Monsters of Rock promoter Maurice Jones dies

Thursday November 12, 2009

In addition to establishing Monsters Of Rock, Maurice is perhaps best known for co-promoting 1985’s historic Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium with Harvey Goldsmith, where his status among the artist fraternity helped ensure that rock’s elite performed on the day.

Born in the West Midlands town of Wednesbury, Maurice began dabbling in the music business while serving his apprenticeship at John Thompson’s engineering works in Wolverhampto,n where he used a public phone box as his first office, managing an act called the ‘N Betweens who later became Slade.

At the age of 19 he joined the Astra Agency in Wolverhampton as a booker and became heavily involved in Club Lafayette where he booked the likes of Led Zeppelin, Yes and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers.

In 1977 he quit Astra to form his own business, Midland Concert Promotions, which - as the name suggests - saw him remain true to his roots, being located in Walsall.

As well as promoting all the big rock acts such as AC/DC and Def Leppard, Maurice also took risks on the likes of UB40, Simply Red, Simple Minds, Eurythmics and famously promoted Oasis at Knebworth. Indeed, Maurice used to tell the story about once losing money on a show featuring two acts called The Police and U2, however, he later made money back as the acts became bigger.

He also introduced and developed the hugely successful Monsters Of Rock festival, which led to him taking on the lease of Donington Park for a period and becoming involved in the super bikes events.

Maurice left MCP when he retired in 1997 and he used much of his spare time indulging his passion for boats and particularly enjoyed his sailing trips to France with his wife Diane. He is also survived by his daughters Kristy and Nicola.