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Michael
Chugg, promoter, Chugg Entertainment
Promoter
Chuggie reflects on rock career March 30
(Credit:
NineMSN)
There
are many skills a rock music promoter must have
to make it in the industry - for one, the ability
to get Billy Idol out of a dressing room full
of hookers.
Michael
"Chuggie" Chugg, a promoter almost as
famous as the acts he promotes, has spent the
last 40 years honing those skills.
It
is moments like those that he remembers fondly
when he talks to the ABC's Australian Story on
Monday.
"Billy
Idol was pretty interesting," he tells the
program, called Access All Areas.
"We
had an after show party in a club in Sydney.
"He
locked himself in one dressing room there with
nine hookers and wouldn't come out."
Chuggie
is the man who brought artists like Elton John,
Robbie Williams, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Coldplay
and Ray Charles to Australia.
He
is also behind the national tours of Australian
acts like Powderfinger, Silverchair and Missy
Higgins.
And
he is not afraid of getting up in front of a crowd
himself - his on-stage, profanity-ridden rants
are the stuff of legend.
"Unfortunately
I had a great-grandfather and the first thing
he did was taught me to swear and it's always
been part of my delivery of things," he tells
the program.
"There
might have been one or two instances over the
40 years where I was probably out of order, but
in the main it's usually been because it needed
to be done.
"And
I've got to tell you, the use of f*** in the right
context changes a lot of things."
The
program begins with one such rant which excited
the show's producers when it almost smashed the
ABC record for the most f-words aired.
But
Chuggie's famous foul mouth has sometimes got
him into trouble.
It
was one issue behind the breakdown in the business
relationship between him and former partner Michael
Gudinski.
"It's
a bit unfortunate that he hasn't caught up to
the modern age a little bit," Gudinski tells
the program.
"As
time went on, you know, the standards and discrimination
and sexual talk, etc, was something that we took
pretty seriously. Well, Michael didn't.
"I
mean, we lost the Pearl Jam tour because of one
of those discussions at one stage."
But
for all the enemies his brash character has given
him, he is also known as one of the best talent-handlers
in the business.
"Michael
has a better relationship with performing artists
than anyone else I've had much to do with in my
life," friend and artist manager Peter Rix
says.
"It's
not the image that he conveys when he's on stage
telling the guy in the black T-shirt to back off."
One
of Chuggie's oldest musician friends is Elton
John, who introduces the program about "one
of the greatest concert promoters in the whole
wide world".
"If
he needs something to be done, I'll do it. Because
I trust him and I trust his judgment," John
says.
"He's
a dream kind of promoter - he's the best.
"And
that's why we come down here, because of Chuggie."
*Australian
Story airs on Monday March 31, at 8pm (AEDT)
on the ABC.
Website
Chugg
Entertainment
Articles
Can't
Stop Their Music - 31st January 2004
Profiles
Music
Promoters
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