Sad news indeed.
Gerry Stickells was at the forefront of large scale production tour management.
Through the 70's and into the 80's his name was at the peak of the industry. He didn't take shit from anyone but always had time to say hello. He retired a long time ago due to health reasons. A great guy. RIP
Gerry was truly the fifth member of the Queen family and always there to guide the band and make sure everything was running smooth for them. Very sad to hear he has passed away.
He will be in heaven telling Freddie that Queen has not been any greater since Fred passed on i bet lol
Gold wrote:
Gerry was truly the fifth member of the Queen family and always there to guide the band and make sure everything was running smooth for them. Very sad to hear he has passed away.
He will be in heaven telling Freddie that Queen has not been any greater since Fred passed on i bet lol
Fifth member of Queen! What are you on about? GLS productions provided tour management services for half the major acts in the 70's and 80's. Gerry Stickells was great at his job.
If you're going to start naming people as the fifth member of the band (there wasn't one.... but) Roy Thamas Baker, Mike Stone, Mack, Spike Edney all had some input into the way songs were played or recorded or performed live.
Gerry Stickells got equipment, band members, staff, trucks and tour busses on the road send to their destinations, he and his company booked hotels, flights, ferries. Worked with the various promoters around the world to book venues etc. He had nothing to do with the playing of music which is what the band did.
Fifth member, no. Best tour manager of his time. . . yes easily.
VH i call him 5th member of Queen not because of any song writing ability or anything like that but simply because he was a very friendly
guy and always willing to help the band get what they wanted on stage and play where they wanted to play.
Nothing to do with the music , but just a friendly guy which all members of Queen got on with very very well.
Lets get one thing straight, Gerry was Queens tour manager ok, but he also helped the band play at many of the place that they longed to play at,
He was always close by to the band on tour and the band would always hang out around him before a show
I do not want to argue about a lovely guy who has just passed away so please do not start rowing on this thread and have some respect for Gerry.
Dr Magnus : No Lambert is not a 5th member of Queen because he is nowhere as educated or talented as the other Queen members and secondly that sure was a dumb thing to suggest.
Any respectful Queen would not even mention that turd in the same sentence as Queen. Get real.
Wasp. wrote:
Lets get one thing straight, Gerry was Queens tour manager ok, but he also helped the band play at many of the place that they longed to play at,
He was always close by to the band on tour and the band would always hang out around him before a show
I do not want to argue about a lovely guy who has just passed away so please do not start rowing on this thread and have some respect for Gerry.
The tour manager, promoter and agents make a tour possible. The tour manager liaises with the other two and the band's management as to where and when and the type of venues they will play. The technical feasibility of the venues is down to the tour manager and production designers. Can the show be loaded in and out with no delays, will it fit in the venue.
The tour manager as I said before then has to sort out tour staff equipment transport and accommodation.
None of this involved the band.
On show days the tour manager has a relatively early start at the venue and spends most of the day in the production office sorting out final details of the day and final planning for the next gig.
Queen did not hang around Gerry Stickells, he was far too busy to hang around for long.
In fact in later years the band often didn't do full sound checks and when they did it was late in the day. Freddie sometime just didn't and would arrive as late as possible.
Yes Queen had quite a tight knit touring community, but everyone on the tour was hellishly bust most of the time and your impression of people hanging around didn't usually happen much. Yes they were good friends and spent time with each other but not a lot of time in each other's company during a tour.
The stage manager ( Rick O'brian) and the band's personel crew members probably saw more of the band during a tour than Gerry Stickells did.