Tom Wilkes

Thomas Edward Wilkes (July 30, 1939 – June 28, 2009) was an American art director, designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director.

Wilkes was born in Long Beach, California and raised in southern California. Wilkes attended Long Beach City College, UCLA, and the Art Center College of Design in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1967 Wilkes was the art director of the Monterey Pop Festival. From 1967 through 1969, he was the art director of A&M Records. He was a partner with Barry Feinstein in Camouflage Productions from 1970 through 1973, and a partner in Wilkes & Braun, Inc. from 1973 through 1974. In late 1974 and early in 1975, Tom was a partner and creative director in Hot M Productions along with David Lear, Drake Morton and Merrick Morton. He was art director of ABC Records from 1975 through 1977, and in 1978 he started Tom Wilkes Productions and became president of Project Interspeak, a nonprofit corporation.

Wilkes was responsible for scores of award-winning designs. In the Grammy Awards of 1974, he received a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for Tommy performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir. In addition to creating hundreds of posters, logos, books, trade ads and illustrations, Wilkes designed such significant covers as the "invitation" iteration of the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet; George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and The Concert for Bangladesh; Cheech & Chong's Big Bambu; and Neil Young's Harvest and Homegrown. Wilkes also produced and directed TV and radio spots, music videos, films, mixed media presentations and special events.

The two Beatles compilation albums released in 1973, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970 (also known as the Red and Blue Albums), were designed by Wilkes. His name was shown (only on the US versions of these albums) in the bottom left-hand corner of the paper sleeve (side four) for housing the vinyl record.

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Wilkes was art director for the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. Monterey was the first widely promoted rock festival in the world, and subject of an acclaimed documentary movie entitled Monterey Pop by D. A. Pennebaker.

Wilkes designed all the print material for the festival, including the 80-page program book.

Album package, photography and design for George Harrison and Friends' Concert for Bangladesh album (1971) was provided by Tom Wilkes and Barry Feinstein for Camouflage Productions. Wilkes also provided design and photography for the subsequent Apple Films movie release. In 2005, he contributed to the documentary The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends, as part of the DVD release for the concert film.

For the album's front cover, Wilkes used a confronting image showing a naked child beside an empty food bowl,^[2] in an effort to bring home to record-buyers the plight of the refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War.^[3] In his book on the Beatles' Apple Records releases, author Bruce Spizer describes the cover as "haunting".^[2] Spizer writes: "In selecting the photo, Wilkes wanted a picture that would generate sympathy without being overly horrific ... Wilkes's design is a simple but highly effective logo that drives home the point of what motivated the concert."^[2] According to Jonathan Taplin, who served as production manager at the Concert for Bangladesh, Apple distributor Capitol Records were concerned that the image was not commercial enough, but Harrison was resolute that Wilkes's cover should be used.^[4]

In 2004, Wilkes discussed this cover image, and his involvement in Harrison's aid project, with journalist Matt Hurwitz of Goldmine magazine:^[5]

Hurwitz: "So on to The Concert for Bangla Desh (1971), which is a beautiful cover, certainly one of your top pieces. Where did the cover photo of the child come from?"

Wilkes: "This is an AP or UPI released picture of a starving child... I did extensive airbrushing and then did this design, this presentation of it. I kind of cleaned it up a little. I spent hours looking at horrible, horrible footage, and we eventually selected this shot. Some of the other photos in the book are from the rest of the film footage I reviewed. It was difficult to watch. We just took stills from the film."

Hurwitz: [Wilkes displays a 1-inch high pewter medallion of the boy on this front cover, framed in the arched outline.] "Where did this come from?"

Wilkes: "We did Bangla Desh gratis for them. We did it just because we wanted to contribute to George's cause, so we just worked on expenses. He flew us to New York [for the two concerts at Madison Square Garden]. We did all the photography, on the stage, and we put the whole package together. George gave these, as a little present, to everybody who donated their time. I also have a really nice letter from UNICEF thanking me, which was really great."

Wilkes along with his partner, Craig Braun, was awarded [Grammy Awards ] by NARAS in 1973 as art director for the 1972 Ode Records' version of Tommy as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir with Guest Soloists.