Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee were honoured with a MITs Award Monday night in London during a ceremony that featured tributes and warm words for the Modest! founders from colleagues and friends, while raising money for the BRIT Trust and Nordoff Robbins.
Taking place at Grosvenor House Hotel, the event featured performances from Katherine Jenkins and Alexis Ffrench, Niall Horan and Olly Murs, and Alison Moyet. Film director Richard Curtis presented the award, describing the duo as “two profoundly decent and caring people who’ve managed to make successes of so many careers.”
Modest! partner Will Bloomfield spoke about Griffiths and Magee’s commitment to their artists and staff: “It’s not just about ticket and record sales, it’s about happiness and fulfilment for everyone that you come into contact with. You are the most honest two people that I know and it’s a lesson to all of us around you.”
Griffiths first “thanked God” for Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, who fired Magee and him from BMG, the catalyst for the launch of Modest, before thanking his wife and family “who have stuck by me throughout.” He continued with a nod to the value of management.
“We are truly honoured by the fact that we are the first managers to be presented this award, and it’s a late acknowledgement by the business of the importance that management brings to all facets of our business.
“It’s something that people need to be much more aware of, and that working with management closely is going to help you do much, much better with your artists. I hope that this will be the start of the industry as a whole starting to take into account what it is managers do, because at the end of the day, the manager is the only person who is dealing in every aspect of an artist’s life, and we do it fucking well."
