Remembering Michelle Kerr: “Bands stuck by her because of the person she was, and because of her passion for the music”

Robb Flynn described Michelle Kerr as a cross between golden age movie star Elizabeth Taylor and Motörhead frontman Lemmy when he posted about her passing on Instagram earlier this week. Paying tribute to a “bad ass” who could drink him and his friends under the table, the Machine Head frontman emphasised Michelle’s intelligence and humour, toughness and loyalty, but also how she’d had his back for the best part of three decades and how, without her tireless dedication, his band – and so many others – probably wouldn’t be where they are today. I liked that. A lot.

Michelle and I first met shortly before she took over press for Machine Head, in the early ’90s. She’d been around the industry for a few years at that point, doing PR for Jungle Records and Sharon Chevin – even freelance writing with Denise Stillie as ‘The Technicolour Twins’ – but it was upon landing a job as press officer for Roadrunner Records that she really came into my orbit.

Working in the music press entailed a lot of travelling back then, and it felt like we were constantly on planes together, going around the world to shoot bands like Type O Negative, Fear Factory and Sepultura. Her professionalism struck me from the start. It’s in the job description for every PR, but she cared so much about her artists and had this ability to understand both their best interests and those of the magazines, becoming a catalyst for building relationships between the two. On top of that, she was a massive fan of music. (I believe she even ended up getting a Pete Steele tattoo years later.) And she was always just so cool, looking like a rock star wherever she turned up, happy to have a drink with her bands when business was done. She worked hard and she played hard.

In Autumn of 1999, we travelled together to Des Moines, Iowa together to meet this new band called Slipknot. That was a big moment. Kerrang! were the first UK magazine to feature Corey Taylor and the boys on their cover, but I remember how, already, Michelle and I understood that we were witnessing the start of something truly special. We’d seen bands in masks before but, frankly, they were normally a bit disappointing. Michelle could see how this was the cutting-edge of a whole new sound and how they had this bigger vision for everything they wanted to achieve.

Slipknot would go on to be massive, and to become an incredibly important part of my career. I’ve had countless photoshoots with them between that point and this, and Michelle was behind every one. I think she was there with me for all but one, organising times and locations, managing the unenviable task of getting those nine guys in the same place at the same time. I’ll never forget hanging out with her during a quiet moment in the Duality video shoot on a K! exclusive in 2004 when Joey Jordison ran over to us and told me to grab my camera. Then he just started pissing himself. Michelle was just like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s Joey…’ Or when we were out there for the Psychosocial video shoot in 2008 when we were left hanging out in that cornfield because Sid Wilson was in hospital having cut his head open doing something in his basement.

Michelle stuck by those guys through everything.

She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, either. I posted a photo to my Instagram on Sunday, after I got the dreadful news, of her handling goat skulls from a butchers during a Slipknot shoot in 2011. Clown told us that he wanted to do something with the eyeballs. Michelle just said, ‘Give me a spoon,’ and got stuck in alongside then-K! Picture Editor Scarlet Borg to scoop them out. I’ve worked with a lot of great PRs through the years, but I don’t think many would’ve done that.

It wasn’t all plain sailing. After a shake-up at Roadrunner Records UK in spring 2012, there was no question of giving up or changing course, it was just another challenge. And when she set up Cosa Nostra PR with her fellow Roadrunner alumnus and great friend Kirsten Sprinks, there was little doubt that they’d come back stronger than ever. That’s exactly what they did. Bands like Slipknot and Machine Head stuck by Michelle because of the person she was and because of her passion and understanding for the music. But there was no resting on her laurels. Instead that passion and knowledge was recycled, not just into campaigns for newer bands like Spiritworld or Unto Others and as a cherished member of the Bloodstock festival family – where Michelle helped arrange a gallery of my work in 2017 – but to help foster the talents of the next generation of writers, photographers and budding press officers.

Ultimately, what would Michelle want her legacy to be? I think she’d want to be remembered as someone who was really good at what she did. And she really was. The music industry has changed a lot since we first met, and I honestly don’t know if they make PRs like Michelle anymore, but her love for music and commitment to helping the people around her – still getting in touch with me about potential jobs even after her illness had returned – is something that everyone can learn from and that those who knew her will never forget.

Personally, I’d like to underline that none of the work that I’ve done with Slipknot would have happened without Michelle, and how grateful I am for that. But she was loved so much by so many people. If the huge number of people who’ve fought her corner over the years doesn’t tell you that, then the tidal wave of tributes – and a memorial GoFundMe that reached its target in a matter of hours – certainly will. Michelle was one of the very best, and she will be sorely missed.

Everyone at Kerrang! sends our deepest sympathies to Michelle's family and friends. Donations to her memorial fund can be made here.