossfire Hurricane DVD.
Career
Early career
The son of a pair of dance instructors, Doherty began his music business career as a part-time enterprise in the mid-60s while still employed full-time as an electrical apprentice at Marconi Ltd in Chelmsford. A frequent visitor to Soho's Marquee Club in the late 60’s, he began working as a DJ at Basildon & Ilford Mecca ballrooms twice a week, and then moved to Copenhagen in 1969 to earn a full-time living as a club DJ.[3]
In the early 1970s, Doherty returned to London and secured a position in the post room at Island Records before becoming a road manager for music impresario Jo Lustig, working on tours for artists including Jethro Tull, The Chieftains and Richard & Linda Thompson, Nico & Fairport Convention. In the late 70s Doherty moved to Joe Boyd's Hannibal Records independent label as a press officer.[3]
In 1982 he got a job in the London office of the global PR firm of Rogers & Cowan to head up their music division. His first assignment involved PR-ing David Bowie's Let's Dance album, the 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour.[4] Later Doherty added Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Janet Jackson and Tina Turner to his PR roster.
Live Aid
Doherty was asked to take charge of media for Bob Geldof's Live Aid concert in 1985.[5][6] Live Aid, a fund-raising event to alleviate African famine, has been described as the first ever "Global Juke Box", featuring two simultaneous concerts, at Wembley Stadium in the UK and JFK Stadium in the US, with over sixty countries showing the seventeen-hour event live on television. In 1986 Doherty was awarded the International Public Relations Association - Presidents Award for his work for Band Aid. He was played by Andrew Whipp in the 2010 BBC drama, When Harvey Met Bob, which was a dramatised account of Harvey Goldsmith and Bob Geldof's efforts to organise Live Aid.[7] Bernard was also one of the talking-head contributors to the 2005 documentary Live 8: Twenty Years Ago Today.[8]
Live Aid was the first large-scale musical event for which Doherty ran the PR. He was to later oversee the PR for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (both at Wembley Stadium) and a number of The Prince’s Trust fundraisers.
Laister Dickson
A 1989 takeover by Shandwick Plc. shifted the focus of Rogers & Cowan away from music and film so in 1990 Doherty left, taking with him three clients - The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Tina Turner. He joined music PR firm Laister Dickson as a director alongside PR executive Wendy Laister and md Claire Singers.[3]
At Laister Dickson Bernard looked after the BRIT Awards, Monsters Of Rock festivals, Pavarotti In The Park,Aerosmith, Guns n Roses, The Rolling Stones, and Tina Turner European tours.
Brit Awards
Doherty has been credited for helping reinvent the public perception of the Brit Awards after the infamous Brit Awards ceremony in 1989 which was hosted by Mick Fleetwood and Sam Fox.
Brit Awards executive producer Lisa Anderson said of Doherty "Bernard has been a key player in reinventing the perception of the show. I trust his judgement on all PR on the show, whether in fair weather or foul! If something is going awry, Bernard is my first call!"[9]
LD Communications
When Wendy Laister moved to New York in 1996 Doherty and long-term business partner, Claire Singers, bought Laister Dickson and renamed it LD Communications Ltd.[10]
LD Communications currently represents many acts including The Rolling Stones, Roger Waters, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, AC/DC, David Gilmour, Roxy Music, Jools Holland and The Jimi Hendrix Estate. And in 2011 the company was appointed by AEG Live to handle Justin Bieber's 'My World Tour'[11]
In recent years the company has been responsible for the PR of a number of large events, including The NME Awards,[12] The Concert For Diana,[13] Live Earth,[14] Party in the Park, Kerrang! Awards, Sony Radio Academy Awards,[15] Hard Rock Calling, Wireless Festival and the Download Rock Festival at Donington from 2002-2013.
In 2007 Doherty was given the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music PR’ Award at the annual Record Of the Day Awards[16] and in the same year he was named by the Evening Standard as one of London's Most Influential People[17]
In 2012 Doherty and his team at LD Communications were hired by Live Nation to co-ordinate and manage the global PR campaign for ‘BT London Live’, three weeks of Olympic-themed sport & musical festivities for over a million people in Hyde Park, neighbouring Victoria Park and Trafalgar Square.[18]
In 2013 Doherty is overseeing the various events taking place for the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary. The Grrrr! album, RS 50 book plus The Rolling Stones shows at Glastonbury and London's Hyde Park. Doherty has now been the publicist for The Rolling Stones for 25 years.[19]
Personal life
He married fashion designer Anne Doherty on 7 April 1989, in Eastwood Toll, near Glasgow, Scotland. They live in Greenwich, London, and have one son, Sean.
He is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur and in the summer he plays cricket for his local team, The Earlswood Strollers.[20] He also presents a weekly rock radio show – Listomania on UK national radio station Planet Rock[21] which recently passed its 500th broadcast.
References
- ^ LD Communications
- ^ Golden oldie headlines at Live 8
- ^ a b c Bernard Doherty Profile on Brand Republic
- ^ Strange Fascination: David Bowie: The Definitive Story
- ^ Live aid in their own words
- ^ Is That It? by Bob Geldof, Paul Vallely
- ^ When Harvey Met Bob On IMDB
- ^ Live 8: Twenty Years Ago Today on IMDB
- ^ Profile Of Bernard Doherty On PR Week
- ^ Companies In The UK
- ^ Justin Bieber Appoints LD Communications For UK Tour
- ^ LD Wins NME Awards Account
- ^ Concert For Diana Press Release
- ^ Live Earth's toughest test: global yawning, The Telegraph, 5 July 2007
- ^ Billboard Magazine, 3 Feb 2007
- ^ Record of The Day Awards Winners 2007
- ^ London's Most Influential People 2007
- ^ LD Communications will handle the global PR for 'London Live 2012.'
- ^ The Rolling Stones 50
- ^ The Earlswood Strollers
- ^ Bernard's Presenter Page On Planet Rock