THE GODFATHER OF BRITISH MUSIC P.R.ALAN EDWARDS REVEALS HOW HE SHAPED THE STORIES OF A HOST OF LEGENDARY STARS

He has been at the side of world-famous celebrities such as David and Victoria Beckham, Naomi Campbell and David Bowie at pivotal moments in their lives.

- LAURA BENJAMIN

Described as the godfather of British music PR, Alan Edwards has so many stories about working with the A-list that he’s often asked to tell his favourite anecdotes.

Now the renowned raconteur has put it all into a book, I Was There: Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll, which covers his life as a public relations guru working with huge music acts including The Who, The Rolling Stones, the Spice Girls and Sir Elton John.

“I would te l l s tor ies [ to journalists] to pass the time,” he tells HELLO! in this exclusive interview. “They would say: ‘When are you doing your book?’ so I just got on with it.”

Alan, 68, who founded leading PR company The Outside Organisation, tells fascinating tales of the times he joined the Stones on tour and when he looked after the Spice Girls at the height of their fame.

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“Within a day or two of being hired, I was on a private jet to Rome, and then we were shopping in Paris,” he recalls of the girlband. “I thought: ‘This is rock and roll!’

“They were brilliant fun – I loved them. I went on tour with them to America and that was incredible; they were playing to 70,000 people a night. People were screaming and I was thinking: ‘Wow, this must have been what it was like with The Beatles.’”

He worked with David Bowie for nearly 40 years until the singer’s death in 2016, and describes accompanying him on tour to Australia in 1983 as a career highlight.

“On that tour, he was going from being the biggest cult act in the world to an absolute superstar, at the top of his game. It was really exciting to be part of that.”