As well as Hendrix’s guitar pyrotechnics, Altham could also lay claim to another small slice of history. In 1966 Larry Page, manager of an up-and-coming band, the Troggs, was stuck for a stage name for the lead singer, a bricklayer named Reg Ball. “What about Reg Presley?” Altham suggested. Within weeks they were camped out at the top of the charts.
In 1971 he founded KA Publicity and was soon the go-to pop PR man, with Rod Stewart, T Rex, Slade, Van Morrison, Phil Collins and Sting among those on his roster. He took Jim Morrison to see another of his clients, Status Quo. “Tell them to turn down, give up and go home,” advised the Doors frontman.
One of Altham’s favourite stories concerned the occasion when Mick Jagger asked him to remove Marc Bolan from the backstage area of one of their gigs. “Get him out of here,” said the Stones singer. “He just grabbed my balls.” As Bolan was escorted out, he muttered: “I didn’t realise they were sacrosanct.”
Altham also witnessed Keith Richards repeatedly punching the impresario Robert Stigwood, who he said owed the Stones money. “Keith, why do you keep punching him?” Altham asked. “Because he keeps getting up,” the guitarist replied.
Alan Edwards, who went on to represent Paul McCartney, David Bowie and the Spice Girls, learnt his trade at the feet of the master. “To be honest, Keith was a hard taskmaster and I served an old-fashioned apprenticeship,” he recalled. “It certainly was in terms of the salary. I used to have to supplement my wages by appropriating spare Uriah Heep albums from the review cupboard and selling them. I saved on rent by sleeping on the office settee.
“As well as introducing me to Fleet Street’s movers and shakers, Keith taught me the tricks of the trade. He drummed into me the basics for an efficient PR – things like always returning calls, actually sending a record when you said you would. I make light of it, but the grounding advice that Keith gave me has been a bedrock throughout my career.”