Rebel With a Cause

From Fulham to New York ... and back again. This is the remarkable story of Darcus Beese: legendary music-industry executive, OBE and a man Music Week described as 'one of the great A&R people of his or any generation'.It is the story of how a teenage Londoner (and apprentice hairdresser) worked his way up from the postroom to head up one of the UK's biggest and most successful record labels, Island Records, signing and nurturing some of the greatest artists of the twenty-first century - most notably Amy Winehouse. And it is the story of how Darcus went to New York to run Island USA, but became despondent at what he saw and encountered. Alongside Darcus's career successes, Rebel with a Cause is also the story of a young man raised in musically fertile and politically febrile times. Activist parents Darcus Howe and Barbara Beese were prominent Black Panthers in west London during a time when racism was rife, not only on the streets, in schools and on the terraces, but also in the highest institutions of power. Fighting for equality - for himself and for his artists - has therefore been inevitable for Darcus. This is the incredible tale of a true rebel and leader.