Iron Maiden's "Sheriff" leaves firm Sanctuary
Sanctuary -- itself named after an Iron Maiden song -- said Smallwood would continue to manage the band but that the company would issue the new album, "A Matter of Life and Death", in the United States. EMI is issuing the album in the rest of the world.Sanctuary will also hang on to lucrative contracts for merchandising and organising tours.
The Daily Mail recently reported
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Sanctuary has struggled since mid-2005 due to delays at loss-making Urban Records, which it bought in 2003 from Mathew Knowles, father of R&B diva Beyonce.
Last month the company shunned a bid approach from MAMA Group, which manages the Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand, and said it still had a strong independent future.
Smallwood, who was born in the north England town of Huddersfield, started working with Andy Taylor in 1969 in arranging May Balls while studying together at Cambridge University.
In 1979 they took on Iron Maiden to start a relationship that led to over 180 platinum and gold awards from some 50 million album sales.
In the song "Sheriff of Huddersfield", Iron Maiden likened Smallwood to the miserly Sheriff of Nottingham in the Robin Hood legend.
Smallwood has also worked with The Kinks and Guns N' Roses.