Sandy Roberton

Alexander William "Sandy" Roberton (7 July 1942 – 25 July 2022) was a British record producer and music business owner whose 60-year career spanned record production, artist management, record label ownership, and producer management.

After a brief early career as a recording artist in the mid-1960s, Robertson moved into music publishing, running Chess Records' London offices and promoting the songs from their music publishing companies, Arc, Regent and Jewel. With record producer Mike Vernon, he helped set up the publishing for the Blue Horizon record label during the British blues boom that saw acts like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Chicken Shack and Fleetwood Mac achieve success. In 1968 he established his own record production and artist management company, September Productions, and became one of the leading lights of the folk rock era of the 1970s, managing and producing bands such as The Liverpool Scene, Steeleye Span and Plainsong. In 1977, he established his own record label, Rockburgh Records, releasing some 40 albums and singles by various artists, including four solo albums by singer Iain Matthews, formerly of Fairport Convention and Matthews Southern Comfort.

In 1980, Robertson moved into producer management, establishing his Worlds End Management company in London, which claimed to be the first of its kind to represent the interests of producers, mixers, and sound engineers. He is also credited with establishing the 'points' system, whereby his clients would receive royalties for the work they did on producing artists' records. He moved its base to Los Angeles in 1985, becoming a US citizen in 2004, and ran his business there until his death, along the way founding two more record labels in the 2000s, Beverly Martel and IAMSOUND. Over the course of four decades, Worlds End became the leading management company in its field, with over 75 producers on its books during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Roberton died in London, aged 80, on July 25, 2022, from cancer.