Lionel Conway

English music publisher, music entrepreneur and MD / President of music businesses. Los Angeles resident since the 1990s.

Conway was first introduced to music publishing via his friend Don Black at NME, taking a summer vacation job in a publishing house under the guidance of Dick James. When James left to form his own company Conway went with him, just at the time of James' signing of The Beatles in 1964. In 1969 Conway was invited by Chris Blackwell to run Island Records publishing company. Although the Island catalog was lean by comparison, the acts included the likes of Steve Winwood and the recently-signed Free and his move was also on the cusp of Blackwell joining forces with Larry Cordell and bringing in acts like Joe Cocker and The Move.

Whilst Island grew in strength Conway also brokered deals for promo and distribution of early Chrysalis and Virgin releases, until Branson decided to open his own publishing arm at the start of the 70s. With a roster of successful artists such as Cat Stevens, Bob Marley, Robert Palmer and the 1978 signing of U2, Conway noted that by the 1980s the Island brand had started to slip against strong competition. After Island Music was sold to PolyGram in 1990 Conway found his position as MD and President untenable, finally resigning in April 1992 to run Madonna's newly-formed company Maverick from the ground up as a joint venture with Warner/Chappell and co-founder Freddy DeMann who took a back seat. The Maverick catalog was finally sold to Warner and included a publishing house in Nashville.

'Singing publisher' footnote: As an old chum of Rod Stewart since the mid seventies, Conway was roped in and can be heard as one of the backing vocalists on Stewart's "Rhythm Of My Heart".