He is principally known as a songwriter and musician and for co-writing and recording "Karma Chameleon", one of the biggest hits of the 1980s era with Boy George and Culture Club during his tenure as keyboard player and backing vocalist for the group on every live performance throughout the world during the 1980s. Prior to this, Pickett co-founded hit-making pop band Sailor in 1973 which achieved considerable chart-topping success in the mid-1970s glam rock period. Pickett's songs have also been recorded by many other artists including Labi Siffre, Sheena Easton, Georgie Fame, Joe Cocker, Brian Kennedy and Malcolm McLaren, used in countless TV commercials and included in the soundtrack of Hollywood films Electric Dreams, Top Secret!, The Lost Boys and his West End Musical Theatre debut, Casper The Musical.
Early years
Pickett was born on 19 November 1946 in Münster, Germany (B.A.O.R.), the only child of father Philip George Pickett, an RAF pilot officer killed in a flying accident in Rhodesia in 1950 and mother Eileen Elizabeth Pickett who died in Spain in 1993.
Upon leaving school at Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham, England, in 1964, he took the advice of a family mentor, Philip Sutton, a director of Garfield Weston's Associated British Foods, by choosing to take an apprenticeship in the bakery industry, but by this time was also immersing himself in a growing passion and talent for musical composition. An interest in American music, particularly R&B, led him to form his first band, "The Blues Unit" with some school and college friends. After completing his apprenticeship on his 21st birthday, whilst taking a 12-month sabbatical travelling across the US, Pickett enjoyed a brief but life-changing chance encounter with the jazz musician Duke Ellington in a North Beach supper club in San Francisco, who whilst raising a glass to the young man, advised him to "follow his heart" and return to England to pursue a music career instead.
Music career 1969–1973
Upon hearing an early arrangement of an obscure Peter, Paul and Mary album track, the then relatively unknown "Leaving on a Jet Plane" that Pickett had curated and was now performing with his folk singing partner Paddy Maguire at "Mother's" in Erdington 1968, Warner Bros executives Ian Ralfini and Martin Wyatt arriving from London to audition the duo. Realising the track was already published by Warners, released it a few weeks later and the song climbed to No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart staying in that chart for 16 weeks.[1]
Moving to London in 1969, Pickett was employed as an arranger by E. H. Morris, a US music publisher based in Hanover Square, London with the added responsibility of sifting through the many tapes sent in by hopeful writers. One of the songwriters was Norwegian guitarist / vocalist, Georg Kajanus, who after being recommended to the publisher, Pickett contacted with a view to forming a group. The duo, now called "Kajanus Pickett" recorded an album of self-composed material, Hi-Ho Silver for Arty Mogul's Signpost label, an imprint of Atlantic Records. Around this period Pickett also worked with Vanda and Young, playing on many of their early tracks and also wrote a number of songs with Scott English and BA Robertson, all of them E. H. Morris songwriters in the late 1960s/early 1970s. One of his songs, "Lay Me Down" was recorded by Georgie Fame – Pickett's first significant 'cover' recording.
Sailor, 1973–
Although the Kajanus Pickett L.P. achieved fairly limited success upon release, in 1973 Pickett co-founded pop band Sailor with Kajanus with the addition of keyboard player, Henry Marsh, and drummer, Grant Serpell. Sailor recorded a total of 10 albums throughout their career achieving considerable UK and international success during the early to mid-1970s with a number of hit singles produced by Jeffrey Lesser and Rupert Holmes, most notably "A Glass of Champagne" and "Girls Girls Girls" – the former hit dislodging Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" at the UK No. 1 spot in the NME chart in 1976 after having resided at the No. 2 slot for several weeks. (Thirty years on, in 2006, 'Champagne' was again heavily featured, this time in a TV advertising campaign for Marks and Spencer accompanied by some of the world's top supermodels and widely attributed as a major contributory factor in the High Street retailer's successful renaissance and rebranding exercise). The band topped the charts all over Europe in the 1970s earning many gold albums and sell-out tours with a reputation for extravagantly unique and theatrical productions. The group also frequently appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops TV show and Mike Mansfield's Supersonic on LWT together with their many overseas equivalents.
Kajanus eventually left the group in 1978 with Pickett taking up the reins of Sailor by recording Dressed for Drowning (Epic/Caribou), an album predominantly written by him and produced by US record producer James William Guercio at his Caribou Ranch Studios in Colorado in 1979. This incarnation featured Pickett's bandmate Henry Marsh and newcomers, brother and sister duo, Virginia (Ginny) and Gavin David, Serpell having left to become a teacher. In a Playboy interview at the time, the Beach Boys' Carl Wilson, who later sang with Pickett on one of the Caribou recordings ("Whatever's in Your Heart") named Dressed For Drowning his favourite album of that year (1980). Another of his songs, "Don't Send Flowers" was covered by Sheena Easton as the opening track of her debut triple-platinum album Take My Time, considerably adding to Pickett's growing reputation as a pop songwriter in that year.
