Andrew Loog Oldham

His record company produced the first recordings of Rod Stewart, Nico, Fleetwood Mac, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton. And now, he's produced two autobiographies, Stoned: A Memoir of London in the 1960s, and 2Stoned.

Oldham was born in January 1944, the son of a nurse from London and a pilot from Texas. He knew from the moment he first saw a movie poster on the London underground that he wanted to be in show business. He soon got his wish when he was asked to leave school at age 16.

Oldham's first job was with fashion designer, Mary Quant. He poured drinks for journalists, walked the models' dogs and was able to mingle with the likes of David Bailey, Terence Donovan and Vidal Sassoon.

After a spell of what he calls, "begging, being involved in innocent kidnappings, and running errands at the jazz festivals," Oldham handled the UK tours of Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Chris Montez, and Bob Dylan. Then, in 1963 he met the Beatles and Brian Epstein at a TV show in Birmingham, England and handled the group's PR from "Please, Please Me" to "From Me to You."

Oldham is most famous for his work with the Rolling Stones, whom he met in late April of 1963. They became his way of life and he remained their co-manager and record prducer through the end of 1967. It was during Oldham's tenure with the Stones that some of their most famous work was released including: "The Last Time," "Play with Fire," "Not Fade Away," "Satisfaction," "Paint it Black," "Get off of my Cloud," and "Ruby Tuesday."

Oldham started his own record label in 1965, Immediate Records, the UK's first indie record label. Immediate has produced early works for musical greats such as Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton.

These days, Oldham lives between Bogota, Columbia, and Vancouver, British Colombia. He is writing his third book, On Hustling, and has spent the past year lecturing and presenting the Rolling Stones documentary he produced in 1965, "Charlie is My Darling," at selected film festivals. He still believes in the power of song and performance and is happy to share his never-ending love of the game - the hustle and the rhythm of life that is music.

With unusual, sardonic, and uncanny recall, Oldham explains the reality of the British invasion, the relationship between the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, and the effects of fame, money and drugs upon the musicians and the music they make.