Tom Vickers
Tom (pictured with George Clinton, left) was born and raised in Boston and graduated from San Francisco State University. He wrote for Rolling Stone and Phonograph Record in the mid-'70s and became the "Minister of Information" for Parliament-Funkadelic. He has worked at major labels for close to twenty years as either a publicist, music publisher or A&R man, including in the following roles:
1980-1982, West Coast Director of Publicity, A&M Records.
1985-1988, Professional Manager, Almo Irving Music.
1988-1990, Director of A&R, Capitol Records.
1998 to 2001, A&R consultant, Vanguard.
1990-April 1997 Senior Director of A&R, Mercury/Parachute Records.
Currently he is a music consultant and career coach.
18 articles
List of articles in the library
Little Feat: Feats Don't Fail Me Now (Warners BS2784)
Review by Tom Vickers, Midnight Sun, 3 October 1974
Feats is cult ...
George Benson: Keystone Korner, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Tom Vickers, Midnight Sun, 28 November 1974
Some things of funk and feet ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, B.B. King: B.B. King, Bobby Bland: Winterland, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Tom Vickers, Midnight Sun, 16 January 1975
North Beach walk ...
Graham Central Station: Ain't No 'Bout-a-Doubt It (Warner Bros. BS 2876)
Review by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 6 November 1975
LARRY GRAHAM and company create infectious, commercial funk that may grab but doesn't hold. Graham is a competent bass player and singer but lacks depth ...
Labelle: Paramount Theater, Oakland, CA
Live Review by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 6 November 1975
Climax Lacks at Glittering Labelle Premiere ...
KC & the Sunshine Band, George McCrae: Sunshine Band Sees Daylight — That's the Way K.C. Likes It
Profile and Interview by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 20 November 1975
SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA — K.C. and the Sunshine Band threw a down-home dance party on the Circle Star Theatre's usually sedate stage. Whistles turned to ...
Bill Withers: Making Music (Columbia PC 33704)
Review by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 1 January 1976
BILL WITHERS' metier is middle-of-the-road soul. On Making Music, Withers has traded in his earlier, sparse sound for a muted lushness. The browns and deep ...
Journey's Long Road: From Santana to Space Rock
Interview by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 15 January 1976
SAN FRANCISCO — A few years after acid rock dried up in the Bay Area, the talk turned to the music of the Mission district ...
Kenny Gamble, O'Jays: The O'Jays: Loving the Music with Gamble & Huff
Report and Interview by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 15 January 1976
LOS ANGELES — Walking by what used to be a restaurant at the Beverly Comstock Hotel in Beverly Hills, one wonders why they keep playing ...
Earth, Wind & Fire: Earth, Wind and Fire: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA
Live Review by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 26 February 1976
Cosmic Come-On: Earth, Wind & Too Much Fire ...
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass: Break Up Everybody: The Blue Notes Split
Report and Interview by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 25 March 1976
PHILADELPHIA — Two blocks from Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International offices, Theodore Pendergrass sat and talked about how the Blue Notes had changed from waking ...
Ted Nugent Unleashes His Little Ball of Fire
Report and Interview by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 8 April 1976
HAMMOND, INDIANA — Most rock stars look to groupies, drugs or hotel wrecking to relieve the tensions of the road. But Ted Nugent, who ...
Report and Interview by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 20 May 1976
The only way for our music to go is the way the world goes. And where it goes negative, we're going to show where it ...
George Clinton, Funkadelic, Parliament: A Journey to the Center of Parliament/Funkadelic
Report and Interview by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 26 August 1976
They're Coming to Take You Away, Ha-Ha ...
Syreeta Wright: One To One (Motown t6-349ST)
Review by Tom Vickers, Phonograph Record, April 1977
MOST FEMALE singer-songwriters are prisoners of producers, and Syreeta Wright is no exception. Her most popular release, Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta Wright, came out in ...
Interview by Tom Vickers, Black Music, May 1977
Choreographer Cholly Atkins is the most important figure in the history of black music stage presentation. The choreographer who conceived all those unison spins and ...
Interview by Tom Vickers, Phonograph Record, June 1977
COMPLEX, MYSTERIOUS, INSPIRED & STUBBORN KIND OF FELLOW ...
Stevie Wonder: Hotter Than July (Tamla)
Review by Tom Vickers, Ampersand, February 1981
THE PAST few years have seen Stevie Wonder bury his soulful fire with overblown pretention (Songs in the Key of Life) or symphonic dross (The ...
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