Jump to content

Tom Wilkes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the footballer, seeTom Wilkes (footballer).

Thomas Edward Wilkes(July 30, 1939 – June 28, 2009) was an Americanart director,designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director.

Life

[edit]

Wilkes was born inLong Beach, Californiaand raised in southern California. Wilkes attendedLong Beach City College,UCLA,and theArt Center College of Designin the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1967 Wilkes was the art director of theMonterey Pop Festival.From 1967 through 1969, he was the art director ofA&M Records.He was a partner withBarry Feinsteinin Camouflage Productions from 1970 through 1973, and a partner in Wilkes & Braun, Inc. from 1973 through 1974. In late 1974 and early in 1975, Tom was a partner and creative director in Hot M Productions along with David Lear, Drake Morton and Merrick Morton. He was art director ofABC Recordsfrom 1975 through 1977, and in 1978 he started Tom Wilkes Productions and became president of Project Interspeak, a nonprofit corporation.

Wilkes was responsible for scores of award-winning designs. In theGrammy Awards of 1974,he received aGrammy Award for Best Recording PackageforTommyperformed by theLondon Symphony OrchestraandEnglish Chamber Choir.In addition to creating hundreds of posters, logos, books, trade ads and illustrations, Wilkes designed such significant covers as the "invitation" iteration ofthe Rolling Stones'Beggars Banquet;George Harrison'sAll Things Must PassandThe Concert for Bangladesh;Cheech & Chong'sBig Bambu;andNeil Young'sHarvestandHomegrown.Wilkes also produced and directed TV and radio spots, music videos, films, mixed media presentations and special events.

The twoBeatlescompilation albums released in 1973,1962–1966and1967–1970(also known as the Red and Blue Albums), were designed by Wilkes. His name was shown (only on the US versions of these albums) in the bottom left-hand corner of the paper sleeve (side four) for housing the vinyl record.

Album cover credits

[edit]

[1]

Notable contributions

[edit]

Monterey Pop Festival

[edit]

Wilkes was art director for theMonterey International Pop Festivalin 1967. Monterey was the first widely promotedrock festivalin the world, and subject of an acclaimed documentarymovieentitledMonterey PopbyD. A. Pennebaker.

Wilkes designed all the print material for the festival, including the 80-page program book.

The Concert for Bangladesh

[edit]
Detail from Wilkes's cover forThe Concert for Bangladesh

Album package, photography and design forGeorge Harrisonand Friends'Concert for Bangladeshalbum (1971) was provided by Tom Wilkes andBarry Feinsteinfor Camouflage Productions. Wilkes also provided design and photography for the subsequentApple Filmsmovie release.In 2005, he contributed to the documentaryThe Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends,as part of the DVD release for the concert film.

For the album's front cover, Wilkes used a confronting image showing a naked child beside an empty food bowl,[2]in an effort to bring home to record-buyers the plight of the refugees of theBangladesh Liberation War.[3]In his book onthe Beatles'Apple Recordsreleases, authorBruce Spizerdescribes the cover as "haunting".[2]Spizer writes: "In selecting the photo, Wilkes wanted a picture that would generate sympathy without being overly horrific... Wilkes's design is a simple but highly effective logo that drives home the point of what motivated the concert."[2]According toJonathan Taplin,who served as production manager at the Concert for Bangladesh, Apple distributorCapitol Recordswere concerned that the image was not commercial enough, but Harrison was resolute that Wilkes's cover should be used.[4]

In 2004, Wilkes discussed this cover image, and his involvement in Harrison's aid project, with journalist Matt Hurwitz ofGoldminemagazine:[5]

Hurwitz: "So on toThe Concert for Bangla Desh(1971), which is a beautiful cover, certainly one of your top pieces. Where did the cover photo of the child come from? "
Wilkes: "This is anAPorUPIreleased picture of a starving child... I did extensive airbrushing and then did this design, this presentation of it. I kind of cleaned it up a little. I spent hours looking at horrible, horrible footage, and we eventually selected this shot. Some of the other photos in the book are from the rest of the film footage I reviewed. It was difficult to watch. We just took stills from the film. "
Hurwitz: [Wilkes displays a 1-inch high pewter medallion of the boy on this front cover, framed in the arched outline.] "Where did this come from?"
Wilkes: "We did Bangla Desh gratis for them. We did it just because we wanted to contribute to George's cause, so we just worked on expenses. He flew us to New York [for the two concerts atMadison Square Garden]. We did all the photography, on the stage, and we put the whole package together. George gave these, as a little present, to everybody who donated their time. I also have a really nice letter fromUNICEFthanking me, which was really great. "

Tommyand Grammy Award

[edit]

Wilkes along with his partner,Craig Braun,was awarded [Grammy Awards ] by NARAS in 1973 as art director for the 1972 Ode Records' version ofTommyas performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir with Guest Soloists.

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Album Cover Artist Tom Wilkes Dies Unexpectedly at Home in California".PRWeb.July 5, 2009.
  2. ^abcBruce Spizer,The Beatles Solo on Apple Records,498 Productions (New Orleans, LA, 2005;ISBN0-9662649-5-9), p. 245.
  3. ^Tom Wilkes interview, inThe Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and FriendsDVD, Apple Corps, 2005 (directed by Claire Ferguson; produced by Olivia Harrison, Jonathan Clyde & Jo Human).
  4. ^Jon Taplin interview, inThe Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and FriendsDVD, Apple Corps, 2005 (directed by Claire Ferguson; produced by Olivia Harrison, Jonathan Clyde & Jo Human).
  5. ^Matt Hurwitz, "Interview with Tom Wilkes",Goldmine,November 12, 2004.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tom_Wilkes&oldid=1218839724"