Nigel Templeman

23 April 2025 - Press release

I'm utterly devasted by the passing of my dear friend & business partner Nigel Templeman.

We met sometime in the early 90's at my favorite Chelsea Italian Ziani's. As he blasted into the restaurant – horrendous Hawaiian shirt and hair down to his bum – I prayed that he wasn't the man I was due to meet. He told me the band I needed his help marketing were crap and we became best friends for over 30 years.

I believe he was a bit of a marketing genius. From early days working in The Moody Blues record shop, Threshold in South London through to Our Price and HMV before he joined Arista where his first campaign was the launch of Whitney Houston. At London Records he marketed everyone from Fine Young Cannibals to Faith No More and created the campaign for Bananarama as 'the highest selling UK female group ever' – though there may have been some poetic license there !?

Together we managed Moodswings, Drizabone, James Taylor Quartet, Spooky, Coldcut, Raw Stylus and others. Recently he was successfully looking after Graham Coxon & Rose Elinor Dougal's band The Waeve and helping relaunch Tricky. We had just started working together again on pop blues star Toby Lee who's sold out tour starts this week.

The list of artists he worked with, mentored and threw his arms around, both metaphorically and physically, was endless. He played the role of Uncle Nige impeccably and everyone always felt better having sort his counsel.

I was his best man and he was certainly mine.

Hugh Phillimore