Richard Boon
James Richard Boon is the former manager of Buzzcocks and boss of the record label, New Hormones.
Boon, a Leeds Grammar School friend of Howard Devoto, became the manager for seminal punk group Buzzcocks by default, after organising gigs for the band. Boon participated on the writing of several Buzzcocks songs, using the pen name Alan Dial. Seeking to release the band's music, Boon started the New Hormones label. The label released the Spiral Scratch EP in January 1977, and began releasing records by other artists regularly from 1979 to 1982. During this time acts such as Biting Tongues, Diagram Brothers, Dislocation Dance, Ludus and Eric Random all released early records with the Manchester-based label.
Richard Boon went on to work for Rough Trade Records, and is now a librarian in Stoke Newington Library, Hackney, London, where he facilitates a monthly reading group on the second Tuesday of each month.
On 6 July 1983 The Smiths appeared live at the Hacienda, Manchester, and Morrissey dedicated the song "I Don't Owe You Anything" to Boon.
Boon contributed a regular column to the Stoke Newington free quarterly community magazine N16, and is part of the crew at the annual Stoke Newington Literary Festival, held first weekend of June
