PEOPLE
In Scotland prisoners refer to their cellmate as a co-pilot. We have adopted this terminology for our team.
- Jill Brown, Managing Director/Captain
-
Jill Brown
Managing Director / Captain
Jill Brown is a well-known face in Scotland. A former television news presenter, reporter and producer, she has been running her own business - a pr/media consultancy - for 15 years and has a network of influential contacts across all media. Jill also has a track record as an artist (singer/songwriter).
Jill's connection with prison began with her passion to make live music accessible to all, especially those on the margins of society. This meant playing places no one else wanted to play. This led to her doing gigs in a homeless shelter, a meeting for those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, and ultimately to HMP Barlinnie, the largest jail in Scotland and one of the most notorious in the UK.
As well as pursuing her own career in music, for the last decade Jill has been working in Barlinnie Prison on an ad hoc basis. Over the years this has involved rehearsing with some of the guys inside and staging a series of concerts in the jail where some of the men performed themselves, or with one another, and sometimes with Jill. Jill has also taken her own professional band into the prison.
The idea for Conviction Records was born during lockdown 2020 after Jill successfully piloted a series of songwriting workshops in HMP Barlinnie with inmates who were into hip-hop. Jill could see that people in prison with real musical talent needed a vehicle to be heard and taken seriously as an artist. This realisation resulted in Conviction Records.
-
Eric McLellan
A&R Director / Captain
Eric McLellan is a 15-year major label marketing and A&R veteran (Artists & Repertoire). He began his career at Sony Music and went on to work at Warner Music Group's Sire Records for over a decade as a trusted A&R to industry luminary, Seymour Stein (who signed Madonna, Talking Heads, The Pretenders etc). During this time Eric established an A&R research team identifying market trends and potential artists. Under Stein's tutelage Eric became a global A&R executive who has discovered, developed, and nurtured artists across a multitude of genres. Eric played a significant role in the growth of the Sire Records' roster, taking the label into a new era with key signings and A&R projects including folk rock band Delta Rae, rapper Deniro Farrar, blues singer and guitarist Samantha Fish, The Lottery Winners, and Ida Mae.
Until recently Eric has been a frequent traveler. He has been featured as an in-demand panelist at music events such as The Great Escape, Wide Days, Iceland Airwaves, Canadian Music Week, Future Music Forum, SXSW and many others.Eric continues to discover, develop and nurture artists across a wide variety of genres and is the founder of Yo Peep This, a full-service, independent, progressive artist services and consulting company. Established in 2018, it currently represents and provides expertise to artists across all genres but with a focus on urban and alternative.