History of The TCB Group
Set up In January 2005, following a very successful 26 year career with the Zomba Group, where he was a founding Director, Steven Howard set up The TCB Group, an artist management and entertainment company. The company specializes in offering a very personal hands-on approach to artist management, as well as being at the forefront of creating and developing content for it’s artists as well as other artists.
Artist's represented include, British icons Lulu and Darcey Bussell. Other artists who have benefited from a relationship with TCB include rock legend Bryan Ferry and his group Roxy Music, British singer-songwriter Gabrielle, multi-million selling pop group Steps and street dance group Diversity, after they won 2009’s Britain’s Got Talent. Also represented from BGT were father and son novelty act, Stavros Flatley. Classical music artists represented include leading soprano Natasha Marsh, the twice platinum female quartet All Angels, Classical BRIT winners Blake and Welsh brothers Richard & Adam
Early shows produced by the TCB Group included the highly successful touring musical starring Katherine Jenkins and DarceyBussell, called “Viva La Diva”and the two sold-out tours of “Here Come The Girls” starring Lulu, Anastacia, Chaka Khan and Heather Small.
As well as guiding the above artists with their careers, on both creative and business matters, the TCB Group worked with some of them with the book publishing trade creating, promoting and marketing titles such Darcey Bussell’s multi best-selling series “Magic Ballerina” (published in over 40 countries), Lulu’s “Secrets of Looking Good”, and the ever-popular Stavros Flatley’s “It’s All Greek To Me”.
As well as creating and producing touring live shows, the TCB Group worked on creating one off events around the world for numerous high-profile luxury brands including Audi, Mont Blanc, Debenham, Mandarin Oriental,Coutts, The Mail On Sunday and fashion brands Burberry, Armani, Mulberry, Hermes and Marks & Spencer
Other content created either through consultancy arrangements and directly on behalf of it’s clients were numerous cover mount CD and DVD campaigns for The Mail On Sunday (Darcey Bussell’s Pilates For Life, The Greatest Hits Of Roxy Music, a Christmas Choir compilation, all being distributed to over 10 million homes. In 2005, the company was also instrumental in creating a corporate social responsibility and fund-raising campaign for the Malmaison hotel group. It was a music-focused campaign for “Bottletop”, a UK charity supporting sexual health education initiatives. The campaign compromised of a series of CDs and music related accessories, such as limited edition hand-crafted bottletop radios.
Other fund-raising initiatives instigated and created by Steven Howard resulting in raising over £1million for children’s charities were the hugely successful celebrity-endorsed auctions: “Put Yourself In My Shoes”, “Hits Under The Hammer”, “Designs of The Times” and “Lots Of Ink!” All of these utilised the company’s celebrity contacts. Details of these events are below.
Sister company TCB Music Publishing, continued to expand with successful hit copyrights written by contemporary pop songwriters. These songs featured on the pop charts, as well as included TV theme music used for Jamie Oliver’s cookery programmes, and music used by FIFA for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This music was licensed and performed in over 150 countries.
In 2011 The TCB Group set up a joint venture record label with EMI. The two releases were brand new recordings performed by British legendary icons Twiggy and the legendary Sir Bruce Forsyth.
In more recent times, the company has conceived and produced some of the most successful "song & dance" touring shows. Details of these can be found elsewhere on this site.
