A&R legend Ronnie Gurr joins NAKED Record Club

By Simon Parker, 10 June 2026

Rachel & I are absolutely thrilled that Scottish music industry legend Ronnie Gurr has joined the NAKED team. Ronnie's had a long and distinguished career in the music business and for proof of this you need look no further than the excellent BBC documentary about Irish band Microdisney, whom Ronnie bought to Virgin Records in the mid-eighties. He's featured prominently in the documentary and it's clear to see how much he loved the band.

Ronnie's musical adventure began with the penning of his own teen-punk fanzine Hanging Around back in the 1970's, before he moved into journalism.

Ronnie's love of music saw him move into A&R at Virgin Records in the early 1980's, where he helped sign and launch the career's of many artists including The Blue Nile, Culture Club and Simple Minds. In the 1990's he moved to Columbia Records where he enlisted the services of Kula Shaker before taking up a role at the highly-respected V2 label where he was responsible for discovering indie bands such as The Stereophonics. No wonder many refer to Ronnie as an A&R guru!

You only need to spend a few minutes with the man to work out he is fiercely proud of his Scottish music heritage. Taking on the top job at the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) and giving permission to The Scottish Music Centre who now feature his prized demo tape collection as part of their Scottish music heritage, Rachel & I are proud to be working alongside a man of such amazing taste. With guidance from Ronnie we look forward to bringing many other artists to the NAKED stable.

Personally, I could talk to the man all day about his life spent in the A&R world and I am especially excited to learn more about Scottish pop which, as some of you may recall from previous posts (and my record collection), is a particular favourite of mine!

Here's to the future.

Viva Ronnie Gurr!