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Rob DickinsCBE (born July 1950,East Ham, London) is a British music industry executive, who currently holds a number of trustee and consultant positions in music and the arts in the United Kingdom. Dickins began his music industry career atWarner Music UK.
Dickins grew up inEast Ham and in the surrounding suburbs. His father Percy was a saxophonist and pianist and one of the founders of theNME, who started the first British Record Charts at the paper in November 1952. He attendedIlford County High School for Boys, before going on toLoughborough University, graduating with an undergraduate degree in Politics, Sociology, and Russian. While at university, Dickins was chair of the Folk Club, the Film Society, and the Entertainments Committee. He also served as Social Secretary of theStudents Union.
After graduating in 1971, Dickins joinedWarner Bros Music Publishing and was appointedManaging Director in 1974, and International Vice President of the company in 1979. His UK signings includedPrince,Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards (Chic),Neil Young, andJoni Mitchell, and his signings for the World company includedVangelis,Sex Pistols,Whitesnake andMadness.
In 1983, Dickins became the Chairman of Warner Music UK (a division ofWarner Music Group), and remained in that role until December 1998. During his time there, the company became one of the most profitable in the UK.[1]
His first signing,Howard Jones, sold 4 million records, whilst US artists such asPrince,Foreigner,ZZ Top, andMadonna also contributed to the Warner recovery. Artists such asTracy Chapman,Paul Simon'sGraceland,R.E.M. andAlanis Morissette broke first in the UK,[citation needed] resulting in multi-million albums. He broughtSeal,Simply Red,Vangelis,Mike Oldfield,Enya, andCher to the UK label, and in 1997-98 Warner addedMark Morrison,Shola Ama,Catatonia, andCleopatra to the UK roster. Dickins also acquired the recording catalogues ofThe Smiths andThe Pogues for Warners.
Dickins worked closely withEnya, and was involved in the studio recording process. He worked on art direction for five album sleeves and most of her music videos. He is mentioned in the lyrics of Enya's hit "Orinoco Flow": "We can steer we can near with Rob Dickins at the wheel." He signedWilliam Orbit as an artist, introducing him to Madonna with a re-mix of "Justify My Love" in the early 1990s. Orbit went on to produce and co-write the Madonna albumRay of Light.
Dickins constructedCher's song "Believe" with six songwriters (who never actually met each other until the award ceremonies that followed), leading to a front cover article about him inThe New York Times Arts and Living section.
Dickins also worked with other Warner acts such asRod Stewart, on singles such as "Downtown Train" andRhythm of My Heart", andThe Corrs on their albumTalk on Corners.
Dickins oversaw the creation of a classical record division, with a repertoire of works by composers such asNikolaus Harnoncourt,Daniel Barenboim andJosé Carreras. He was also behind theWilliam Orbit classical crossover album,Pieces in a Modern Style. The label had crossover success withGórecki's Third Symphony,The Three Tenors in Los Angeles, andAgnus Dei (The Choir ofNew College, Oxford).
In 1999, Dickins set up his own entertainment company withSony Music,Instant Karma, based in the West End of London. The company's first album release wasHow to Steal the World byHelicopter Girl in 2000, and the label also had chart successes withI Monster andThe Alice Band in the UK andAddis Black Widow in Scandinavia. In September 2002, Instant Karma became an independent label, and achieved a Top 5 single in January 2003 with "Mundian To Bach Ke" byPanjabi MC.
Dharma Music, his independent music publishing company, released hit singles by Cher, Rod Stewart,Girls Aloud,I Monster,Amici Forever, andHear'Say's 1.5 million selling UK No. 1,Pure and Simple. Dharma copyrights have been used in major advertising campaigns and TV and movie soundtracks, such as the title music forShaun of the Dead.
In July 2000, Dickins was appointed as a trustee of theVictoria and Albert Museum, where he also is a director of V&A Enterprises, the museum's commercial arm. Dickins was re-appointed as a trustee of the museum in October 2004 for a further three years. He was a founding trustee of Youth Music, a charitable foundation which helps provide access to music-making for young people, particularly in socially deprived areas. This foundation received a £1.3 million contribution from theBRIT Trust due to Dickins' participation in the Abbamania fund-raising project. In July 2002 Dickins was appointed chair of theV&A Museum of Childhood inBethnal Green.
Within the music industry Dickins has chaired the PR Committee and theBrit Awards Committee. He also served on the council of theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) from 1983 to 2002, and was chair of the council from 1986 to 1988, dealing with the1988 Copyright Act. During this period theBrit School of Performing Arts was initiated. He became chair of the council again in 1997 and in 1999. He agreed to a fourth period as chair of the BPI (2000–2002), the first person to hold the post four times. He is a trustee of the Brit Trust, the record industry's charitable organisation. In 1999, Dickins was elected Chairman of the BPI Classical Committee. He simplified the classical charts, and organised the inauguralClassical Brit Awards TV show.
In 1999, Dickins accompaniedChris Smith, the Secretary of State forCulture, Media, and Sport, on a fact-finding tour of China.
In 2004, Dickins became a Trustee of theWatts Gallery in Surrey, an organisation dedicated to preserving the heritage of Victorian artist and social campaignerGeorge Frederic Watts. He donated his collection of books, letters, and Victorian photographs to the gallery; 200 of his collection of "Victorian Artists in Photographs" was exhibited at Watts Gallery,Guildhall Art Gallery in London,Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate, and theForbes Galleries in New York.
In October 2007 Dickins was appointed consultant to the British Music Experience museum atThe O2 (London).[2]
In 2009, he became chairman ofThe Theatres Trust, the national public advisory body for theatres. The same year he sat on the Conservative Party's Creative Industries Advisory Board and delivered a paper on Skills and Education co-authored with Double Negative's Alex Hope. In 2013 he was selected to be on the Culture MinisterEd Vaizey's Arts Advisory Board.
In February 2012 he was appointed trustee of The Julia Margaret Cameron Trust at Dimbola, Isle of Wight. In October 2012 he was appointed trustee at theHandel House Museum in Brook Street, London.
In 2016 he was appointed as trustee to the board of theNational Portrait Gallery by the Prime Minister.
In the2002 Birthday Honours Dickins was appointed aCommander of the British Empire for services to the music industry, and on 15 July 2002 he received anHonorary Doctorate from his alma materLoughborough University.[1]
In October the following year he was the recipient of the 2003 Music Industry Trusts Award in recognition of his role as "talent finder extraordinaire".[3]
In 2005, Dickins was conferred asvisiting professor in music and popular culture at theUniversity of the Arts London. He was appointed a Fellow ofThe Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in March 2007. His second visiting professorship was confirmed in June of the same year in music and media management atLondon Metropolitan University.
In July 2014 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from University of the Arts, London and gave a commencement speech at theRoyal Festival Hall. In July 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate fromLondon Metropolitan University and gave a commencement speech at theBarbican Theatre.
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