Neil Richards profile picture

Neil Richards

Ain't life a trip?

About Me

I work as an artist manager and music industry consultant. Currently I represent multi-platinum selling Australian country singer James Blundell, rootsy-pop-blues singer/songwriter Paul Greene and Kirsty lee Akers who recently won the best new Talent Award at the CMAA Awards. Over the years I have juggled numerous roles within the music industry: music journalist, street press magazine editor, venue booker, booking agent, song plugger, concert promoter, festival organiser, and artist manager! Having experienced almost every facet of the music industry over a 20 year period I am now focused purely on artist management and career development. With an emphasis on quality rather than quantity I have made a commitment to manage no more than a handful of artists at any one time which allows me the opportunity to give each act the hands-on, personal service they deserve.Besides listening to it I don't do anything with funk, soul and hip hop these days - some of you will know me from my time as Managing Editor of Brisbane's Scene Magazine, as a freelance journalist specialising in black music who wrote for numerous music mags or club operator/promoter back in the day - but I'm always keen to keep in touch with those I don't get to see very often and be updated on what's happening on the soul scene!

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/20/2005
Band Website: square1entertainment.com
Influences: Musically it's always been funk, soul, R&B (NOT urban), classic hip hop and jazz with the occasional dash of rock and great singer/songwriters.
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

PAUL GREENE HITS NO. 1 ON iTUNES CHART

After almost 4 weeks in the top 10 on the itunes Blues/Roots Top Albums Chart, Paul Greene's new album Distance Over Time has finally up crept to 1. Distance Over Time is a phenomenal showca...
Posted by Neil Richards on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:07:00 PST

KIRSTY CLIMBS ITUNES & EUROPEAN CHARTS

Kirsty Lee Akers's 'Little Things' album this week sits at 7 on the itunes country album chart thanks to her breathtaking new single 'The Territory' which is making an impact at commercial radio. In E...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:17:00 PST

THE TERRITORY - THIS WEEKS COUNTRY PICK ON CMC

The third single from Kirsty Lee Aker's debut album is 'The Territory'. A deeply moving number about life as a foster child it has been complimented by a wonderful video from the talented crew at Pie ...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:19:00 PST

WHOLE OF THE MOON GETS THE WATERBOYS STAMP OF APPROVAL

Paul Greene was beaming with pride late last week when he logged in to his myspace account and saw a message from one of his "friends" regarding his cover of The Waterboys' 80s classic 'The Whole of t...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:18:00 PST

JAMES BLUNDELL TO RELEASE NEW DVD

James' first DVD  and the follow-up to his gold selling video collection Milestones  will be the career spanning Definitive Video Collection 1987 -2007 due for release in July 2008. The DVD will fea...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:16:00 PST

GREENE GETS GREEN AT THE ENMORE

On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming  coal-fired electricity  by turning off its lights. A year later Paul Greene found h...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:15:00 PST

GOIN TO THE BEACH STILL GOIN STRONG

The video for  Kirsty Lee Akers' 'Goin' To The Beach' may have peaked at 6 on the Country Music Channel's video request chart 2 weeks ago but her second single is still going great guns at radio ...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:13:00 PST

PAUL GREENE TO RELEASE NEW CD

ver the past few years Paul Greene has been given the thumbs up by John Butler, The Waifs & Ani DiFranco, hi-jacked by Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst and served as the inspiration behind Ben Harper's 'D...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:08:00 PST

JAMES TO PERFORM AT SMOKY DAWSON TRIBUTE CONCERT

Fellow performers, friends and admirers are coming from all over Australia to take part in the historic Smoky Dawson tribute concert in Sydney on Wednesday, March 19. James will join the likes of John...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:07:00 PST

KIRSTY WINS GOLDEN GUITAR FOR BEST NEW TALENT

On Saturday January 26, at the 36th CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia Kirsty Lee Akers was awarded the Golden Guitar for Best New Talent for her album and single 'Little Things'. Kirsty who last ...
Posted by Neil Richards on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:06:00 PST