UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 28 JULY 2023
A former Led Zeppelin roadie has been bestowed Birmingham City University (BCU)'s highest honour.
Phil Dudderidge, who is now a major figure in the pro-audio world as Chairman of Focusrite Plc, will receive an honorary doctorate in recognition of his more than five-decade dedication to business, communities – and of course, great sound.
Dudderidge’s introduction to the music industry was as a roadie, aged 18, driving vanloads of bands to gigs in the late sixties, before embarking on a whirlwind ride across North America as Led Zeppelin's sound man.
“After a year working for an electronics company when I left school at 16, I quit my job and gravitated to London’s cultural underground movement in 1967. That’s how I got my first job as roadie. I borrowed £100 off my dad, bought a van and drove the bands around,” said Dudderidge.
“A few years later having just turned 21, I got my first job as a sound man. I knew the owner of a leading PA system manufacturer at the time, and he told me Led Zeppelin were looking for someone, so he made a phone call and set up an interview.
“Next thing I knew, I was on the road with the band heading for the US.
“I’d never done front-of-house sound before. At that time, venues didn’t have PA systems, so the bands used to bring their own. I went all over the United States and Canada with Zeppelin – we did 28 cities in 30 days.”
After a once-in-a-lifetime experience with Led Zeppelin, Dudderidge returned to the UK and started a business selling PA systems, one of which was bought by Birmingham’s own and Wizzard frontman, Roy Wood.
“One of the guys who built speakers for our PA systems knew Roy Wood, that’s how that came about. I remember I had to deliver the system to him at his gothic mansion, Gothersly Hall, just outside Birmingham,” said Dudderidge.
“That turned out to be easy – the real challenge at the time was getting paid by his manager, Don Arden, who was in America managing ELO. I therefore dealt a lot with his daughter, who turned out to be Sharon Arden, later Mrs Ozzy Osbourne.”
In 1973, along with his business partners, Dudderidge began making the world's first live sound-mixing consoles under the Soundcraft brand and in 1989 reviving Focusrite – the company he remains Chairman of today.
An industry leader that continues to make top-of-the-line music and audio products today, Dudderidge credits Focusrite and Soundcraft’s success to the people he has worked with along the way.
“I've had so many people thank me for the opportunities they've had with both Soundcraft and Focusrite. I am most proud of the fact that both companies have provided opportunities for people to develop their careers,” said Dudderidge.
“I am equally as grateful to all the employees, retailers, distributors and customers throughout the years. They are the ones who helped to build Focusrite to where it is today.”
"The Focusrite Group now includes Novation, Sequential, ADAM Audio, Martin Audio, Linea Research and Sonnox brands. Focusrite joined AIM (London Stock Exchange) in 2014. Taking Focusrite public was probably the proudest moment in my career."
In recognition of his achievements Dudderidge received an honorary doctorate from BCU in a special ceremony at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on Friday 28 July.