Around The World with The TCB Group
• Arranged for Bryan Ferry to work with The Scissor Sisters in New York
• Winning the Classical Brit award Album Of The Year with classical boy band Blake at London’s Royal Albert Hall
• Arranged for Diversity to perform outside 10 Downing Street to become the first artists to actually perform on Downing Street
• Attended Michael Jackson funeral in Los Angeles with singer Shaheen to perform in front of a global TV audience of billions
• Instrumental in Roxy Music reforming and headlining at Live 8 in Berlin and headlining the Isle of Wight Festival
• Produced the first ballet performances at the O2 Arena in London starring Darcey Bussell in 'Viva La Diva'
• Produced an iconic album for the even more iconic Sir Bruce Forsyth in London which included a duet with the legendary Nat "King" Cole
• Stood on the roof of The Olympic Stadium in London with Darcey Bussell in preparation for her appearance at the Closing Ceremony of 2012 Olympics
• Conceived and Produced a show to transfer to London’s West End
Charity Events Created by The TCB Group
Norwood Dinner Reimagined 2020:
Aljaž & Janette. It also featured contributions and appeals from Dame Darcey Bussell, Katie Piper, Natasha Kaplinsky and Judge” Rob Rinder, along with viewers being shown first-hand the impact of Norwood’s work on three families. It was watched by over 10,000 people
The TCB Group was instrumental in helping Norwood, the charity that supports children and adults with learning difficulties help raise a record breaking £2.8million with its fund-raising initiative during the lockdown period of 2020. It surpassed the amount Norwood has ever raised before in a single night.
They helped conceive and produce a one-hour fund-raising film featuring a glittering celebrity line up to appear at their virtual Annual Fund-Raising Dinner.
It was hosted by Jonathan Ross and starred specially filmed contributions from Lewis Capaldi, Craig David, Lulu, Michael McIntyre and Strictly Come Dancing's
Hits Under The Hammer:
Put Yourself In My Shoes:
This was an auction of incredible celebrity experiences. Enjoying the patronage of The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Sir Alex Ferguson, Tom Jones, and Sir Richard Branson. Sporting items auctioned included, the chance to be Chairman of Chelsea for the Day, be an England mascot, enjoy training with the England National squad, train with the Arsenal first team, and enjoy lunch with their manager Arsen Wenger. Music items were to bid for a private guitar lesson wth Mark Knoplfler, make a record with Craig David, fly to Las Vegas with Tom Jones, be a judge on the X Factor, and be a guitar roadie for Status Quo. Other lots included a training session with the Olympic double champion James Cracknell, cook and eat lunch with Giorgio Locatelli , and go behind the scenes at OK! Magazine. The star lot was a limited edition BMW car, signed by Nelson Mandela.
This was an auction of over 100 signed music lyrics, manuscripts and autographed memorabilia, which were donated by major artists within the music industry. Artists who contributed included The Eurythmics, The Prodigy, The Rolling Stones, R.E.M, U2, and Oasis. Some of the lyrics sold were from such standards as “Three Lions”, “Love Is All Around” “I’m Not In Love”, “You Sexy Thing”, “MacArthur Park”, “Come Up And See Me (Make me Smile)” and “Baker Street”. The event was endorsed by some of the world’s biggest stars including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Madonna, The Bee Gees, George Michael, Sting, Bryan Adams, Queen and Eric Clapton.
Designs Of The Times:
This was a hugely successful auction of designs, sketches and clothing items that hit the headlines, form the world’s of fashion, sport, film and music. Auction lots included signed sketches by some of the world’s leading fashion designers, including Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Donatella Versace, Elizabeth Emanuel, Gieves & Hawkes, Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo, John Galliano, julien MacDonald, Manolo Blahnik, Maria Grachvogel and Valentino Garavani. These designs, were also signed by the celebrities associated with them, including Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, Dido, Geri Halliwell, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Kate Winslett, Kylie Minogue, Mick Jagger, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sir Paul MacCartney, and Victoria & David Beckham. Film costume, set and prop designers also contributed sketches from James Bond, Star Wars and The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” ,of their most iconic designs, as well as an original sketch of the FIFA World Cup. The event had sponsorship from Audi cars, Ty Europe and Fox Kids.
Lots Of Ink!
This was an auction of Animation and Illustrative Art. Animators and artists were asked to sign and donate an original piece of one of their most famous creations. These included Mickey Mouse, Matt Groening’s Bart Simpson, sketches from The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”, Rupert the Bear, Noddy. Woody Woodpecker, Garfield, Batman, Nick Park’s Wallace & Gromit. Other original sketches came from Disney classics such as, the 1939 Bambi movie plus sketches of The Jungle Book and Jiminy Cricket. The event had the support of celebrities such as Tom Hanks, The Sarah, Duchess Of York, Paul Burrell, Roy E. Disney, and Phil Collins.