Rob Dickins - Warner Records

Warner Records

In 1983, Dickins became the Chairman of Warner Music UK (a division of Warner Music Group), remained in that role until December 1998. During his term there, he turned the company into one of the most profitable in the UK.

His first signing, Howard Jones, sold 4 million records, whilst US artists such as Prince, Foreigner, ZZ Top, and Madonna also contributed to the Warner recovery. Successes such as Tracy Chapman, Paul Simon's Graceland, R.E.M. and Alanis Morissette broke first in the UK, resulting in multi-million albums. He brought Seal, Simply Red, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Enya, and Cher to the UK label and in 1997-98 Warner added Mark Morrison, Brit Award winner Shola Ama, indie group Catatonia, and teenage girl band Cleopatra to the UK.

Dickins worked closely with Enya, and was involved in the studio during the 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 signed William 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 album Ray of Light.

Dickins constructed Cher's song "Believe" with six songwriters (who never actually met each other until the award ceremonies that followed) as he honed the perfect vehicle for the launch of Cher's new sound - this led Dickins to a front cover article in The New York Times Arts and Living section.

Dickins also worked with other Warner acts such as Rod Stewart, giving him both direction and hit songs such as "Downtown Train" and Rhythm of My Heart". His creative work with The Corrs brought them their most successful album, Talk on Corners.

Dickins oversaw the building of a classical record division, with a full repertoire of major works by such established names as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Daniel Barenboim and José Carreras. There was major cross-over success with Górecki's Third Symphony, The Three Tenors in Los Angeles, and Agnes Dei (The Choir of New College, Oxford).