Charles Levison

His ideas brought fizz to business, media, sport and the arts

Rosie Boycott
Thursday September 21, 2006
The Guardian

Charles Levison, who has died aged 64 after a heart attack, was a generator of ideas who, as lawyer, entrepreneur, investor and sounding board, offered his experience, energy and warmth to a wide range of ventures. He worked primarily in media, but in the largest sense of the word. His career included the chairmanship of the Institute of Contemporary Arts and Friends of the Earth, deputy chairman of the Chrysalis Group and director of the Wasps rugby club.

Charles's Jewish grandfather had moved from Galilee to Edinburgh, where in 1900 he converted to the Church of Scotland and went on to found the Hebrew Christian Alliance. Charles himself was educated at St Albans school and read natural sciences and law at Trinity College, Cambridge. He qualified as a solicitor in 1967 and joined Harbottle and Lewis, then a small West End firm specialising in film and theatre. There he developed the largest music industry practice in the UK, becoming a friend and adviser to many of the leading bands and recording artists of the day.
A move to America in the 1970s saw him immerse himself in the music industry from the inside. Basing himself in New York and the Caribbean, he acted as a consultant to such companies as Island Records and Virgin, helping set up their operations in north and south America. Returning to London he became managing director of Arista Records, handling the careers of Patti Smith and Barrie Manilow, and developing and finding new talent, something he was particularly good at. Under his stewardship, Arista signed Simple Minds, the Beat and the Stray Cats.

Charles next moved to Warners, first as managing director, later as chairman and chief executive officer. He turned around what had been a loss-making operation and developed its new, highly successful video distribution company, which marketed Madonna, Prince, Laurie Anderson and Randy Crawford. Expansion into television and radio followed, and he started a production company working with Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. He was executive producer of the television version of the National Theatre's production of the Beggar's Opera.

In 1983, as joint managing director, Charles bought together the Virgin Group, Yorkshire Television and Thorn EMI to form the Music Channel to exploit the new opportunities in cable and satellite broadcasting across Europe. That led to a fruitful relationship with Richard Branson and to Charles becoming managing director of Virgin Broadcasting in 1987, overseeing Virgin's broadcasting activities worldwide. But one job was never quite enough: at the same time, he acted as executive producer of the 250th anniversary production of Handel's Messiah in Dublin and helped launch Virgin Radio by forming a consortium between Virgin Communications and TV-am.

In 1980 Charles joined the ICA board - the arts were one of his passions - and in 1990 he was made chairman. Under his leadership the ICA gained sponsorship from Toshiba and a huge increase in grants, at a time of severe arts cutbacks elsewhere. In 2004 he was asked to be chairman of the Lowry Centre in Salford, a position he hugely enjoyed.

By the mid 1990s he was chairman or non-executive director of, among other organisations, Result Venture Knowledge International, Worldpop Group, Dagenham Motors, Allied Leisure, SCI Entertainment Group plc and Theatreshare. Somehow, he found time to help Sabrina Guinness found YCTV, a west London charity which teaches young people about film and television.

Not everything flourished. When Chrysalis acquired Queens Park Rangers and Wasps in 1996, Charles became a director of Loftus Road plc. The soccer side floundered and went into administration; the Music Channel also struggled and was eventually sold off. A keen skier, scuba diver and tireless supporter of Wasps, Charles is survived by his wife, the journalist and writer Caroline Clifton Mogg, and their daughters Eliza and Georgia.