Singer, manager, label owner, and producer Larry Page was part of the history of pop and rock during its golden age in the UK. Born Leonard Davies in Hayes, Middlesex, England on November 9, 1936, he took the stage name Larry Page, in reference to the actor in the 1946 musical The Jolson Story, Larry Parks. He began his singing career in the mid-1950s, recording a handful of singles for the Columbia label and opening for Cliff Richard. When his songs proved commercially unsuccessful, he turned to backing artists and became manager of The Kinks, a band with whom he had a difficult relationship, particularly during their American tour in the summer of 1965, when several concerts were cancelled. He then took charge of The Troggs, whom he signed to the label he had just created in 1966, Page One Records. He produced the group's major hit, "Wild Thing", as well as the albums From Nowhere (1966) and Trogglodynamite (1967), when a dispute broke out between the two parties, leading to a lawsuit. Larry Page, who also managed other bands such as Vanity Fare and Plastic Penny, founded Penny Farthing Records in 1969, working with Shocking Blue on the hit "Venus", Daniel Boone ("Beautiful Sunday") and Chelsea Football Club ("Blue Is the Colour"), among others. In parallel with his management activities, Larry Page followed George Martin's example with The Beatles and created his own orchestra, The Larry Page Orchestra, to produce orchestral versions of The Kinks' hits on the album Kinky Music (1965). Although he neither produced the arrangements nor conducted the orchestra deployed for the occasion – which featured studio musicians such as Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones - the producer nonetheless put his name to a series of easy listening albums including From Larry with Love (1968), Instrumentally Yours (1969), and Presenting the Larry Page Orchestra (1969). These were followed by Imagine (1979) and John Paul George Ringo (1996). Similarly, he moved into disco and soul with Rampage (1976) and Erotic Soul (1977). Curiously, he crossed paths again with The Troggs and The Kinks, becoming their manager in the late 1970s for the former and in the mid-1980s for the latter. Retired from business, Larry Page settled in Avoca Beach, Australia, where he died on April 18, 2024, at the age of 86.
