Deke Arlon

Deke Arlon (born Anthony Howard Wilson) is a British music publisher and music manager whose clients included Kenny Young, Sheena Easton, Ron Grainer, Elaine Paige, Dennis Waterman, Helen Watson, and Marti Pellow.

Arlon began his own band Deke Arlon and the Tremors in 1959 where the band established itself in the south coast England rock scene. In 1964, Deke Arlon and his then group The Offbeats recorded a session with 1960s pop producer Joe Meek. This resulted in one single, "I'm Just A Boy/Can't Make Up Mind" released on Columbia. He went on to record another single for HMV in 1964, and three more singles for Columbia during 1965 and 1966, all solo recordings. Arlon eventually went on to do theatre and television shows, such as Dad You're a Square, Thank Your Lucky Stars and Crossroads where he met his future wife, Jill. It was the prospect of securing a mortgage, with its demand of a 'proper' job with proof of a regular income that forced Arlon into what was to have been a temporary career move from performing to music publishing.

At Chappell Music he worked on newly discovered trunk songs by Gershwin and the scores to theatrical successes like Fiddler on the Roof, Sweet Charity, Cabaret, and Canterbury Tales.

Arlon was sought out by CBS and at age 23 was made managing director and senior vice-president of the newly formed April/Blackwood Music. It was 1968 and in the following years the company were involved with Gilbert O'Sullivan, James Taylor, Nicky Chinn (of ChinnyChap), Chip Taylor, Al Gorgoni, Billy Vera, and bands Blood Sweat and Tears, and Chicago. The company acquired major copyrights of "Everybody's Talking" (Midnight Cowboy), "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix, and "Think" by Aretha Franklin. Film score credits included Scrooge and the award winning Z written by the imprisoned Greek composer Theodorakis.

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