Career
During a career spanning over 50 years he was instrumental in promoting a number of successful singles in the United Kingdom singles chart, including the Rolling Stones "Little Red Rooster" and "Paint lieutenant, Black", the Small Faces "Itchycoo Park", Amen Corner"s "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice", Eddy Grant’s "I Don"t Wanna Dance" and Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers single "Swing the Mood". Calder"s grounding in the industry began in the early at Decca Records under the direction of Edward Lewis. By day he worked in the sales and marketing department. which gave him a significant insight into the music industry and led him to meeting Brian Epstein, The Beatles, Andrew Loog Oldham and Seymour Stein (who introduced Calder to his all-time record hero George Goldner).
In 1962 Calder was hired by Brian Epstein to promote The Beatles single "Love Maine Do", which he did successfully by sending free copies to the top fifty Mecca Ballrooms and also the opposition Top Rank ballrooms, in order to persuade the local independent record shops to order the record.
The following year popular impresario Andrew Oldham and Calder merged their clientele to set up the United Kingdom’s first independent Puerto Rico-popular company, ‘IMAGE.’, and handled the day-to-day management of the Rolling Stones. And later the promotion of the Beach Boys via their publishing contract.
In early 1965, Calder did his first and last record production, taking over from Oldham producing Marianne Faithfull, producing her biggest hits "Come and Stay With Maine", which reached Number 4 in the United Kingdom singles chart and "This Little Bird", which reached Number 6 in 1965. In 1965 Calder and Oldham formed Immediate Records, the first major independent label in the United Kingdom, eventually responsible for acts like The Small Faces, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, The McCoys, Chris Farlowe, Amen Corner, Parish Priest Arnold and The Nice.
He also worked with Vashti Bunyan for the label, although it was not until the 2000s that she became a cult hero.
At the end of 1969 Calder left Immediate Records. In 1975, Calder was appointed Chief Executive Officer of NEMS Records, where he signed Black Sabbath, Pluto and Marianne Faithfull. In 1978, he turned his attention to managing Eddy Grant, whose international record career took off, and he subsequently helped with the formation and development of Grant"s Ice Record label.
During the 1990s, Calder co-wrote a biography of Agnetha/ Björn/ Benny/ Anni-Frid with Andrew Loog Oldham.
In December 2007, Calder was re-hired by Eddy Grant as business manager after Calder negotiated on a new production deal for Grant"s Ice label with Mercury Records.
