Joe GallopWME’s global head of contemporary music and touring Lucy Dickins, who represents artists including Adele, Stormzy and Little Simz, has been awarded this year’s Music Industry Trusts Award (MITS).
The award was presented to Dickins by her brother and founder of September Management, Jonathan Dickins during a gala ceremony in The Great Room, Grosvenor House Hotel. The event raises funds for music charities The BRIT Trust and Nordoff & Robbins.
During the tributes, several artists and colleagues sent their congratulations to Dickins including Adele and Little Simz. The evening featured performances from two of Dickins’ clients, Hot Chip and Loyle Carner.
Dickins began her career working as a junior product manager for independent UK record label PWL before joining International Booking Talent (ITB) as an assistant in the early 1990’s. She rose through the ranks at ITB before joining the William Morris Endeavor (WME) agency four years ago. In her current role at WME, Dickins oversees all aspects of the agency’s contemporary music and touring business across Beverly Hills, New York, Nashville, London and Sydney.
Accepting her award, Dickins said, “I’d like to thank each and every one of you for this moment. May we continue to nurture, support and empower great talent and may we continue to live and love in music. I’m truly humbled to receive this award tonight and I hope that in some small way I’ve inspired the next generation of women in music, which translates into the live music business in the future. Thank you, all.”
After inviting her two children onto the stage to help accept her award, Dickins added, “Life in this industry, as you know, is extremely busy. But being a working mother is another beast altogether. I have so much respect for you mothers who are fighting the fight because it is not easy. We’re constantly feeling that we’re sacrificing one part of our life for another… so whatever way you look at it, you have guilt…and it’s really, really hard to balance it all and often people say ‘I don’t know how you do it all’. But you absolutely can’t do it all… all you can do is just do your best. That’s what I tell everyone.”
Dickins’ roster also includes Mumford & Sons, Mahalia, Cleo Sol, James Blake and Jamie T. She also represents Grammy nominees Bryan Ferry, and Laura Marling, as well as rising talent Reneé Rapp, David Kushner, and Katie Gregson-MacLeod.
Lucy Dickins’ grandfather, Percy Dickins, founded the New Musical Express (NME), while father, Barry, formed ITB in 1978 with a client list that included Bob Dylan and Neil Young.
Lucy Dickins joined the ranks of previous MITS recipients including Annie Lennox OBE, Kylie Minogue, Emma Banks, Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Rob Stringer, Sir Lucian Grainge, Ahmet Ertegun, Michael Eavis CBE, Pete Tong MBE and Roger Daltrey CBE. Last year’s ceremony was held in honour of the late Jamal Edwards MBE, the first posthumous award given in the history of the MITS.