Artist & Manager Awards 2017: Depeche Mode manager Jonathan Kessler to receive AwardArtist & Manager Awards 2017: Depeche Mode manager Jonathan Kessler to receive Peter Grant AwardJonathan Kessler, long-time manager of Depeche Mode, is to receive the coveted Peter Grant Award, sponsored by PPL, at the Music Managers Forum (MMF) and Featured Artist Coalition's (FAC) 6th annual Artist & Manager Awards. Sponsored by Spotify, the ceremony will take place on the evening of Tuesday November 14th at Printworks London. Jonathan has worked with Depeche Mode since 1986, initially as an accountant on the Black Celebration tour, before helping oversee the band's evolution to stadium performers with the albums Music For The Masses (1987), Violator (1990) and Songs of Faith & Devotion (1993) - the band's first UK/US number one. In 1994, and still aged under 30, Jonathan became their first and only manager. Over the last 30 years, Jonathan has also worked and consulted with other artists and managers across the industry, including Sting, Neil Young, Tracy Chapman, The Weeknd, a-ha, and Rod Stewart, leveraging his business background to help artists reach their full potential. Hugely influential on a generation of artists, Depeche Mode are a genuine global phenomenon - always pioneering, effortlessly blending creative and commercial success, and selling over 100 million albums. And their career remains in full-flight. In 2017, the band released Spirit on Sony Music, their 14th studio album, headlining the BBC 6 Music Festival in March before embarking on a 150-date world stadium and arena tour - including sold-out stadium shows in London, Germany and across all of Europe, and a record-breaking four nights at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Following the Artist & Manager Awards the band return to Europe and the UK for another four months of arena shows before continuing to stadiums in Latin America in March of 2018. The Global Spirit Tour concludes in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in March 2018. Jonathan remains an enigmatic figure, but a crucial part of the Depeche Mode story that started in Basildon with Mute Records in the early 1980s, and runs to their current status as one of the UK's most successful and innovative music exports. He is a worthy winner of the Peter Grant Award. September 21, 2017 4:51am ET by MMF |