Chris Morrison
CMO Management and Chris Morrison have been in the music management business for over thirty years. The company continues to adapt to the ever-changing industry over time but the core strengths and ethos remain the same. CMO is first and foremost an Artist led management company putting our passion, belief and business acumen behind the strength of the artist.
In 2001 Chris was awarded The Lifetime Achievement Award (Peter Grant Award) at the annual MMF Awards and inducted into the MMF British Music Roll of Honour.
Chris Morrison signed his first artist – Thin Lizzy for management in 1972. He managed Thin Lizzy for the duration of their career during which time they released fourteen albums, many compilation albums and sold in excess of fifteen million records. CMO continued to manage Phil Lynott as a solo artist until his untimely death in 1986 and until recently CMO managed the Thin Lizzy catalogue.
Since the beginning CMO have always had major artistic and commercial success in each decade representing the best in cutting edge music at that time whether with Thin Lizzy and John Cale in the 1970’s or with Ultravox and Visage at the vanguard of the new wave/new romantic Dead or Alive, The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Beloved. Through the 1990’2 it has been Blur, Elastica, Gorillaz, Morcheeba and Turin Brakes. We have had gold and platinum success in the States with Thin Lizzy, Dead or Alive, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Elastica, Blur and Gorillaz.
Chris became a founding Band Aid Trustee in 1084 together with Midge Ure, Harvey Goldsmith, John Kennedy, Bob Geldof and Michael Grade. His work as a Trustee continues to this day and Chris and CMO co-ordinated the Band Aid 20 single in 2004, which sold over 1.1 million, copies in the UK.
Blur have been managed by CMO since he 1990’s over which time they have sold in excess of sixteen million records (one and a half million of which were in the States) and including the celebrated ‘Parklife’ album for which Blur were awarded an unsurpassed record of four Brit Awards. 2003 saw the released of Blur’s seventh album ‘Think Tank’ – their first as a three piece.
Gorillaz – the anarchic cartoon band created as a joint venture between much respected Tank Girl creator – Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn of Blur are also represented by CMO. The debut album was released to critical and commercial acclaim in 2001 and has subsequently gone on to sell over five million copies one and a half million in the States). A follow up album was released in May 2005 and live shows in Manchester (2005) and New York (2006) have followed.
Morcheeba have been managed by CMO through ‘Big Calm’ in 1998 to ‘Fragments of Freedom’, ‘Charango’ and the best of ‘Parts of The Process’ in 2003 taking hem ‘out of he lounge and into the arena’ having now sold in excess of five million records worldwide. Morcheeba now continue as Paul and Ross Godfrey whilst Skye is launching her own solo career. CMO manage both Morcheeba and Skye. Skye has completed a European tour, along with Summer festivals and a few dates in Russia. Her debut album ‘Mind How You Go’ was released in a number of worldwide territories in February 2006. The UK and US releases for the album are scheduled for August 2006.
Turin Brakes – Brit and Mercury nominees have been with CMO since 2002 and have sold half a million records worldwide. Their LP was released in May 2005.
Graham Coxon left Blur to follow his solo career and continues to be managed by CMO. To date Graham has released five solo albums – most recently the highly acclaimed ‘Love Travels At Illegal Speeds’ album. Graham received the award for Best Solo Artist at the 2005 NME Awards.
Other bands on CMO’s current roster also include Siobhan Donaghy, Matty Benbrook and Pauline Taylor.