Born on 19 January 1957 in Carlisle, Cumbria, Elbourne started out as an Economics student in Bristol University, South West England. He attended University in 1976. In 1977 he set up his own political party the Epicurean(ethical hedonist ‘0’ movement which won the student union elections. One of the election pledges was to open up the student union venue to non-students, leading it to becoming the main venue in Bristol for punk and post-punk bands.
The main bar is still named after the Epicurean movement. He started promoting bands outside of the student union and got involved with Ashton Court festival (then the largest free event in the UK) and started going to Glastonbury. Upon leaving university he founded the award winning Bristol Recorder ( a combined Vinyl LP and Magazine) This lead to meeting local resident Peter Gabriel. Elbourne and Gabriel ended up co promoting the first Womad Festival. Whilst critically acclaimed the resultant financial losses led to Gabriel playing a reformed Genesis Concert and Elbourne relocating to London.
Elbourne ended up working for rough trade in Booking(later all trade) as an agent. His most famous clients were New Order and The Smiths. His relationship with New Order continued until the death of Rob Gretton. He managed various bands including Green on Red, David Rudder, Gaye Bykers on Acid and gradually became more involved with the Glastonbury festival ending up as its main booker.
