Giorgio Gomelsky

Giorgio Sergio Alessando Gomelsky (28 February 1934 – 13 January 2016) was a film maker, impresario, music manager, songwriter (as Oscar Rasputin) and record producer. He was born in Georgia, grew up in Switzerland, and later lived in the United Kingdom and the United States. He owned the Crawdaddy Club in London where The Rolling Stones were the house band, and he was involved with their early management. He hired The Yardbirds as a replacement and managed them. He was also their producer from the beginning through 1966. In 1967, he started Marmalade Records (distributed by Polydor), which featured "Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity", The Blossom Toes, and early recordings by Graham Gouldman and Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who became 10cc. The label closed in 1969. Gomelsky was also instrumental in the careers of The Soft Machine, Daevid Allen and Gong, Magma and Material.