RALPH CARR MANAGEMENT

PAST PRESENT FUTURE

RALPH CARR Management (RCM) has been involved in the careers of many of Australia’s most successful entertainers, celebrities and sporting personalities.

Melbourne businessman Carr is known for his no-nonsense approach, and his skills have honed the careers of Australia’s most celebrated entertainers, including: Tina Arena, Vanessa Amorosi, Richard Wilkins, Kate Ceberano, Mark Vincent, Cosentino, Jon Stevens, Bonnie Anderson, Rick Price, Pseudo Echo and Deborah Conway, to name a few.

In recent years, Carr has branched out into sports management. Through his company RCM Sport, he utilises his experience to guide the careers of elite AFL players, including number one player Dustin Martin.

Carr is also involved in promoting national stadium tours through RCM Events. 

A long history of success

In an industry that is notoriously transient, Carr has maintained professional success for more than 25 years. Along the way, he has received a range of accolades acknowledging his role in shaping the Australian entertainment landscape. Carr’s influence in launching the career of former Young Talent Time’s Tina Arena helped to make her Australia’s biggest selling female artist, going on to sell more than five million albums, and achieve exceptional international success.

In 1993, Carr was presented with an award from the Minister for Trade, Peter Cook, on behalf of Export Music Australia in recognition of his international business success and its effect on the Australian music industry. In 2013, Carr was made an Australia Day Ambassador by then Premier Ted Baillieu for his contribution to the Australian entertainment industry.

Celebrated with awards

RCM’s artists have reached the highest heights in Australian music, winning numerous ARIA awards, including: Best Australian Adult Contemporary Record [1994], Best Australian Single [1995], Song of the Year [1996], Best Australian Pop Release [1996], Highest Selling Australian Album [1998], Highest Selling Australian Single [2000], Best Independent Re-lease [2000], and 11 number one ARIAs for albums and singles.

In mid-2008, three RCM clients held a position in the Australian national Top 10 album charts in the same week; a feat never before achieved by an Australian management company.

In 2009, Carr orchestrated Vanessa Amorosi’s return to the Australian market, choosing songwriters and producers from all over the world to craft a brilliant album. The first single “This Is Who I Am” debuted at number one on the national charts and stayed there for two weeks; an achievement by an Australian artist not seen for many years.

Carr’s music publishing company, Standard Music, has also been highly decorated with awards in recognition of its contribution to the music industry. It’s received awards from the National Association of Songwriters and Australian Performing Right Association (APRA), including Song of the Year for Tina Arena’s “Wasn’t It Good” and Most Performed Work for Vanessa Amorosi’s track “Shine”.

Standard Music has also had international success, particularly with US country music star Jo Dee Messina’s recording of “Burn”, which reached number three in the US Billboard Country Charts and won an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Country Music Award for its success in the United States. 

Building high-profile careers

In 2011, RCM took on magician, escape artist and illusionist Cosentino, crafting his career from local performance halls to the national and international stage. Cosentino went on to make four television specials, with a combined audience of more than five million people. In Australia, there were two national sell-out tours, and the TV specials were licensed to networks overseas, reaching hundreds of millions of viewers in Asia, Europe, Central and South America.

Carr began managing Kate Ceberano in 2003, working closely with her to re-engage with her Australian audience after living overseas for a number of years. In her autobiography “I’m Talking”, Kate said: “...choosing Carr proved to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made”. Together, Carr and Ceberano have made six albums, staged countless tours, live shows and events. In 2014, Kate was inducted into the Australian Songwriters Hall Of fame – the only woman to achieve this honour. In 2016, Ceberano was awarded an Order Of Australia for her charitable work and service to the music industry. She remains one of Australia’s most in-demand performers.

Richard Wilkins is the Head Of Entertainment at the Nine Network and is Australia’s number one entertainment reporter, appearing nationally on the Today Show and Today Extra. Over the past seven years, RCM has negotiated a number of corporate deals, endorsements and ambassadorships on behalf of Wilkins, including Ticketek and AEG Ogden Arena’s. Carr orchestrated his move into radio broadcasting, convincing Smooth FM to have Wilkin’s host weekend shows that are regularly the number one rating shows in Melbourne and Sydney. In 2014, Wilkins was awarded an Order of Australia for his services to the media and his charitable work.

