IN the 1980s, after conquering the States with rock and roll bands including Herman's Hermits and 10cc, talent manager Harvey Lisberg embarked on a different, more difficult challenge.
It was a time when snooker's bad boys, including heavy drinkers Alex Higgins and Bill Werbeniuk, as well as womanisers Tony Knowles and Kirk Stevens were dominating the front pages of the tabloids.
Fascinated by its personalities, as well as the sport itself, Lisberg's promotion agency turned its attention towards the stars of the baize.
In music, punk - which Lisberg detested - had taken over and commercial bands like his were seen as "capitalist pigs", so his focus turned to billiards.
With the help of club owner Geoff Lomas, the now 84-year-old launched Jimmy White and did his best to keep 'Hurricane' Higgins' in check.
The impresario has laid out his stories in 'I'm Into Something Good: My Life Managing 10cc, Herman's Hermits & Many More!'
While Lisberg has focused on White and Higgins in an audiobook 'Managing the Bad Boys of Snooker: Jimmy and Alex Higgins', which is .
"I was simply addicted to snooker," he told SunSport of his interest in snooker.
"It was two people fighting each other - sometimes it was intellectual, sometimes it was gamesmanship.
"Plus, there was these great characters dominating the sport.
"I had always thought there might be a future in sports management, and I wanted to broaden my company so it seemed the natural fit."
Soon, Lisberg was introduced to snooker hall owner Geoff Lomas, who managed Higgins.
"It was Geoff who told me about Jimmy White. He said there's this kid who is unbelievable that hasn't got a manager," Lisberg said.
A meeting was arranged, but Lisberg was far from impressed with what he saw when he first met the teenager.
"He was very unkempt, had a very pale complexion, but had this fantastic cockney accent," Lisberg explained.
"So we had to do a complete makeover on him. We had his teeth fixed, we ditched the tuxedo and swapped it for a houndstooth dinner suit I saw in a shop window in the South of France.
"We then got photographer Patrick Lichfield, who had just shot Princess Diana's wedding, to do photographs.
I got more publicity managing Jimmy in six weeks than I did in 20 years of rock and roll."
"The pictures were very successful and were printed in all the tabloids.
"It was a struggle to get two lines on Herman's Hermits in any paper in those days.
"However, I got more publicity managing Jimmy in six weeks than I did in 20 years of rock and roll."
The promoter would then see, first-hand, how remarkable White's talents were on the table in their next meeting.
They met at the music manager's accountant's office, where there happened to be a battered, old pool table.
"Jimmy could play like no one else," Lisberg revealed.
"I challenged him to a pool game when I visited my accountant, who had this table that was so bumpy it was like the sand dunes at Lytham St Annes!
"Even the cues had no tips, it was a joke.
"Every single shot I do, I'm playing safe. White clears all the balls, until he's left with the black ball on one end of the table and the white on the other side.
"He laughed, looked at me and said, 'Oh, I can't miss that.' Then, in the blink of an eye, he's rocketed the cue ball against the cushion and doubled the black in the opposite corner of the table.
"We had a bet on whether he would pot that black, and I learned then never to make a bet with a professional snooker player!"
Despite his antics away from the sport, White would go on to shake up the world of snooker, reaching the semi-finals of the UK Championships in 1981.
But it wasn't easy for Lisberg to control White's wild behaviour.
"Jimmy was a womaniser, he was never at home and his drinking was off the scale," Lisberg explained.
"He would go on three day benders and you'd never hear from him."
As White's publicity gained momentum, that attracted Higgins too. He approached Lisberg to manage his affairs and a plan was hatched to help the legend challenge Steve Davis.
Lisberg revealed: "Higgins was totally two-sided. He had a lovely side, but also that rebellious streak.
"I remember going to his house, and you'd walk in and there were dishes flying across the room as he was arguing with a woman who would walk out and leave.
"But Alex liked what we did with Jimmy.
"I wanted to do an MOT on him. I told Geoff Lomas that we were going to send him to a nursing home, where there would be no drink, or drugs, or women.
"Basically, I wanted to clean him up.
"But, somehow, he smuggled in vodka - and I'm not sure what was going with the nurses - but whatever happened he was only improved by about 25 per cent from when he went in.
"He was still nowhere near as fit as someone like Steve Davis, but he was slightly better.
"I remember the doctor who worked there said to me of Alex, 'What a horrible little man!' He was apparently cursing at all the nurses! He was impossible to manage but an absolute genius."
Boozing was rife amongst snooker's greats at that point. As was living promiscuously.
Neither vices affected their games, though.
When Higgins beat White in the semi-final at the 1982 World Championships, he had vodka in his drink.
"He was completely drunk and still managed the greatest break of all-time!"
Lisberg divulged: "It was part of the way of life. I wouldn't know where Jimmy was, whether he was at some girls' home or on the floor somewhere passed out.
"But what I found incredible was how these guys played, what I consider a game that requires lots of thought, so brilliantly with all that debauchery going on.
"When Higgins beat White in the semi-final at the 1982 World Championships, he had vodka in his drink.
"He was completely drunk and still managed the greatest break of all-time!"
By the mid-eighties, Barry Hearn had become the dominant manager in snooker.
He held the trump card in Steve Davis, and soon everyone followed.
Lisberg's company, The Professional Snooker League Limited went into liquidation and players were owed money.
Higgins was one who phoned Lisberg up - believing he was owed £4,000.
However, when Lisberg curried a favour - all was forgotten.
Lisberg explained: A day after Alex said I owed him, he called me and said, 'I believe you're putting David Bowie on at Maine Road. Can you get tickets?'
"I soon got on the phone to a contact and said, 'I want to get Alex in the director's box. I got him in there and he was well looked after.
"Next morning I got a call from Alex at 9am. He said to me, "Harvey, the concert was fantastic! Forget the £4,000!
"That was Alex to a tee."
