Biography | "A Little Exaggerating"

Through Wakeman, Berry met manager Brian Lane, who in turn got him a gig handling guitars for Donovan. On the road with him, though, Berry wasn’t content sitting around, so he would head in to the hall early and help with lights and sound. He picked up an extra $10 a day, and also a great deal of experience.

Berry says his next big break came with Ian Jeffery, tour manager for the 1979 AC/DC tour. He heard they were looking for a production manager.

"I hadn’t been one, but with a little exaggerating and a little making it up as I went along, I then became their stage and production manager." In those days, production managers were permanent gigs and he stayed with them five years. "I had a great time – and I owe them a lot," Berry says.

In 1985 business managers became more common, and they were more cautious with the band’s money. They no longer kept people like Berry around permanently and cut him loose. Yet Berry says that this turned our to be a "bit of good fortune" and he went out and freelanced.

He went to work with Ronnie James Dio and while he won’t say exactly why for the record, he got fired for his first and only time.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me," he says. "After Dio, I thought no one would ever hire me again. But I was home 12 hours before Motley Crue called and asked me to be on the ‘Theatre of Pain’ tour."