Another stellar career shaped by Carr is Mark Vincent, Australia’s most successful and highest-charting classical tenors, having sold more than 500,000 albums whilst still only 23 years old. Vincent’s recent album, “A Tribute to Mario Lanza”, was a top five ARIA album on its first week of release, an incredible feat for a classical album, and has toured Europe with global star Katherine Jenkins.

RCM’s behind the best of the best

Encompassing the same level of service that his entertainment clients have grown to expect, RCM Sport provides its sporting clients with endorsement and appearance sourcing, personal support and financial planning services. Carr approaches sport management with the same vigour and intensity he brings to entertainment management. RCM Sport’s current client list includes prestigious players Dustin Martin (Richmond Football Club), Mabior Chol (Richmond FC), Daniel Rioli (Richmond FC), Shai Bolton (Richmond FC), and previously managed Travis Cloke (Collingwood FC).

In 2017, Carr had an amazing year with Dustin Martin. Carr began working with Martin in 2011, and they worked closely on and off the field to maximise every opportunity for Martin. Carr negotiated and completed the football club contract extension for Martin to remain with Richmond Football Club. The deal was one of the largest amounts paid to a player in AFL history. The hard work ultimately paid off in 2017, when Martin won every major AFL award, including: The Brownlow Medal, The AFL Players Association Most Valuable Player, AFL Coaches Player of the Year, Richmond Football Club Best and Fairest and being selected again in the All Australian line-up. Martin capped off the season with his team winning the premiership and Martin winning the Norm Smith Medal for best player in the premiership game. It is the first time in the history of the AFL that a player has won the Brownlow Medal, the Norm Smith Medal and the premiership in the one year - another history-making success story for RCM.

With notable activity surrounding Martin, Carr has been very careful to maintain a high degree of integrity in Martin’s image and value. It has been Carr’s intention from day one to create a valuable brand with carefully selected corporate allegiances. In the past two years, Carr has engaged with a select few brands, such as Bonds, Jeep, Voost and Kennedy Luxury Group. Martin is also the highest-selling AFL footballer in sports memorabilia in history. Carr has maintained great scrutiny over the media exposure for Martin, maintaining an almost mysterious image to the public. 

The biggest names on the biggest stages

Recently, RCM Events arrived in Australia with a bang. The event division of RCM was set up for its first tour in conjunction with Elvis Presley Enterprises and Graceland, “Elvis The Wonder Of You - Live On Screen”, which sold a staggering 50,000 tickets nationally. Due to the success of this tour, RCM Touring brought Priscilla Presley to Australia for a national tour of “Elvis and Me - An Evening with Priscilla Presley”, another successful venture.

In 2018, RCM Events experienced another outstanding tour with superstar actor Charlie Sheen. The business has more high-profile events planned for the future.

In conclusion, to quote again from Kate Ceberano’s autobiography: “[Carr] has an incredible work ethic and would take a bullet for an artist he really believes in.”

The work and story continues…

LONDON OFFICE

Ralph Carr Management also has a London office, separating it from any other management company in Australia. Ralph brought in Richard Beck to head up the international offices for his background & experience in creating vast media interest around record releases. Richard has worked with major names such as Shania Twain, Bruce Springsteen, Janet Jackson, INXS, Guns N' Roses, REM, Oasis, Bon Jovi, Metallica, U2, Crowded House and Simply Red.

Richard put in place and executed the worldwide marketing and publicity campaign for Shania Twain's album 'Come On Over' which broke all the rules of music promotion. The album went straight to the top of the charts all over the World, selling more than 40 million copies along the way, making it the 5th biggest selling album of all time and the biggest selling album ever by a female artist.

Ralph has been involved in the careers of Australia’s most successful artists including Tina Arena, Vanessa Amorosi, Richard Wilkins, Kate Ceberano, Mark Vincent, Dean Ray, Cosentino, Paris Wells, Jon Stevens, Sally Cooper, Bonnie Anderson, Rick Price, Pseudo Echo and Deborah Conway.