{"id":4849,"date":"2026-08-04T08:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T08:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=4849"},"modified":"2026-08-04T08:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T08:36:11","slug":"vicki-wickham-influential-ready-steady-go-talent-booker-and-producer-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=4849","title":{"rendered":"Vicki Wickham, Influential \u2018Ready, Steady, Go!\u2019 Talent Booker and Producer, Dies at 87"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tVicki Wickham, who helped shape pop music in the 1960s and beyond through her work on the landmark British TV show <em>Ready, Steady, Go!<\/em> and as the manager of Dusty Springfield and Labelle, has died. She was 87.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=4847\">Alan Ritchson on What He Learned About Fame From Working With Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tWickham died Saturday in New York after an extended illness, her wife and longtime partner, Labelle singer Nona Hendryx, announced.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAiring on ITV from 1963-66, <em>Ready, Steady, Go!<\/em> was an influential showcase of the British beat boom, and as talent booker and later producer, Wickham helped introduce The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Cilla Black, Marianne Faithful, Donovan, The Kinks, The Animals and The Yardbirds to viewers, often providing their earliest, most significant national exposure.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWickham also played a key role in bringing Motown to Britain. Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, credited her with exposing artists including The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye and Martha and the Vandellas to U.K. viewers.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe wonderful Vicki Wickham had convinced her boss to do a one-hour TV special,\u201d Berry recalled in Andy Neill\u2019s 2020 book, <em>Ready, Steady, Go!: The Weekend Starts Here<\/em>. \u201c<em>The Sound of Motown<\/em> was a big moment for us because it brought our music and our artists to the U.K. national television audience for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWickham produced the first hourlong live U.K. TV show featuring a Black music artist, James Brown, with subsequent <em>Ready, Steady, Go!<\/em> installments showcasing Ike and Tina Turner, Otis Redding, Sam &amp; Dave and Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles, later to become Labelle.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tVicki Heather Wickham was born on March 23, 1939, in Newbury, Berkshire, England. Her father, Steven, was a farmer and her mother, Stella, a nurse. She attended a Catholic girl\u2019s school until age 11 and a private boarding school before completing her formal education at Langham Secretarial College in London.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tShe spent two years at the publishing house Cassell &amp; Co. conducting photo research and preparing layouts, then joined BBC Radio as an assistant, working on documentaries.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThrough a friend, she was introduced to TV producer Elkan Allan, who was developing a new music program that would become <em>Ready, Steady, Go!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cMy first job was booking the artists for the pilot and the first shows,\u201d she said in Neill\u2019s book. \u201cI\u2019d been brought up on Gilbert &amp; Sullivan and <em>South Pacific<\/em>. The first record I ever bought was \u2018Rock Around the Clock.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI started a crash course, getting the music papers \u2014 <em>Disc<\/em>, <em>Record Mirror<\/em>, <em>N.M.E.<\/em>, <em>Melody Maker<\/em> \u2014 listening to records, finding out who was who.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=4845\">Howard Stern Beats Former Executive Assistant\u2019s Lawsuit Looking to Void NDA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe Beatles appeared three times on <em>Ready, Steady, Go!<\/em> in 1963 and \u201964 as Beatlemania swept the world.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tSpringfield was one of the program\u2019s most frequent hosts and performers, and Wickham became the singer\u2019s collaborator and manager, guiding her career through the late 1980s and remaining friends with her until her death in 1999.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWith Simon Napier-Bell, she wrote the English lyrics to Springfield\u2019s hit \u201cYou Don\u2019t Have to Say You Love Me,\u201d adapted from the Italian song \u201cIo che non vivo (senza te).\u201d She also was instrumental in bringing The Pet Shop Boys and Springfield together in 1986 to record \u201cWhat Have I Done to Deserve This?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn 2000, she co-authored Springfield\u2019s biography, <em>Dancing With Demons<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tDuring her years at <em>Ready, Steady, Go!<\/em>, Wickham contributed to the teen magazine <em>Fabulous<\/em>, writing profiles of pop stars and articles including \u201cVicki Wickham\u2019s Pop Guide to London.\u201d She also served as fashion consultant of the short-lived <em>MOD<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMoving to New York in the early 1970s, she took over the management of the American vocal trio Labelle. She encouraged the group\u2019s Glam Rock Afro futuristic image, and under her guidance, Labelle \u2014 Patti LaBelle, Hendryx and Sarah Dash \u2014 recorded their 1974 album <em>Nightbirds<\/em> and the No. 1 hit \u201cLady Marmalade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tShe wrote for <em>Melody Maker<\/em>, for whom she reviewed The Who\u2019s performance of <em>Tommy<\/em> at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1970; managed other artists including Cameo, Morrissey, Rough Trade and Marc Almond; and produced BBC Radio documentaries about Nina Simone, Whitney Houston and George Michael.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn 2013, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and received the honor for her services to music from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tShe and Hendryx first met in the 1960s, and they married in 2011. Survivors also include her cousins, Ellis John, David and Sam; and godchildren Issac, Tim and Nova.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tPrivate family gatherings in remembrance of her will be held in New York and London, followed by a larger celebration of life. Donations in her honor can be made to Black Women Rock and\/or to Nordoff Robbins charities.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=4843\">Cabo Verde Looks Beyond the World Cup, Ivory Coast Gets Animated, Zimbabwe Has Ambition: A Chat With Locarno Open Doors Film Producers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vicki Wickham, a talent booker and producer on the British TV show Ready, Steady, Go! and a manager for Dusty Springfield and Labelle, has died at 87.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,39,3201],"class_list":["post-4849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-international","tag-obituaries","tag-patti-labelle"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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