Rob Dickins, one of the greats of the UK record industry, will be the 2003 recipient of the prestigious annual Music Industry Trusts’ Award. The award will be presented to Rob Dickins on the evening of 21 October at London’s Grosvenor House, in recognition of the prodigious contribution he has made to the UK music industry during a 32 year career. Over 1000 guests from the music and entertainment industries will attend the charity dinner and applaud the achievements of Rob Dickins, record company man supremo. Last year’s winners were Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
The list of Rob Dickins achievements in the UK music industry is without parallel and this was officially recognised in 2002 when he was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List. He began his career in 1971 joining Warner Bros Music Publishing and three years later, aged just 24, was appointed MD. In 1983 Rob became Chairman of Warner Music UK and remained in that role until 1998. During his time at Warner’s he gained a reputation for being artist focussed, driven in his search and encouragement of new talent – some of the artists that he is most closely associated with are Cher, Rod Stewart, Simply Red, Suggs, Prince, REM, Alanis Morissette, Madonna and Enya. Since 1999 Rob has headed up Instant Karma, his own entertainment company.
In parallel to Rob Dickins ‘day job’, he has been an active, energetic and steadfast supporter of the BPI, serving on the BPI Council from 1983-2002 and serving four terms as Chairman of the BPI – both unprecedented. During his tenure at the BPI, Rob was involved in many key initiatives, notably the Classical BRIT Awards, anti piracy and copyright legislation and transforming The BRIT Awards.
“Rob is the Renaissance Man of the Record industry” says David Munns, chairman of the Award Committee and only half joking “He’s covered all bases, always prepared to get stuck in, whether it’s working with Enya in the studio, advising on the album artwork and videos, or A&R ing Rod, The Corrs and Cher and still found time to devote many hours to the BPI, both as a Council member and serving a record-breaking four terms as BPI Chairman. I can think of no-one who is more deserving of the 2003 Music Industry Trusts’ Award than Rob Dickins.”
Over the 12 years since the Award was established over £1.85 million has been raised for the two nominated charities: the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy and the BRIT Trust (which includes the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology). The charity dinner has become firmly established in the music industry calendar as a guaranteed moving and inspirational evening. Its has two aims, to raise money for the charities and to honour an individual/s who has made a significant contribution to the UK music industry. Previous recipients have included such luminaries as Sir George Martin, John Barry, Ahmet Ertegun and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
courtesy Music Industry News Network