A blind record producer is to take legal action against the owners of an artist management firm he founded over their alleged failure to provide him with proper support.
That producer is Robin Millar, a name those of you who remember the 1980s firsthand will instantly recognise. Millar produced a string of successful albums during that decade, most notably Sade’s Diamond Life, but also Fine Young Cannibals’ self-titled debut, Wonderful Life by Black and Big Country’s The Seer.
He co-founded Blue Raincoat Music in 2014, which currently looks after Cigarettes After Sex, Nova Twins and Phoebe Bridgers amongst others. However, Millar departed the company last year - he said he had been denied a support worker to help him after he faced mobility challenges after cancer surgery.
In addition to his work in the music industry, the producer – who’s now 74 - is also a high-profile disability rights campaigner and has chaired the charity Scope since 2020. In a statement, he’s put on LinkedIn, he said he was taking the legal action reluctantly, but said that he felt he was left with no option.
He described it as “an extraordinarily painful step to take...For many disabled people, the hardest moment is not the impairment itself. It is the moment you explain what you need in order to contribute fully, ask for support, and discover that the response is distance rather than understanding.”
“You hope for loyalty. You hope for humanity. You hope somebody says: ‘This matters. Let’s sit down together and work out what support looks like.’ Too often, that does not happen.”
He continued: “I have spent much of my life building inclusive businesses and advocating for disabled people, and I continue to believe something very simple: inclusion is not charity and it is not political correctness. It is good leadership, good culture and good business.”
A preliminary hearing of the employment tribunal is set for next Wednesday (May 27)
It should be noted that Blue Raincoat is now owned by the US-based management company Reservoir. A spokesperson for them said: “We are aware of Sir Robin Millar’s claims and strongly maintain that we have acted with integrity and in accordance with all relevant employment legislation and the Equality Act. We are confident the facts will support a favourable resolution. As these are ongoing tribunal proceedings, we have no further comment at this stage.”
