A CLEVELAND media lecturer who also runs a record company and music firm is publicising the latest tour by Tyneside band Lindisfarne.

Dave Hill, of Cleveland College of Art, has been involved in the music industry since the Seventies. He is a big fan of Lindisfarne and got to know band members while writing their biography.

As a young man working with stage crews in the Seventies, he once accidentally dropped Paul McCartney's mixing desk. But that failed to hold him back. He went on to work with artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Motorhead, and the Eurythmics, and then for a major record label.

Lindisfarne appear at Darlington Arts Centre on Wednesday and Mr Hill is organising media coverage.

Mr Hill, who lives in Hartlepool, has taught at Cleveland College of Art, in Linthorpe, for ten years. His course focuses on film and TV, and he helps run the college radio station. His huge collection of records and encyclopaedic musical knowledge always intrigues students.

Previous jobs have included writing newspaper music reviews, spending two years with a cable TV company and working at The Studio, in Hartlepool, a community recording studio and live music venue.

He also spent three years on the road for Virgin Records and managed a Virgin Megastore. He once had an audition for The Tube , produced by Tyne Tees Television in the Eighties.

Now, when not teaching, he helps run a firm called Tenacity, which undertakes tour promotions, music research, reissues rare records and provides other music industry services.

In 1999, he formed the Siren Music record label with a colleague who previously worked for London Weekend Television.

"Siren is a reference to the sea. We are based in the North-East but have an office in London. I do much of my work from home and it's important to maintain our Northern roots.