My friend Andy Ross, who has died aged 65 after treatment for cancer, was a hugely respected music industry executive. He worked with some of the biggest names in the business and was instrumental in the famous Blur vs Oasis chart battle in the 1990s, when the Britpop bands released new singles on the same day in a race for the No 1 slot.
The elder son of Ian Ross, a draughtsman in the oil industry, and Marlene (nee Bates, now Williamson), a secretary at the London Management entertainment company, Andy was born in Upper Norwood, south London, and gained a scholarship to Dulwich college. He and I met in 1977 in Leicester, where he was studying social and economic history at the university, while I was at the poly. His band the Disco Zombies were looking for a singer and I was looking for a band.
