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Steven Marshall
Steven Marshall is a British music executive and Director of Canned Heat. Described by the late great Jazz Summers, founder of Big Life Records, and former Chairman of the Music Managers Forum, as “one of the best A&R Managers in the business, with a 360º vision for artists.”

“We all make mistakes and have flaws and insecurities. We don’t acknowledge them. We try our best to hide them.

Real Artists explore and highlight their own inadequacies as well as those of humanity. They turn them into beautiful gifts of magic and share them with the universe,” says Marshall.

Starting his career at Big Life Management as an intern, he was quickly promoted to A&R Manager, and was an instrumental part of the licensing deal between Big Life Records and the US label Tommy Boy Records, spawning hits from De La Soul, Naughty By Nature, K7 and Digital Underground.

He also signed UK RnB bands Damage and TRUCE to Big Life Records and achieved numerous hits with both bands before setting up his own company Set It Off Music. He managed the bands Terry Hall(The Specials) & Mushtaq, 2Play ft Raghav & Jucxi D, Damage and music Producers Rashad ‘Ringo’ Smith of Tumblin Dice, Mushtaq and 2Play (Mobo winner).

Background
Steven Marshall grew up in Wimbledon, London. “Both my parents are Guyanese. On Sunday mornings, I was sent to my Mum’s church and in the afternoon, I returned home to witness my Dad’s church,… the church of music. Anything from Reggae, Soca, Calypso and Soul. Bob Marley and Marvin Gaye through to Frank Sinatra and Jim Reeves would be playing loudly whilst Mum prepared Sunday lunch.”

Marshall started work as an Advertising Accounts Executive for Procter & Procter before embarking on a career as a DJ to better his chances of getting employed in the music industry. Whilst collecting promos from Big Life Records, his good friend Darcus Beese, (the then A&R Manager for Big Life) informed him that he was going back to Island Records and recommended that he apply to be an intern.

As an intern for Big Life Management, Marshall worked in the press department which oversaw Lisa Stansfield’s press as well as all the artists signed to the label. After six months he was promoted to the label as an A&R Manager and had signed two bands, Damage and TRUCE.

“Big Life’s management of Lisa Stansfield and The Verve definitely made doing business in the US a lot easier. I was able to secure great collaborations for my artists such as Donnell Jones for TRUCE and Lil’ Cease (Junior Mafia) & Rahsaan Patterson for Damage, without paying silly money! ”

Developing and spotting talent extended beyond the groups he had signed. As an Executive Producer on the first Damage album, Marshall put Wayne Hector and Steve Mac together, resulting in the No.6 hit “Forever”. Hector and Mac went on to become one of the UK’s most successful writing partnerships, achieving numerous No.1’s.

He encouraged TRUCE member Michelle Escoffery to take her first steps as a writer for Damage. As well as securing co-writes on their albums, she went on to win an Ivor Novello Award as the writer of the Liberty X hit, ‘Work’.

He also gave Craig David his first outing in a studio, aged only 15, after picking him as the winner of a Damage competition. An instrumental was released on their “Wonderful Tonight” single and fans were invited to write a song to it. The winner would get to spend a day with them in the studio whilst they recorded the song, which would then be released as a B-Side to their next release.

“I feel blessed to have been mentored and worked with the best. The best Manager in the business, the best A&R Man and the best President.

Jazz Summers, Tim Parry and Darcus Beese respectively”