Tom Watkins (21 September 1949 – 24 February 2020) was a pop impresario, music manager, songwriter, producer, designer and fine art collector. With a background in art and design, Watkins set up the XL Design agency in the early 1980s and was responsible for designing record sleeves and music graphics of the period.^[1] Watkins moved into music management by the mid-1980s and managed Pet Shop Boys, Bros and East 17 among others.^[2] Watkins has been described by Neil Tennant as "a big man with a loud voice"^[1] and by David Munns as "an unstoppable creative powerhouse."^[3]

Early life

Watkins was born Thomas Frederick Watkins on 21 September 1949 at St. Alfege's Hospital, Greenwich, London,^[3] the son of Patricia Daphne Diett and Frederick Joseph Watkins.^[3] He lived in Blackheath, London^[4] and was educated at Invicta Road School, Sherrington Road School and Raine's Foundation School in Tower Hamlets, London.^[3] Watkins later attended Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design^[3] and went on to study art and design at London College of Furniture, London Metropolitan University.^[3]

Early career

In the early 1970s after graduating from the London College of Furniture, Watkins worked as a designer for Terence Conran and Rodney Fitch as part of the team that designed Heathrow Terminal 3 and the London Stock Exchange.^[5][6]

In 1981, Watkins and business partner Royston Edwards set up the graphics design company XL Design with an office in Welbeck Street, London,^[7] initially designing music graphics and marketing campaigns, then later record sleeves.^[8] In 1982, XL designed the record sleeve for Wham!'s debut single "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)"^[9]

When the British record label ZTT became clients in 1983, XL designed record sleeves for Art of Noise^[10][11] and for "Relax", the 1983 debut single of Frankie Goes to Hollywood.^[12] XL designed many of the Frankie Goes to Hollywood ads, promo posters and graphics^[12] including the record sleeves for their next three singles "Two Tribes", "The Power of Love" (both 1984) and "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (1985).^[13] In 1984, XL designed the sleeve for their debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome.^[14]

In 1983, Trevor Horn and Jill Sinclair of ZTT Records commissioned Watkins to design the interior of their new recording studios, Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill.^[15][11]

The XL Design agency was responsible for creating iconic logos, music advertising graphics and record sleeve art of the 1980s including those of Frankie Goes to Hollywood,^[12] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD),^[16] Art of Noise,^[11] Wham!,^[9] Kim Wilde,^[17] Nik Kershaw,^[18] Duran Duran^[18] and the Pet Shop Boys.^[1]

Music management

In 1984, Watkins moved his XL Design agency to larger offices in Poland Street, Soho^[19] and set up a new company, Massive Management, developing a parallel career in music management.^[20] Mark Farrow joined Watkins' XL Design agency in 1985. Watkins felt the minimal aesthetics of his designs would be perfect for the Pet Shop Boys.^[21] In 1986, Watkins, Farrow and business partner Mick Newton set up a new design agency, Three Associates.^[22] The Three Associates agency were responsible for creating record sleeve art throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s for artists including Pet Shop Boys, Bros, Liza Minnelli and Kim Wilde.^[23] Watkins went on to manage Pet Shop Boys (1984 to 1989), Bros (1986 to 1990), East 17 (1992 to 1997), Electribe 101 (1989 to 1990),^[24] Faith Hope & Charity (1990),^[25] 2wo Third3 (1994 to 1995)^[26] and Deuce (1994 to 1996).^[27]

Watkins was also a songwriter and music producer. In collaboration with Nicky Graham,^[28] Watkins wrote all the tracks on the debut Bros album Push^[1] including the hit singles from the album; "When Will I Be Famous", "Drop the Boy" and "I Owe You Nothing" which reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in June 1988.^[29]

In 1999, Channel 4 produced Mr Rock & Roll, a four-part documentary series "looking at the lives and the careers of the most powerful, most outrageous and most astute managers in the history of Rock and Roll".^[30] The series featured the stories of Tom Watkins, Colonel Tom Parker, Don Arden and Peter Grant.^[31]

Design

Watkins was a fine art collector, specialising in works from the Memphis Group which was an influential Italian design and architecture movement of the 1980s.^[6] In 2001, Watkins loaned much of his Memphis collection to the Design Museum, London for their Memphis Remembered exhibition^[42] held to mark the 20th anniversary of the debut of the Memphis movement.^[43] An admirer of Bauhaus-inspired architecture he designed and built The Big White House in Pett Level, East Sussex in 2004, which was featured in the Channel 4 Grand Designs television series.^[44] In 2006 Watkins received the Sussex Heritage Trust Award for The Big White House project.^[45]

Author

Published in July 2016, Watkins co-wrote with Matthew Lindsay his autobiography titled Let's Make Lots of Money: Secrets of a Rich, Fat, Gay, Lucky Bastard.^[4] In December 2016, the book was longlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize^[46] and in July 2017 the book was released in paperback under the title Let's Make Lots of Money: My Life as the Biggest Man in Pop.^[47]

Death

Watkins suffered from poor health in his later years. He had type 2 diabetes and in 2013, had a liver transplant. He died on 24 February 2020, and his funeral was held on 10 March.^[48]

References