Industry Legend Amanda Pelman Pens Tell-All Memoir

Amanda Pelman(Credit: Julie Michelet)

Amanda Pelman was a trailblazer for women in the Australian music industry.

At a time when nearly every A&R manager was a man, Pelman signed Kylie Minogue. She also started a label, Melodian Records, with Michael Gudinski and Ian “Molly” Meldrum, which delivered Top 10 hits in Australia (Indecent Obsession, Roxus and Peter Andre), a Top 40 single in the US (Indecent Obsession) and three number one singles and a number one album in the UK (Peter Andre).

And that’s just one part of her story.

Amanda Pelman has now documented her remarkable life and career in the memoir Four Weddings And An Encore, which will be published this month.

As the cover declares, it’s “a life in rock with all its rolls, reflected from a Parisian window”.

Michael Chugg provides the foreword, calling Pelman “a rare woman”.

“Like the author herself, Four Weddings And An Encore pulls no punches,” the legendary promoter notes. “I’m sure a few people won’t be happy, which is par for the course with my dear friend.”

At the start of the memoir, Pelman writes: “I invite you to examine my tale of life, laughter and loss. Almost like Almost Famous. However much you may have loved, admired, wronged, or fucked me over – this is my story.”

Each chapter of the book comes with a Flowcode, linking to Spotify, which will play songs relevant to the story.

Pelman spent 13 years at the Mushroom Group. She left to manage the international career of Indecent Obsession. She also managed Deborah Conway, who calls her “Amanda ‘Commander’ Pelman”.

“She was never backward in coming forward,” Conway says. “She demanded three chords and the truth, or she’d tell you she was bored.”

Other industry legends have added their voice to the book.

Kylie reveals that “Amanda Pelman badgered Michael Gudinski to listen to the demo of Locomotion. Changed my life.”

Pelman had a cameo in the Locomotion clip (she’s the woman behind the recording desk in the studio).

And Pelman’s former housemate and Melodian colleague Ian “Molly” Meldrum says: “Less Eat Pray Love, more Devil Wears Prada describes my friend Pelman8r, or as I call her, Attila the Hen.”

After her rock ’n’ roll life, Pelman ventured into the theatrical world, becoming an acclaimed casting director and producer, casting productions such as Hair, RENT, Countdown The Musical Comedy and Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.

With Michael Chugg, Pelman produced the successful Long Way To The Top tour, as well as co-producing the Sound Relief charity concert in 2009.

Pelman also had her own on-screen career, as a judge on the Seven Network’s celebrity singing show It Takes Two. 

As the press release states, “For Australian readers, the memoir resonates as both history and mirror – capturing a time when ambition required nerve, success demanded stamina, and women had to invent their own rules simply to stay in the game.”

Four Weddings And An Encore will be released on February 16.