Tom Watkins (21 September 1949 – 24 February 2020) was an English pop impresario, music manager, songwriter, producer, designer and fine art collector.
[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.
[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).
[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.
[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).
The debut, Please, was released in April 1986 and peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart and certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
The second album Actually was released in September 1987 and peaked at number 2 in the UK and certified triple platinum by the BPI.
[41][40] 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.
[44] In 2006 Watkins received the Sussex Heritage Trust Award for The Big White House project.
[45] 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.