U.K. Artist Manager & Publicist Dead at 50

Daniel Stevens, artist manager at First & Last Music and prior to that manager and publicist at Darling Department, has died unexpectedly at age 50. Stevens died on May 29; a cause of death has not been shared at this time.

The U.K.-based music executive worked with a string of big name acts during his career, including Fatboy Slim, The Killers, Justice and more.

Following university, Stevens first worked for Heavyweight Management and Deconstruction Records, and joined Darling Department as a publicist in 1996. Three years later, he took over as director of the company alongside Ed Cartwright. The PR agency was paramount in launching and managing the careers of a number of rising names, including Tame Impala, Royksopp, Florence & The Machine, Underworld, So Solid Crew, Mylo, Magnetic Man, Little Boots and Alphabeat.

With the addition of David Laub as a director of Darling in 2007, the company expanded its services to include an artist management and brand consultancy. Darling managed PR on a number of music projects for brands such as Diesel, Cadbury, The British Council, Film Four, Vauxhall, Top Man, English National Opera, Motorola and Somerset House.

A number of the staff that worked with Stevens at Darling went on to become influential music executives. They include, but are not limited to, Capitol Music Group chairman/CEO Tom March; XL Recordings director of global publicity Jon Wilkinson; Naomi Williams, senior marketing manager at Polydor Records; Sam Willis (former head of press at Rough Trade Records); founder of inside out agency Adrian Read; and Briana Dougherty Chester, who left Darling to become head of press at Atlantic Records and is now executive vp at MATTIO Communications in Los Angeles.

Darling closed in 2012 after two decades, and the trio moved their management and music consultancy clients to two new ventures. Stevens and Laub continued to work together under the newly formed First & Last Music, whilst Cartwright set up Tusk Management.

First & Last Music managed artists, producers and songwriters including Fyfe, Natty, Foxes, Sam Frank, Fickle Friends and GIRLI. After Laub left to set up Halftime Music in 2017, Stevens continued running First & Last Music. One of his clients, Litany, released her debut LP, Sadgirl, in April 2025.

Stevens is survived by his wife Annabelle and his sons Finlay and Joe. His funeral will take place on Thursday (June 26).