JERRY WISE

Rip It Up, Issue 199, 1 March 1994, Page 6

JERRY WISE

The Managing Director of Festival Records NZ, Jerry Wise died suddenly February 14. Wise (58) had headed Festival NZ since 1981 and had been the company's accountant since 1976. Wise is fondly remembered by music people for his enthusiastic, generous, support of NZ recording artists and his kind hospitality to all. "We called him 'Uncle Jerry' because he was very accessible," says singer Moana Maniapoto Jackson, "an honest and sincere man who really appreciated and respected local music in an industry where the dollar usually rules." Michael Gudinski, head of Mushroom Records describes Jerry Wise as, "a gentle giant — a great loss to music in New Zealand." In the late 1980 s Jerry Wise had to rebuild Festival after the loss of licences to distribute foreign indie labels Chrysalis, Island and A&M — when all were purchased by Majors. Wise chose to expand Festival Records' NZ roster. Roger Shepherd of Flying Nun says, "Jerry made an immense contribution to New Zealand music in that he was incredibly supportive of NZindie labels. Itwasmorethan a businessthingfor him. He recognised the international potential even though the returns were limited in the NZ market."

Festival distributes indie labels such as Flying Nun, Mushroom, Wildside, Deepgrooves, Southside, Propeller and Jayrem. "There were times in the early 80s when Propel ler Records and myself personally," says Simon Grigg, "would have gone under without the personal intervention of Jerry, far beyond the call of duty. I really don't think many people in this industry realise just how much the existence of a local industry was due to Jerry." Sony Managing Director Michael Glading says: "Having worked with Jerry for 15 years I will really miss his warmth and sincerity, and above all his dry sense of humour. Although we worked in competition, I could never think of Jerry as anything other than a friend."

Prior to joining Festival in New Zealand, Wise worked in England in the accounting field specialising in music industry clients. M.C.