Obituary | She brought The Rolling Stones to Hong Kong: tributes flow for Colleen Ironside, music promoter
- Known as a tough operator in a cutthroat business, Ironside brought acts including the Rolling Stones to Hong Kong for concerts after the Sars outbreak in 2003
- She also promoted concerts in Asia by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Elton John and Metallica. ‘I don’t know an artist she didn’t work with,’ a rival says
To her friends, Colleen Ironside was generous, loyal, liked to make outrageous remarks in her inimitable rasp, and was often seen with a glass of white wine in one hand, Marlboro Light in the other.
Music lovers knew her another way: as the promoter responsible for bringing the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Elton John and dozens of other superstars to Asia, and raising the profile of the region as a place for musical acts to tour.
Ironside is reported to have died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Hua Hin, Thailand, on July 22. She was 69.
She began her career as a booking agent at the Harbour Premier Agency, before setting up the APA Booking Agency in her native Australia, where she worked with acts such as INXS.
“Colleen and I worked very closely in those early days of APA and I learned very quickly what a tough lady she was, working in a very cutthroat part of the music business,” says David Loiterton, a partner at Primary Wave Asia, a music publishing company. “She looked after her artists and they loved her for it.”
