“So I followed that through,” he said Monday.

This is a bit of an understatement: Mr. Ellis went on to work with artists such as Jethro Tull, Blondie, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Huey Lewis and the News, and Billy Idol, in some cases as an agent or manager, and in others as a record producer.

Mr. Ellis, who has been living in the Virgin Islands for nearly 40 years, will give an hour-long lecture about his career in the music business at 7 p.m. on Friday at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.

“I talk about not just the successes, but also the failures and how I dealt with that,” he said. “It’s really no mystery: just a lot of hard work.”

Tickets for the event, which cost $10 each, are available at TortolaExpress, LIME BVI, the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College bookstore, UMI Fashions, and The Dove restaurant.

See the Jan. 31, 2013 edition for full coverage.