Dave Robinson

Early life Robinson was born in Drumcondra, Dublin. From there he had jobs in London. He started with Rave magazine, where he was a photographer. He took photographs of The Beatles in The Cavern Club in Liverpool and then went on to photograph The Rolling Stones as the official photographer for their first tour of Ireland in 1965.

Robinson went on to manage Irish band Eire Apparent on a tour bill that included The Nice, The Move, Pink Floyd, Amen Corner and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He went on to become a tour manager for Jimi Hendrix from his first tour of the UK until just before his death. The Young Rascals and Vanilla Fudge. He also then went on to manage Van Morrison, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello, amongst others. and he created a network of 35 pubs in London where bands could play what they liked.

Stiff Records and beyond Robinson co-founded Stiff Records in August 1976 with his business partner Jake Riviera, with a £400 loan from the Dr. Feelgood lead singer Lee Brilleaux. and started signing up The Damned, Motörhead, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Tracey Ullman, The Plasmatics, Jona Lewie, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Kirsty MacColl, The Box Tops, The Adverts, Lene Lovich, The Pogues, and Madness, amongst others. Later Robinson admitted that the merger was a mistake. He said "Island was in a bad financial state and I spent too much time worrying about his label and not enough about my own. I had a big hand in the success of Legend, the Bob Marley compilation; U2 went multi-platinum; and I had a lot to do with the marketing of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. (Chris) Blackwell (the founder of Island Records) kind of double-crossed me after I'd essentially saved his arse".

By 2004, Robinson had established Shell Records to be able to release Best Laid Plans by Sandra McCracken. He was a director of the label for just 6 days, from 7 May 2004 until 12 May 2004.

In 2025, Robinson undertook two tours of Ukraine with the Carlisle band Hardwicke Circus, despite the ongoing Russian invasion.

Discography Record producer Selected albums: Brinsley Schwarz – Brinsley Schwarz (1970) Brinsley Schwarz – Despite It All (1970) Brinsley Schwarz – Silver Pistol (1972) Brinsley Schwarz – Nervous on the Road (1972) Frankie Miller – Once in a Blue Moon (1973) Martin Belmont – The Guest List (2009)

Filmography

Music video director

Feature film director Take It or Leave It, documentary/drama film about London ska-pop group Madness