LAURENCE MYERS
Laurence Myers was born in London, leaving school at sixteen
to study accountancy, he paid his way by working weekends, for
five years, as a pitchman at
London’s famous Petticoat Lane market.
After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant Myers co-founded
the accountancy firm of Goodman Myers & Co. soon securing his
first music business client, the legendary record producer Micky
Most. His firm quickly developed as one of the leading music
business practices in London, representing amongst others, The
Rolling Stones, The Beatles’ Apple Corp., The Animals, Herman’s
Hermits, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin and Donovan as well as some of
England’s leading songwriters and record producers.
Myers left the practice in 1970 to go full time in to the
commercial side of the music business. During the next decade he
traded as the GTO Group of Companies, managing David Bowie, Gary
Glitter, The New Seekers, Alan Price, The Tremeloes, The Sweet,
Sailor, Lionel Bart and others.
In 1972 he founded Arcade Records, the first European
Company to TV advertise records. Myers was responsible for all
product selection and compiled over sixty “Best Of” records
including an Elvis Presley greatest hits album which at the time
was the one of the biggest selling UK albums ever.
1974 saw the birth of GTO Records with a roster of artists
including Donna Summer, Heatwave and Billy Ocean. GTO Records
was sold to CBS Records in 1978.
GTO Films was started in 1973 and amongst the films produced
or distributed by Myers and the company were The Greek Tycoon,
Picnic at Hanging Rock, Elvis The Movie, The Wanderers, Where’s
Poppa, Breaking Glass and Swept Away. Myers is a profit participant in Fatal Attraction having
produced Diversion, the short film upon which it is based. Myers
has contributed his music catalogue to the soundtracks of many
major feature films including The Full Monty.
During the eighties Myers formed Gem Records, famously
giving the world the archetypal punk band, The UK Subs.
The end of the eighties saw Myers move to stage production
as a Producer. In 1988, Budgie The Musical, starring Adam
Faith and Anita Dobson, in 1991 there was Matador, starring Stephanie Powers and John Barrowman,
Lisa Minelli’s Charity Gala Tribute To Sammy Davis Jnr. at The
Royal Albert Hall, Neil Simon’s Laughter On The 23rd. Floor
starring Gene Wilder in 1996 and in 1998, Jesus, My Boy starring Tom
Conti. In 1999 there was the smash hit revival of Jeffrey
Bernard is Unwell starring Peter O’Toole at the Old Vic and a
tour of Last Of The Red Hot Lovers starring Tom Conti.
The year 2000, brought “Dusty” a musical on the life of
Dusty Springfield and a tour of a Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell
starring Tom Conti and The Seven Year Itch starring Daryl Hannah
at The Queens Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue.
A Helluva Life, the award winning play by William Luce about
the legendary Hollywood Hellraiser John Barrymore opened at The
Dublin Theatre Festival in October 2002 followed by a successful
tour of the UK.
Beautiful and Damned, a new musical on the life of Zelda and
Scott Fitzgerald opened at The Yvonne Arnaud
Theatre Guildford in June 2003 starring John Barrowman and transferred to the West End’s
Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue in May 2004, with Michael
Praed and Helen Anker in the lead roles.
The 2004 Edinburgh Festival award winning Bombshells,
starring Caroline O’Conner, opened at The Arts Theatre, Covent
Garden in September 2004.
In 2004 Laurence acquired an interest in the AKA Group of
companies, 
(www.akauk.com), a leading
Theatre Marketing and Advertising Agency headed up by Adam
Kenwright. He joined the board in 2007.
2005 brought an extensive tour of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing
starring Tom Conti.
In 2006, Mac and Mabel starring David
Soul and Janie Dee, and directed by John Doyle started at The
Watermill Theatre, before opening at The Criterion Theatre
London.
The West End run of the award winning New
York production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf starring
Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin opened at The Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue
in January 2007.
In 2008 there was the tour of Terms of Endearment, starring
Linda Gray and The Clean House starring Patricia Hodge.
The highly acclaimed production of Duet For One, starring
Juliet Stephenson and Henry Goodman opened at The Almeida
Theatre in January 2009 prior to it's West End run.
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