Ode To Legendary Vicki Wickham

I was sad to hear that Vicki Wickham the iconic English talent manager, entertainment producer & songwriter has passed. Wickham was a producer & writer of the groundbreaking British TV show Ready Steady Go! in the 60’s. She moved to NYC in 1970 where she became the manager of Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles who Wickham rebranded in 1971 as Labelle. After Labelle broke up in 1976 Wickham managed the solo career of former trio member Nona Hendryx who also became her longtime partner. She also managed the Canadian new wave band Rough Trade & helped engineer a comeback for singer Dusty Springfield which is when I met & worked with Vicki. At the time I was developing “Legend To Legend” a TV series which I was pitching Springfield to host. Unfortunately we couldn't reach a contractual agreement as Springfield fought her substance demons but it was a privilege & quite a learning experience working with both Vicki & Dusty at the time. Wickham was given a Music Industry "Woman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award" in 1999 & was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honors List for services to music. In her later years Wickham managed artists such as Morrissey, Marc Almond & Holly Johnson the former frontman for Frankie Goes to Hollywood. With journalist Penny Valentine Vicki also wrote an authorized biography of Dusty Springfield in “Dancing With Demons” published in 2000 a year after the singer’s death from cancer. That was the last time I spoke to her in a condolence chat about Dusty. Wickham is survived by Nona Hendryx her partner of almost 60 years.