In 1993, Pickett whilst attending meetings in Germany, was approached by pop impresario/ promoter, Rainer Haas with a view to reform the original line-up of Sailor; Georg Kajanus, Grant Serpell, Henry Marsh and himself to perform a series of concert tours throughout Germany and Austria. Upon agreement to the generous terms negotiated by Pickett, the band were immediately signed up by Haas to play 100 concerts during 1993–94 and performed their music to bigger audiences than in their entire hit-making career throughout the early to mid-1970s. Sailor were unique amongst their erstwhile contemporaries for (a) being a 100% original line-up and, (b) for recording two new contemporary hits in Benelux and Germany in the 1990s – "The Secretary" and "La Cumbia". These tracks were recorded on an earlier recording project for BMG on two albums, Sailor and Streetlamp, for which Kajanus composed all the material, as in earlier years a pre-condition of his involvement in recording.
Sailor's music catalogue is still controlled by the band's first manager, Steve Morris, son of the late E. H. (Buddy) Morris to the present day through his company Sashay Music.
In 1995, Kajanus retired from live performance, his place being taken up by lead guitarist/vocalist Peter Lincoln. Grant Serpell retired in 2011 and was replaced by Henry Marsh's son Thomas Marsh. Peter Lincoln left to join The Sweet in 2006 and was replaced by Oliver Marsh, Henry's younger son on lead vocals and guitar. According to the band's own website, Sailor stopped performing in May 2014.[2]
Culture Club / Boy George 1982–86
On returning to England from the US in 1982 Pickett, by now in demand as a session player and arranger, joined Boy George's band, Culture Club on keyboards and backing vocals initially co-writing "It's a Miracle" and "Karma Chameleon". The latter song, according to Sir Richard Branson (in Losing My Virginity) to whom his label Culture Club were signed "Became Number 1 in every country in the world that had a chart, selling 1.4 million records in the UK alone". This earned Pickett two Ivor Novello Awards,[3] possibly the music industry's most prestigious songwriting award in 1983 – for "Best Pop Song" and "Highest-Selling A-side".[4] Pickett played extensively on all of the band's records throughout this period. He also co-wrote many other songs with the band including "Move Away" produced by Arif Mardin which, in 1986, climbed to Number 7 in the US Billboard chart before the lead singer's drugs conviction in the UK, which eclipsed the band's career and prospects for several years afterwards.
However Pickett composed a number of other songs with Boy George prior to this period, including the title track of the movie Electric Dreams sung by P.P. Arnold and "How Silly Can You Get" sung by Val Kilmer, debuting in the Zucker Brothers' Top Secret! "Karma Chameleon" was featured in Boy George's production of the Taboo musical in London's West End (2013), and the track is consistently employed as a ubiquitous 1980s presence in countless Hollywood movie soundtracks and TV advertising campaigns throughout the world.
In 1989, Pickett discovered charismatic Nigerian singer songwriter Keziah Jones busking in Portobello Road London, a relationship that soon evolved into management. After considerable initial success, the two parted company in 1994 but were back together again 17 years on, when the by now highly successful performer and recording artist approached Pickett in 2010 for exclusive representation a second time around. Pickett's management company, Rugged Management LLP now manages Keziah and a few other selected artists and projects.
Pickett was actively involved in the successful PPL campaign for the 'Extension of Copyright Term' from 50 to 70 years. On behalf of the PPL and the Musicians Union he gave a speech at the Houses of Parliament in 2009, in front of MP's journalists and government ministers. In 2012 he was voted on to the board at B.A.S.C.A. (The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) and as a previous Ivor winner, was involved in helping to set up a contemporary televised national songwriting competition. In December 2012, Pickett signed a long term administration / publishing deal for his back catalogue and current and future songs with Imagem Music Publishers / Boosey and Hawkes.
Throughout a long career in the music industry, Pickett has also been associated with a variety of artists, writers and producers including Phil Ramone, Quincy Jones, Arif Mardin, Stewart Levine, Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker, Jeff Beck, Take That, Malcolm McLaren and has written songs for West End musical theatre Casper[3] and The Mask and Hollywood movies, including Electric Dreams, Top Secret! and The Lost Boys.
In July 2015, Pickett was invited to join the songwriting fraternity - The Society Of Distinguished Songwriters[6] or "S.O.D's" as they are commonly known in the business. Other members include Sir Tim Rice, Justin Hayward, Mike Batt, Gary Barlow and Björn Ulvaeus.
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↑ Rhys-Morgan, Dean. Bold, Beautiful and Damned: The World of 1980's Fashion Illustrator Tony Viramontes, London: Lawrence King Publishing Ltd., 2013 ISBN978-1-78067-3073, p. 33
↑ "Sailor". Sailor-music.com. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
Other sources
Losing My Virginity by Sir Richard Branson published by Crown Publishing Group, ISBN978-0812932294
Take It Like a Man by Boy George and Spencer Bright published by HarperCollins, ISBN978-0060173685
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