He agreed to invest in a touring play, The House of Shame, which became both successful and notorious in 1954 after its publicist, John Kennedy, persuaded two actresses to stand outside the theatre dressed as prostitutes.

At Bart's suggestion, he next signed Reg Patterson (né Smith), whom he re-christened Marty Wilde, and who also rose to pop stardom in the UK.

[citation needed] A flamboyant gay man,[8] Parnes' approach was to select, and then groom, handsome young men who would be attractive to a teenage audience.

[9][a] Among those he managed with at least some degree of success were Billy Fury (originally Ron Wycherley), Vince Eager (Roy Taylor), Dickie Pride (Richard Knellar), Lance Fortune (Chris Morris), Duffy Power (Ray Howard), Johnny Gentle (John Askew), Terry Dene (Terence Williams), Nelson Keene (Malcolm Holland), and Georgie Fame (Clive Powell).

Later the same year he hired the Silver Beetles, an early incarnation of the then-unknown Beatles, to back one of his singers, Johnny Gentle, on a short tour of Scotland.

[12] In 1962, he hired the Tornados as backing group for Billy Fury, and also claimed to have given "their first breaks" to entertainers Jimmy Tarbuck, Rolf Harris and Mike Yarwood.

During the 1970s he ran the business affairs of the Olympic ice skater John Curry,[2] and presented two stage productions with him at the Cambridge Theatre and at the London Palladium.

[2] His obituary in The Daily Telegraph said:[5]Parnes is said to have renamed some of his stars for their sexual potential, but though he undoubtedly adored the company of young men he was circumspect about mixing business with pleasure.

The greatest loves of his life were two Alsatian dogs, Prince and Duke, whose cremated remains were prominently displayed in his South Kensington penthouse.Notes Citations