OBITUARY: `Gentleman and great guy' Rob Partridge dies.(Obituary)

Tributes flood in after Island Records veteran, Coalition founder and UK music industry legend loses battle with cancer aged 59

By Robert Ashton

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS IN MOURNING following the death of Rob Partridge, one of the most articulate communicators in the business who lost his long battle with cancer last week. He was 59.

Partridge worked with many of popular music's great artists, including Bob Marley, U2, Tom Waits, Joe Strummer, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Marianne Faithfull.

He was also a good friend and inspiration to many senior executives who have lined up to pay tribute to a man who twice won the Music Week PR of the Year Award, but whose work and enthusiasm transcended public relations. He was one of the fathers of British jazz with the Antilles label and discovering Andy Shepherd and Courtney Pine; he was manager of the supermodel Caprice; he taught Grace Jones to swim; he organised football matches for Bob Marley; and through his work with U2 and Tom Waits - and his influence on Chris Blackwell - helped give the Island label its unique identity.

Famously, Partridge, who became head of press at Island in 1977, helped persuade the label's founder Chris Blackwell to sign U2.

Bono says, "Rob Partridge was the first person in the British music industry to sing our praises. He not only had an eye for talent, he was a nurturer... a person who would educate you about the kind of obstacles you were going to meet and how to get over them. A rare human being."