George Kimpton

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George Kimpton, sometimes known as George Kimpton-Howe, (born George Frederick Kimpton, March 3. 1954 in Fulham, South West London.) is an English music business executive, particularly active in the 1980s. Kimpton started his career at Pinnacle Records in Orpington, Kent in 1981 where he headed up the burgeoning video software division. He was considered to be a champion of the so called and actively distributed most of the titles which later became illegal after the DPP published their controversial 'Nasty top fifty' By 1984 he had crossed over to the music division where he continued to court controversy by championing records like the notorious So What and the Brighton Bomb by The Angelic Upstarts. His tireless advocacy of free speech, non cencorship and Atheism led to a strong working relationship with Frank Zappa who later gave his catalogue over to Kimpton for UK distribution. Kimpton also exclusively distributed artists like Kylie minogue, New Order and The Stone Roses, as well as iconic DJ, own Radio One Sessions label, Strange_Fruit_Records. In 1989 the music journal Music Week named him as one of the industry's leading movers and shakers. In the same year he was approached by Rough Trade Records to head up its concern and he accepted the post. Though his reign there was short lived due to the company being in poor financial shape he continued to have hits with artists such as The Smiths, The Charlatans, Erasure and Yazz. During the nineties he created the eclectic punk label, Dressed to Kill which he later sold to indie film producer, Metrodome PLC. During this period he launched and managed the career of quirky Elvis impersonator, The King for whom he released one album, Gravelands. Gravelands, produce by singer / songwriter, Bap Kennedy, was later re-released by EMI Germany and went platinum.
In late 2010, under the name Georgie Kimptonhis first crime thriller, A Controlled Environment was published. He is currently working on a follow up.

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