Born as Harry Levy in 1926, Arden went into showbiz at the age of 13. He did stand-up comedy and singing during the war years. Don Arden was Jewish so he began his career in management by organising Hebrew folk music competitions. By the 1960s, he had moved into full-blown management and was organising British tours for American performers such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.
His first major group was The Small Faces. The group liked his enthusiasm and, in a short time, were signed up. They had a chart hit but it entered the charts illegally – supposedly by fixing it. But his foul play with The Small Faces wasn’t over yet. In 1966, Robert Stigwood, another music manager spoke to The Small Faces about changing managers. Arden went to “teach him a lesson” with some friends and threatened to throw Stigwood out a window. He also tried to strangle a musician and throw him out a window.