Jeremy Furze Wins Manager of the Year at 2024 AAM Awards
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Applejack Music chief Jeremy Furze won manager of the year at the 2024 AAM Awards, for his impressive work in guiding the career of The Teskey Brothers.
Furze collected the top honor at the third annual ceremony on Wednesday, held at Sydney Crowbar.
“The art is beautiful, and the artistry is really important. It inspires us all,” he said during his acceptance speech. “But what keeps a lot of us rolling along is these little fist bumps from our peers, to say you’re doing well, keep going. I’ve been lucky to get a lot of that from peers over the years.”
Those peers have included legendary artist manager and mentor Michael McMartin, Cath Haridy and Dave Batty.
“We’re in a pretty deep crisis,” Furze noted. “It’s going to be up to all the people around this room to keep us on track in the next few years, and we need support ourselves…we’ve got to do it for each other.”
This award is a “weird” one, he continued. There is not such thing as “best manager. We’re all running our own race.”
True, but The Teskeys have been in winning form. The Rolling Stone AU/NZ cover stars claimed a No. 1 on the ARIA Chart with 2023’s The Winding Way, and went on to win best record at the Rolling Stone Australia Awards, and later in the evening, claimed the APRA Award for songwriters of the year, completing an extraordinary few hours for Furze.
“The past 12 months have been truly massive for Jeremy and The Teskey Brothers,” explains Alastair Burns, AAM co-chair and awards producer, during which they sold out major shows all around the world including 15,000 tickets in London, 12,000 tickets in Amsterdam, and 6,000 tickets in Los Angeles.
Furze “has worked with the band from the ground up to build a truly global and sustainable business,” adds Burns, “and the judging panel unanimously agree that he is the deserving recipient of the 2024 AAM Award for manager of the year.
Also at the AAM Awards, breakthrough manager of the year went to Megan Rasmussen and Harry White (Future Classic); Kerry Kennell, chief of Kennell & Co, won the community engagement award; the patron’s gift – an initiative of McMartin – went to Our Golden Friend’s Lorrae McKenna; and Hayley-Jane Ayres, 360 Artist Logistics was the recipient of the APRA AMCOS Lighthouse Award, which includes a $5,000 cash prize to support her business and professional pursuits.
As previously reported, Jodie Regan, founder of Spinning Top Music, took home the Legacy Award.
Guest speakers at the standing-room only function included John Graham special minister of state, minister for roads, minister for arts minister for music and the night-time economy, and minister for jobs and tourism; and guests were treated to performances by Folk Bitch Trio and Miss Kaninna.
Led by executive director Maggie Collins, the AAM is the trade association for the Australian music industry’s managers, representing over 300 active managers, who in turn represent over 1,000 artists in contemporary music.
Visit aam.org.au for more
2024 AAM Awards winners:
Manager of the Year
Presented by Oztix
Jeremy Furze, Applejack Music
Breakthrough Manager of the Year
Presented by DMT Law Firm
Megan Rasmussen and Harry White, Future Classic
Community Engagement Award
Presented by Live Event Logistics
Kerry Kennell, Kennell & Co
Legacy Award
Presented by Sony Music Publishing
Jodie Regan, Spinning Top Music
Patron’s Gift
Presented by AAM Patrons
Lorrae McKenna, Our Golden Friend
APRA/AMCOS Lighthouse Award
Hayley-Jane Ayres, 360 Artist Logistics