Vale Gary Ashley 1955—2017
Gary Ashley, long time General Manager at Mushroom Records and right hand man to label founder Michael Gudinski, has died in London.
He had been battling cancer for 12 months.
Ashley worked at Mushroom Records’ Melbourne headquarters through its first golden era with Skyhooks, Split Enz, Renee Geyer, The Dingoes and Ayers Rock.
In 1993 he moved to London to set up Mushroom UK which had huge success with Garbage, Ash, Pop Will Eat Itself and Peter Andre whom he successfully shaped into a multi-media personality.
Ashley also overlooked the UK operations of Liberation with Joe Cocker and Divine, and struck a joint venture with songwriter and producer Pete Waterman’s PWL Records which brought Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan back into the Mushroom family and sold 25 million records.
However a rift developed between Gudinski and Ashley, which according to Gudinski was sparked over an alleged “key member” clause that Ashley inserted in the label’s deal with Garbage.
After Ashley’s departure in 1996, he recreated himself into a 21st century executive, combining music, management, films, TV and digital.
As Universal’s Senior Vice President of A&R/Soundtracks, Ashley signed Blink 182, New Found Glory, Shaggy and New Radicals. He also executive produced albums for BB King, Van Morrison and Gladys Knight, and became the US manager of Van Morrison, signing his catalogue to Sony Music.
As consultant, he worked 19 Entertainment’s American Idol acts, and worked on documentaries and TV projects as Channel 4/Bauers Box Plus.