The Power 1000 - London's most influential people 2013: Music makers, Rock & pop

From septuagenarian rockers to boy bands, London is a hotbed of musical talent — with all-conquering global appeal. Whether it’s Doctor Who at the Proms or dubstep on YouTube, the capital is always pushing boundaries
19 September 2013

Sir Mick Jagger
Keith Richards
Musicians
The Rolling Stones marked their 50th year as a band with landmark gigs, including their first appearance at Glastonbury and a return to Hyde Park to relive their famous 1969 show. Sniff about their wrinkles all you like — Sir Mick just turned 70 and Keef hits that landmark later in the year — but that glorious sound doesn’t age. It’s only rock’n’roll but London likes it.

David Joseph
Universal Music UK, chairman and chief executive
The UK boss of the world’s biggest record company has been overseeing its takeover of the EMI label, including the launch of revitalised Capitol and Virgin EMI imprints. They sold off the Parlophone label that houses acts including Coldplay and Pink Floyd but have secured the services of newer successes including Emeli Sandé and Laura Marling.

Tom Odell
Musician
Picked a year ago in The 1,000 as one of Generation Next, this Chichester pianist was named winner of the BRITS Critics’ Choice Award at the start of this year — a high profile prize that marked him out as the industry’s tip for success after past winners Emeli Sandé, Adele and Florence + the Machine. His debut album went to No 1 in the summer.

Nick Gatfield
Sony Music, UK chairman and chief executive
Having coasted for a while on the success of its releases with Simon Cowell’s X Factor stable, in 2013 Sony put out several of the most talked-about, successful and credible albums of the year — long-awaited returns from David Bowie, Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake.

Christian Tattersfield
Warner Music, UK chief executive
The boss at Warner since 2009, Tattersfield is now additionally in charge of Parlophone Records and its stars Coldplay and Blur after the EMI sell-off. He’s also been named the new chairman of the Brits committee, so will bring changes to UK music’s biggest back-patting ceremony in 2014.

Rich Riley
Shazam, chief executive
NEW ENTRY
Though Shazam’s head office is in London, Riley, recently appointed from Yahoo!, is based in New York — an indication of the Hammersmith company’s increasing global reach. With 70 million monthly active users, its app for identifying songs while they play leads to purchases about 10 per cent of the time. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has invested £25 million.

Dan Howell
Phil Lester

Radio 1 presenters
NEW ENTRY
★ Twitter stars ★
Better known to millions on the internet as YouTube stars danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil, since January the two friends have brought their skill for amusing home videos to Radio 1’s Sunday evening request show. It’s best experienced online, where the songs are accompanied by all manner of silly fuzzy footage. Between them, Howell and Lester have a million Twitter followers.

Rizzle Kicks
Musicians
NEW ENTRY
Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule are Brit School graduates like Jessie J and Adele and these likeable Brighton lads have become summer favourites with their bouncy, trumpet-heavy rap pop. Having made a platinum success of their debut album in 2011, this autumn’s follow-up should cement their place as British pop favourites.

Jay Marciano
AEG, chief operating officer
The CEO of the concert promoter’s Europe arm has now relocated to Los Angeles with a new job title but still takes responsibility for London’s O2 Arena. It was named the world’s most popular music venue yet again this year after selling about two million tickets in 2012. AEG also promoted the shows at the revamped Hyde Park venue this summer.

Laura Mvula
Musician
NEW ENTRY
Mvula has stood out this year, and not just for her striking shaved hair style. Classically trained at the Birmingham Conservatoire, the layered voices and unorthodox structures she brings to soul music put her in a class of one. The critics are convinced and the public is gradually following suit.

Naughty Boy
Musician, producer
NEW ENTRY
Shahid Khan, the producer and co-writer of Emeli Sandé’s five times-platinum Our Version of Events, stepped into the spotlight this year with his own solo album. Its guest list, including Ed Sheeran, Tinie Tempah and Professor Green, shows his central position in the urban pop world.

Paul Latham
Live Nation, UK president
Since starting out in 1984 as assistant theatre manager at the Apollo Theatre Oxford, Latham now works for the event-promoting giant on festivals including this summer’s move of Hard Rock Calling and Wireless to the Olympic Park.

Richard Russell
XL Recordings, director
After Adele’s phenomenal success on his independent label, once best known as the home of the Prodigy, Russell can afford to indulge himself. Vampire Weekend’s recent album is his latest international success, while he’s been producing Bobby Womack and an upcoming solo album from Damon Albarn.

Tinie Tempah
Rapper
Patrick Okogwu leapfrogged the Britrap crowd in 2010 thanks to his brilliant debut single Pass Out. Now he’s on the comeback trail with a second album out in September and one eye on US success. Spot him everywhere from his native Plumstead to the Cannes Lions advertising festival.

