Ed Bicknell end of contract with MK

[straitsway75]

But I am sure any manager would have done pretty much the same thing, but Mark had the huge talent that also enabled Dire Straits to move forward.

It's true that without the MK talent, Ed won't had made any miracle with the band, but it's also true that Ed strategies as a manager was crucial to raise the band from small pubs around the UK to tour in medium / big venues around the world. With another manager they could had go further, or could had failed, that's something we'll never know, but to be honest, Ed role has to be properly considered, and it was considered because the "Dire Straits Company" had five people from the start, MK, DK, JI, Pick and Ed. And in 1995 when DS oficially disbanded, the DS company was MK, JI and Ed.

Ed was great no doubt, the move to go to States to sign with WB was a real stroke of genius, when the album still didn't take off...

[ds1984]

This was a collective journey and success, Mark was the core diamond.

[Knut]

MK wrote the songs, played lead guitar and did the singing. That's a big part of it, but it is FAR from everything. The band members and management deserve their share of credit from the results. A band is a band, not a one man show. That includes the current lineup as well.

[hunter]

A genius product mean nothing without proper management and a great sales and marketing team.

[jbaent]

I just found in google that there is a book about Peter Grant, with lots of mentions to Ed Bicknell, and also to Paul Crockford, which is a funny story...

The book is "Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin" and I made screen captures of that part: