Lucy Dickins Joins WME As Head Of UK Music Division

Paul Harries – Lucy Dickins
Joins WME from ITB in London

Lucy Dickins has been hired at WME as head of the company’s UK music division. Dickins joins from ITB (International Talent Booking), and will formally start with WME in June.

Dickins’ clients include Adele, Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling, James Blake and Mabel, whom WME will now represent globally. Dickins also works with Hot Chip –the first band she ever broke as an agent, as she revealed in an exclusive interview with Pollstar – along with Bryan Ferry, Rex Orange County, Jamie T, Jack Peñate, among others, all of whom are expected to accompany her to WME.

ITB agents James Simmons and Chris Payne are also joining WME.

“Lucy is a star player, and the perfect addition to our team,” said WME’s Head of Music Marc Geiger. “There’s no one else who possesses Lucy’s combination of pedigree, taste, and respect in our industry. After being in business with her family for so many years, we feel fortunate that she decided to join WME, and we look forward to bringing her perspective to our clients and colleagues.”

“Growing up in this business, I’ve been lucky to learn from the best, but now is the time for me to take the next step in my career. The opportunity to join WME was hugely exciting, and I’m confident that this relationship can grow into something special,” said Dickins.

The senior agent told Pollstar that she was having her busiest year yet. Fresh off tour with James Blake, who completed a U.S. headline run in March, she’s been on the road with Mumford & Sons, who are currently playing European arenas. The band completed the first North American leg of its ongoing Delta tour with a sold-out performance on March 31 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis, drawing 17,157 and racking up a $1.2 million gross.

It was one of three shows that catapulted the Grammy-winning rockers to the top of Pollstar’s new LIVE75 chart in April. Paul McCartney is the only other British artists to have achieved this feat so far.

Even those artists on Dickins’s roster that aren’t currently touring are keeping her busy. Rex Orange County for instance is working on his new record. Mabel, who’s been stacking up YouTube views like crazy with her latest single. “Don’t Call Me Up”, is plotting her debut record, and Adele is writing new material.

Things don’t look like they’re going to slow up either, with James Blake back on the road in time for the summer festivals, several of which are going to be headlined by Mumford & Sons this year. The band also announced that it would take its Gentlemen of the Road concert series on tour again next year.

Dickins is part of a music business dynasty that stretches back to her grandfather Percy Dickins, founder of the NME. Her father Barry formed ITB in 1978 with a client list made up of some of the biggest artists of all time including Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Her uncle Rob Dickins was head of Warner Brothers and her brother currently manages a hugely successful roster including Adele. Dickins began her career working for a small independent record label before joining ITB as an assistant. Establishing a reputation for developing artists and emerging talent from grass roots, she is renowned for the close rapport she forms with her artists.

She touched upon all of it in this exclusive interview with Pollstar.