Professor Green
Rapper
NEW ENTRY
Poised to release his third album this autumn, Hackney rapper Stephen Manderson has risen above a troubled childhood and simplistic Eminem comparisons to become a major player in the urban pop scene, collaborating with the likes of Lily Allen, Example and Emeli Sandé.

Luke Hood
UKF, founder
NEW ENTRY
A YouTube channel for drum and bass and dubstep music, UKF’s videos have been watched more than a billion times, and it has now expanded into a huge concert operation selling out venues including Brixton Academy and Alexandra Palace. An approving nod from Hood is a golden ticket for a new dance act.

Mumford & Sons
Musicians
This year the biggest successes of London’s new-folk scene reaped the rewards of two hit albums on the live circuit. They headlined Glastonbury and the Olympic Park and brought their own Gentlemen of the Road mini-festival off the beaten track to Lewes. Waistcoat sales are through the roof.

Emeli Sandé
Singer-songwriter
Sandé’s debut album spent 46 weeks in our top 10 and was the UK’s biggest seller of 2012. Since its release she’s been racking up guest appearances with Rudimental, Labrinth and Naughty Boy. Her potential in the US is huge.

Dan Smith
Musician
Smith’s project is Bastille, a band by name but with the dominance of keyboards and multilayered vocals, not to mention the big tunes, he’s pure pop. That’s reflected in the sales figures of a No 1 debut album, Bad Blood, and a major hit single called Pompeii.

Laura Marling
Musician
Marling has moved quickly, releasing four hugely acclaimed albums in five years, and shifted from sparser acoustic beginnings to a richer full band sound. Like Joni Mitchell before her, every new female singer with an acoustic guitar is going to be compared to her.

Rita Ora
Singer
★ Twitter star ★
Known for her celebrity connections as much as her party pop, Ora is signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label and had three No 1 singles in 2012. Now she’s building up to a second album to continue her startling initial success.

Katy B
Singer
NEW ENTRY
At just 24 Katy Brien is a veteran of the London dance scene, rising from the Brit School to move with the crew surrounding former pirate radio station Rinse FM. That gave her credibility, but her pop nous gave her success. A second album this autumn should secure her status.

Savages
Musicians
NEW ENTRY
Guitar music continues to lack a new world-conquering band, but this all-girl post-punk quartet — Jehnny Beth, Gemma Thompson, Ayse Hassan and Fay Milton — are earning critical adoration for their uncompromising style. Don’t bet against them for serious attention from this year’s Mercury panel.

AlunaGeorge
Musicians
They lost out to Tom Odell in the Brits Critics’ Choice Award, but singer Aluna Francis and producer George Reid have made a success of their minimal, feline electropop. Francis’s guest vocal on Disclosure’s White Noise was her first real hit. A summer debut album should take her duo to similar heights.

Jessie J
Singer
★ Twitter star ★
Jessie Cornish left the BBC talent show The Voice this year, which had probably done all it could for her profile. After a remarkable six top 10 singles from her debut album, the follow-up this year will be expected to make her a worldwide star.

Muse
Musicians
After last year’s official Olympics song, this summer the Devon rock trio were back in the stadiums under their own steam, playing their most bonkers tour yet. Singer Matt Bellamy keeps insisting they’ll tone things down soon — that would be a grave loss to confetti cannon manufacturers.

Rudimental
Musicians
NEW ENTRY
This quartet, Piers Agget, Kesi Dryden, Amir Amor and DJ Locksmith, had a huge summer smash last year with Feel the Love and the Hackney dance collective have proved they aren’t a flash in the pan with another No 1 single and debut album. Their melting pot mix of house, garage and soulful vocals is the sound of London today.

Arctic Monkeys
Musicians
Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Malley and Matt Helders were hyped in the mid-Noughties as the new Oasis. The Sheffield band have avoided the trap of repeating themselves and appeared brimming with confidence as they made their second Glastonbury headline appearance this summer. Their fifth album, out this autumn, will surely be their fifth No 1.

Ben Howard
Musician
Devon-based surf dude Howard has been the quiet man of British music, going platinum with his debut album without anyone really noticing until he became the big winner at this year’s Brits. A calming antidote to the hard partying dance that dominates the charts.

Ben Cooper
Radio 1, controller
Understated boss of the nation’s most important radio station for young listeners, but under pressure to reduce the age of the average listener from 32 years old. Says radio can be a good visual medium on the web and on mobile and is ditching older names such as Chris Moyles and Tim Westwood in favour of younger voices such as Nick Grimshaw and Gemma Cairney.

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