Andy Ross ran Food Records

TRIBUTES have been paid to Andy Ross – a key figure in Camden’s Britpop music scene who has died aged 66.

Mr Ross ran the Food Records label in the 1980s and 1990s from an office in Camden Town and helped put the area at the forefront of a new British music scene when he signed up the then unknown band Blur after watching them perform at the Islington Powerhaus.

He would make them global stars – via gigs at venues such as the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town – and also launched the careers of other bands, including Jesus Jones and The Bluetones.

Councillor Jonathan Simpson, a former mayor of Camden who has worked to protect and promote the area’s musical heritage, said:  “When you meet legends like Andy, and hear the history and the stories, you realise quite how much he knew.

“You realise his depth of knowledge. Camden has had many musical chapters – and he was very much part of that new chapter in the 1990s.

“The work he did was fundamental to that period, and key in making Camden the centre of it.”

Food Records was bought out by EMI in 1994, and Mr Ross continued to work with acts and develop new talent.

Four years ago, he began a weekly show on Boogaloo Radio, the internet station broadcast from Highgate’s Boogaloo pub.

Station producer Chris Eastwood said: “I am deeply gutted to hear about the passing of Andy Ross. I produced his shows on Boogaloo Radio and he was a joy to be around.

“He was always full of amazing music and even more amazing stories. His shows were as funny and as interesting as he was. I am desperately sad there won’t be any more.”

Fellow Boogaloo presenter, the author Julie Hamill, added: “He was a lovely man, and far too young to be going anywhere. A tragic loss to music.”