Joseph Lockwood | |
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Born | Joseph Flawith Lockwood 14 November 1904 |
Died | 6 March 1991 Buckinghamshire, England | (aged 86)
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Businessman, record and entertainment company executive |
Sir Joseph Flawith Lockwood (14 November 1904 – 6 March 1991), was a British industrialist and businessman, whose initial reputation was as an executive of a flour milling company. Later, as chairman of EMI between 1954 and 1974, he oversaw the company's expansion in the music business, and the signing and marketing of acts including The Beatles. He was knighted in 1960.
He was born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, the second son of flour mill owner Joseph Agnew Lockwood and his wife, Mabel (née Caudwell). Through his father he was a distant cousin to the actress Margaret Lockwood and to Solicitor General Sir Frank Lockwood, their common ancestor being Joseph Lockwood (c. 1758 – 1837), a former Mayor of Doncaster, Yorkshire.[1] Lockwood attended schools in Southwell, Lincoln and Newark, but left at the age of 16 without qualifications and described his education as "little more than rudimentary".[2]
In early 1954, he was approached by Sir Edward de Stein to join the board of EMI, and he became its chairman on his fiftieth birthday later in the year. At the time, EMI was losing some £0.5 million per year and was on the verge of bankruptcy.[4] He instigated a run-down of the gramophone and radio manufacturing side of the company, giving it a greater focus on industrial electronic equipment through a partnership with Thorn Electrical Industries. He also started to oversee substantial growth in EMI's involvement in the record industry, buying and developing the American Capitol company in the late 1950s,[2][5] and appointing George Martin to take charge of the Parlophone label.[6] By 1960, EMI's annual profits were some £5 million. Joseph Lockwood was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1960 New Year Honours list.[2]
He prioritised the production and sale of popular records, rather than classical records aimed at a prestige market. He also changed marketing and distribution arrangements; previously, only a small handful of record shops in Britain had been permitted to sell EMI records, and Lockwood pioneered new ways of ensuring the rapid distribution of hit records to shops. By 1973, EMI was reported to be the largest record company in the world. Lockwood also led the involvement of EMI in the British film industry.[3]
Lockwood was regarded as close to the Beatles, who generated a large share of EMI's profits during the 1960s. It has been suggested that his relationship with the group was eased because both he and the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein were both Jewish and gay.[5] Lockwood occasionally intervened personally in areas of dispute, for example to insist on the release of the "Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" single, and in ensuring that the Beatles rather than EMI would be held legally responsible if there were objections from celebrities pictured on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album.[3][5] He was seen as willing to overlook "eccentricities" such as their drug use, saying "I never pursued it... largely because they were so successful".[5] However, he refused to allow EMI to distribute the Two Virgins album because of its controversial sleeve design.[6]
Lockwood retired as chairman of EMI in 1974.[4] He died at his home in Buckinghamshire in 1991 at the age of 86.[7]