Ed Victor | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edward Victor 9 September 1939 New York City, US |
| Died | 7 June 2017 (aged 77) London, England |
| Education | Bayside High School Dartmouth College Pembroke College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Literary agent |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
Edward "Ed" Victor CBE (9 September 1939 – 7 June 2017) was an American literary agent, based, for most of his career, in London, England.
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Music as a language - Victor Wooten
Transcription
Music is a language. Both music and verbal languages serve the same purpose. They are both forms of expression. They can be used as a way to communicate with others. They can be read or written. They can make you laugh or cry, think or question, and can speak to one or many. And both can definitely make you move. In some instances music works better than the spoken word, because it doesn't have to be understood to be effective. Although many musicians agree that music is a language, it is rarely treated as such. Many of us treat it as something that can only be learned by following a strict regimen, under the tutelage of a skilled teacher. This approach has been followed for hundreds of years with proven success, but it takes a long time. Too long. Think about the first language you learn as a child. More importantly, think about how you learned it. You were a baby when you first started speaking, and even though you spoke the language incorrectly you were allowed to make mistakes. And the more mistakes you made the more your parents smiled. Learning to speak was not something you were sent somewhere to do only a few times a week. And the majority of the people you spoke to were not beginners. They were already proficient speakers. Imagine your parents forcing you to only speak to other babies until you were good enough to speak to them. You would probably be an adult before you could carry on a proper conversation. To use a musical term, as a baby you were allowed to jam with professionals. If we approach music in the same natural way we aproached our first language we will learn to speak it in the same short time it took to speak our first language. Proof of this could be seen in almost any family where a child grows up with other musicians in the family. Here are a few keys to follow in learning or teaching music: in the beginning embrace mistakes, instead of correcting them. Like a child playing air guitar, there are no wrong notes. Allow young musicians to play and perform with accomplished musicians on a daily basis. Encourage young musicians to play more than they practice. The more they play the more they will practice on their own. Music comes from the musician, not the instrument. And most importantly, remember that a language works best when we have something interesting to say. Many music teachers never find out what the students have to say. We only tell them what they are supposed to say. A child speaks a language for years, before they even learn the alphabet. Too many rules at the onset, will actually slow them down. In my eyes, the approach to music should be the same. After all, music is a language too.
Biography
Victor was born on 9 September 1939, in Bronx, New York City. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, who ran a photographic equipment store,[1][2] he went to Bayside High School in the borough of Queens, later earning a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College. After graduating, he attended Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, on a Marshall Scholarship in 1961.[3][4]
Publishing editor
Victor married Michelene Samuels, the writer, in 1963; the couple made their home in London and had two children. Victor worked for the Oborne Press, a publishing house, then part of Lord Beaverbrook's Express Newspapers group. He then worked on coffee table books for Weidenfeld & Nicolson. After approaching George Weidenfeld in the toilet, Victor was moved to general publishing, looking after the works of Saul Bellow and Vladimir Nabokov.[3]
Ink
In 1970, his first marriage ended in divorce. In 1971, Victor co-founded the countercultural newspaper Ink[5] with Oz founders Felix Dennis and Richard Neville.[4] By 1972, conflict about what Ink should be led to its failure, and Victor returned to the United States to work for Knopf.[3]
Literary agent
