In the '90s, Wright launched the Heart commercial radio brand in Birmingham and London, and the Midsomer Murders detective drama series broadcast on ITV in the UK and over 225 TV channels around the world.

[5] He began working for the Ian Hamilton Agency, representing Anna Ford, then a folk singer in the Joan Baez mould, and later a television presenter and newsreader.

With guitarist Mick Abrahams leaving Jethro Tull to form Blodwyn Pig, and charting alongside his former bandmates, that target was reached within a year and Chrysalis, with its distinctive red butterfly logo over a green background, was born.

[8] In the 1970s, Wright was particularly instrumental in the renewed success of Procol Harum, the emergence of their former guitarist Robin Trower as a solo artist, and the worldwide popularity of another Chrysalis signing, Leo Sayer.

While attending a series of concerts by Sayer at the Roxy in Los Angeles in November 1976, Wright suggested that the soaring saxophone solo featured in the live version of "When I Need You" should be added to the album cut for its release a single.

[citation needed] With Ellis concentrating on running Chrysalis in the US, Wright backed his hunches and made a raft of UK signings that paid huge dividends and proved culturally significant.

In 1979, he offered The Specials a label deal for their 2-Tone imprint, and helped spearhead the ska revival which put them, Madness, The Beat and The Selecter in the charts and on Top of the Pops.

The Specials' run of major hits included "Too Much Too Young", "Ghost Town" and "Free Nelson Mandela", three epochal records reflecting the turmoil and political changes and challenges of the late '70s and early '80s.

The subsequent signings of Go West, Paul Hardcastle and Living in a Box and the development of the Cooltempo subsidiary for dance and rap proved Wright still had his finger on the pulse of popular culture.

[citation needed] By then, the huge overheads involved in running a world-size independent company and the under-performance of several releases, notably Billy Idol's much-delayed Charmed Life album, had forced Wright to sell 50% of Chrysalis Records to EMI.

[citation needed] Wright held on to Chrysalis Music Publishing, representing not only some of David Bowie and Paul Anka's biggest hits but also Rod Temperton's compositions for Quincy Jones, George Benson and Michael Jackson.

Over the next two decades, shrewd acquisitions and the nurturing of singer-songwriters including David Gray, Nerina Pallot, Ray LaMontagne, Rumer, Natasha Kan (aka Bat For Lashes) and Laura Marling turned Chrysalis Music into a very desirable catalogue of more than 50,000 songs.

Wright has been involved in the thoroughbred racing industry since 1981, both as an owner in the UK, France, the United States and Australia, and also as a breeder through his Stratford Place Stud based in the Cotswolds in England.

From the hippie counter revolution, through to punk, the new romantics, ska and on to the music of the new millennium, Wright was at the heart of it all, forging careers for stars on both sides of the Atlantic.