CM Murphy
| Chris Murphy | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Christopher Mark Murphy 9 November 1954 Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation | Band manager, entrepreneur |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Website | murphymediaacademy |
Christopher Mark "CM" Murphy (born 9 November 1954) is a music and multimedia entrepreneur. He was the band manager for INXS (late 1979 to June 1995, December 2008 to November 2012) and Models (from late 1984 to mid-1987).
Christopher Mark Murphy was born on 9 November 1954 and grew up in Darlinghurst. His father, Mark Murphy, ran a theatrical booking agency, Mark Murphy & Associates, in Wollongong since 1960. A year after Mark died in 1969, Murphy, at the age of 16, joined his mother in running the agency but shifted its focus to rock music acts. Initially called Solo Management Agency, it became part of Murphy Media Academy (MMA) which eventually had offices in Australia and internationally.
Murphy continued as a booking agent until late in 1979 when he met with Gary Morris then-manager of Australian rock groups Midnight Oil and INXS. Morris wanted to focus on Midnight Oil and asked Murphy to look after INXS, Murphy recalled:
The night Morris offered them to me, I told him I'd take them midway through their third song. I stood there thinking, "This is pretty funky'. This kid up front is pretty weird. This band plays really, really well ... What Morris didn't realise was that I only intended to take them on as their booking agent. I didn't want to be their manager.
Nevertheless, by 1980 Murphy had "dissolved his rock agency and became manager of the band". He subsequently hired Gary Grant as the group's touring manager and by 1982 Grant was his business partner at MMA Management. In July that year Murphy had brokered a deal with Atco Records for INXS after "[he] had made numerous overseas trips setting up contacts". Grant declared that the "direct signing to a US label was one of the crucial elements in INXS's success". In 1983 MMA set up an office in New York and during the next three years either Murphy or Grant spent "10, 11 months of each year there".
In late 1984 Melbourne-based alternative rock group, Models, were considering breaking up, their label Mushroom Records tempted them with an offer of recording with US producer Reggie Lucas. INXS encouraged Murphy to sign the group to MMA: under his influence Models pursued a more commercial sound to a radio-friendly format. Models relocated to Sydney and long term member, Andrew Duffield, was forced out of the group by Murphy under "controversial circumstances".
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