Songwriter When he returned to England he worked as an assistant
film editor. With a thorough knowledge of music, he soon progressed to being a music editor and landed the job of working with
Burt Bacharach on ''What's New Pussycat
, re-editing the score Bacharach had written for it. Later, he also scored, wrote and edited music for Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush'' (1967), a film directed by
Clive Donner. In 1966,
Dusty Springfield approached Napier-Bell and Vicki Wickham to write an English lyric to an Italian song she had heard at the
Sanremo Festival, composed by
Pino Donaggio. The result was "
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", which became Springfield's only number one hit in the
UK Singles Chart.
Manager A friend,
Vicki Wickham, who booked all the acts for the TV show
Ready Steady Go!, persuaded him to move into music management. He began by putting together an act himself; Nicky Scott &
Diane Ferraz; a boy from London and a girl from the
West Indies. a music consultancy company offering advice to artist managers. Napier-Bell terminated his directorship of the company in 2016 but remains a consultant. Napier-Bell's long running Las Vegas Production,
Raiding the Rock Vault, celebrated over 1,500 performances which concluded its residency in Las Vegas in December 2025.
Author When
Japan broke up, Napier-Bell wrote his first
memoir, ''You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
, about his experiences in the music business in the 1960s. When he ceased managing Asia and Ultravox, he wrote Black Vinyl White Powder
; originally conceived as a history of the British post-war music industry, it developed during the writing process into an exploration of "the centrality of drugs and drug culture to the development of the British music business" In March 2005, he published another memoir, I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch'', the story of how he took
Wham! to China. In 2015, Unbound Books published his fourth book,
Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay, which is a complete history of the music industry since the early 18th century until today. All four books have received multiple reviews.
Documentaries In 2023, Napier-Bell directed the documentary
George Micheal: Portrait of an Artist. A film which offered chronological optics into the life of George Micheal, which featured interviews with Stephen Fry, Stevie Wonder, And Rufus Wainwright. And is currently filming a documentary about The Marquee Club, which will feature interviews with Phil Collins & Tony Banks. In recent years he has turned to film-making and directed three full-length documentary films.
To Be Frank, about Frank Sinatra, and
27: Gone Too Soon, about the
27 Club, were both made for Netflix.
50 Years Legal, marking 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, was produced for Sky Arts. Napier-Bell is CEO of the Pierbel Group, which offers music management and consultancy, and is originating producer of Raiding the Rock Vault, the No 1 rated music show in Las Vegas, and Raiding the Country Vault, in
Branson,
Missouri. == Digital Journalism ==