Victor married his second wife, American lawyer Carol Ryan,[2] and, after a year travelling, made their main home in London to be close to Victor's children.[6] Victor was one of the first former journalist/editors to make the move to be a publishing agent, when in the 1970s literary agents were not welcomed by British publishers. However, many changed their minds when Victor's first sale in 1976[7] was for the book and film rights to Stephen Shephard's novel The Four Hundred for $1.5 million. In 2005, Victor's client John Banville won the Booker Prize. The following day Victor sold Eric Clapton's memoirs for $4 million.[3]
Rather than take "blind" scripts sent to him, Victor instead began to gain clients through personal reference. He is recalled as being "the first agent to increase his commission from 10% to 15%. Few of his clients complained and over the years other agents quietly followed him....He negotiated deals for his authors that few could match."[8] In 2003, Victor and his wife were named second on Tatler's list of the most invited guests in London, behind Elton John.[3]
In the 2016 New Year Honours he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to literature.[9] In September 2016, it was reported that David Cameron had signed with Victor to write his memoirs.[10]
He celebrated the 40th anniversary of his literary agency, Ed Victor Ltd, in November 2016.[11]
Personal life
With his second wife, Carol Ryan, Victor lived mainly in London, with a secondary home in the Hamptons on Long Island, in the United States. The couple had a son, Ryan, while Victor had sons, Adam and Ivan, from his first marriage to Michelene Wandor.[1] In 2002, Victor suffered an attack of viral pneumonia, but fully recovered.[3]
The same year, Victor published his first book, The Obvious Diet – Your Personal Way to Lose Weight Fast Without Changing Your Lifestyle, through Ebury Press and Arcade Publishing.[12][13]
Victor was vice chairman of the board of directors of the Almeida Theatre, a Trustee of the Arts Foundation[14] and of the Hay Festival,[15] as well as a founding director of the Groucho Club.[16]
Death
On 7 June 2017, while suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Victor died from a heart attack.[17][18]
Selected clients
From official website[19]
- Douglas Adams (Estate)
- John Banville
- Johanna Basford
- Candice Bergen
- Carl Bernstein
- Max Brooks
- Mel Brooks
- Tina Brown
- Alastair Campbell
- Raymond Chandler (Estate)
- Eric Clapton
- Sophie Dahl
- Joe Eszterhas
- Sir Harold Evans
- Rupert Everett
- Sir Ranulph Fiennes
- Frederick Forsyth
- James Fox
- Mark Frost
- A. A. Gill
- Charles Glass
- Julian Glover
- Annabel Goldsmith
- Geordie Greig
- Josephine Hart (Estate)
- Jack Higgins
- Will Hutton
- Dylan Jones
- Nigella Lawson
- Kathy Lette
- Natascha McElhone
- Andrew Marr
- Iris Murdoch (Estate)
- Richard Neville
- Edna O'Brien
- Ben Okri
- Roman Polanski
- Frederic Raphael
- Keith Richards
- Ruth Rogers
- Lisa St Aubin de Terán
- Gerald Scarfe
- Sir Stephen Spender (Estate)
- Pamela Stephenson
- Peter Stothard
- Pete Townshend
- Irving Wallace (Estate)
- Tim Waterstone
- Lord Lloyd Webber
- U2
References
- ^ a b Barnett, David (8 June 2017). "Ed Victor obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ a b Doherty, Rosa (8 June 2017). "'Smart, charming, brilliant' Ed Victor dies aged 78". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Merritt, Stephanie, "The Mr Big of publishing", The Observer profile, 11 March 2007.
- ^ a b Roberts, Sam, "Ed Victor, a Stylish and Frenetic Book Agent, Dies at 77", The New York Times, 12 June 2017.
- ^ "Ink" at rock'sbackpages library.
- ^ Barnett, David, "Ed Victor – an honoured literary agent", The Guardian, 31 December 2015.
- ^ Ed Victor Ltd at Writers Services.
- ^ Campbell, Charlie (11 April 2018). "'I work for Ed Victor...'". The Bookseller. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N10.
- ^ "Just fancy that". Private Eye. London: Pressdram. 30 September 2016.
- ^ Clee, Nicholas, "Obituary: Superagent Ed Victor Dies at 78", Publishers Weekly, 8 June 2017.
- ^ "Victor, Ed"[permanent dead link] at Arcade Publishing.
- ^ Whitfield, Fredricka, "Interview With Ed Victor", CNN Sunday Morning, 15 September 2002. CNN.com – Transcripts.
- ^ The International Who's Who 2004. Vol. 67. Psychology Press. 2003. p. 1741. ISBN 9781857432176.
- ^ "Final Report - Hay Festival" (PDF). www.hayfestival.com.
- ^ Dailey, Donna; John Tomedi; Harold Bloom (2005). London. Infobase Publishing. p. 184. ISBN 9781438115559.
- ^ Campbell, Lisa (8 June 2017). "Ed Victor dies". The Bookseller. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Sherwin, Adam, "Ed Victor, literary ‘super-agent’ to David Cameron and Nigella Lawson, dies", i News, 8 June 2017.
- ^ Clients Archived 2017-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, Ed Victor Ltd.
External links
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| National | |
This page was last edited on 16 October 2023, at 01:56