- Dick Witts
Infobox musical artist 2
Name = Dick Witts
Background =
Img_capt = Dick Witts, 2006
Birth_name = Richard Witts
Born =
Origin =Lincolnshire ,England
Death =
Genre =
Occupation = Singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author
Years_active = 1978–present
Instrument =Percussion Keyboard
First_album = Pindrop 1980
Latest_album =
Notable_albums =
Notable songs = XOYO 1982
Label = Virgin,Cherry Red , LTM
Associated_acts = The PassageHallé Orchestra Dreamtiger Ensemble
URL = http://www.witts.me.uk/Richard "Dick" Witts is a professional
musicologist and ex leader of 1980s band The Passage. He was born inCleethorpes on the coast ofLincolnshire ,England .He studied at the
Royal Manchester College of Music and briefly atManchester University . During this time he was a member of theHallé Orchestra as apercussionist . During the mid-1970s he wrote for the contemporary classical music magazine "Contact".At that time, he was also involved in starting a Manchester Musicians Collective (on the model of the recently established
London Musicians Collective ). This led into contact with the growing punk scene and he formed The Passage, producing their recordings and singing on many of their releases.He presented television programme
Oxford Road Show in the early 1980s for theBBC from Oxford Road Studios,Manchester and was also a reporter forBBC Radio 3 .Thirty of his radio interviews and contributions are housed in the British Library National Sound Archive. In 2003 he gave the Saul Seminar there on the history of music presentation in radio.
During the late 1980s he became involved in arts administration roles. He subsequently wrote a critical history of the
Arts Council of Great Britain : "Artist Unknown: An Alternative History Of The Arts Council".His first book, "
Nico — the Lives and Lies of an Icon", was a biographical study of the German singer and songwriter (Virgin Books, 1993).Dick now lives in
Edinburgh and is a writer who lectures atGoldsmiths College ,London , theUniversity of Surrey inGuildford and theUniversity of Sussex . He was appointed Fellow in Music at the University of Edinburgh for the academic year 2007-8.His third book, a study of the music and history of "
The Velvet Underground ", was published by Equinox (UK) and the Indiana University Press (USA) in September 2006.Witts is mentioned in the book Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. He is credited with sending a package containing some of
Aphex Twin 's music toKarlheinz Stockhausen . He is currently researching a book on the history of British music from 1941–2000.Witts' current musical project is Radio Icebreaker, which is for classically trained musicians who wish they were rock musicians.
External links
* [http://www.witts.me.uk/ Official Web Site]
*imdb name|id=1593580|name=Dick Wittshttp://www.music.ed.ac.uk/staff/profile/ProfileRichardWitts.htmlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/is-music-policed-and-controlled-933831.html
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