Tessa Watts (born Stephanie Siddons; 25 October 194513 May 2014) was an English music video and music film producer. She worked with artists including

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

INXS INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...

, and

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

. She is best known for her work at

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

, and with MTV International. Watts's career started at

, where she was one of the original members of the Virgin team. She has been credited as suggesting the company name Virgin – as all the company's members were "virgins" to business. As press officer at the record company for bands including the Sex Pistols, her work plunged Virgin into the mainstream of the punk rock era.Tessa Watts and Nathan Joseph
Nathan Joseph – Renaissance Man. Soon taking over all production at Virgin Records, she commissioned over 1,500 music videos, including

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

's " Sledgehammer" video. "Sledgehammer" (1986) is the most awarded music video of all time, and won Best Video Awards in the UK, Europe (including at Cannes) and the USA. In 1999, it ranked at number four on MTV's 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made, and has also been declared to be MTV's number one animated video of all time. MTV later announced that it is the most played music video in the history of the station. The video was partly animated by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winner

Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is an English filmmaker and animator who created '' Wallace & Gromit'', '' Creature Comforts'', '' Chicken Run'', '' Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy ...

(of '' Wallace and Gromit'' fame); the video was Park's first job at Aardman Animations.Nick Park at Brit Movie
Nick Park Brit Movie. In 1986, Watts set up the programming department for the European launch of MTV. Three years later, she received a Grammy Nomination for producing Mike + The Mechanics' acclaimed music video for " The Living Years". In 1989, Watts was named managing director of Propaganda Films (''

Adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

'', '' Being John Malkovich'') in London, working with directors including David Fincher and

Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special eff ...

. In 2002, she began working with Sanctuary Records Group as the director of production. She was recruited by Metropolis Group in 2006 as an executive producer for the company's broadcast production division.

Personal life

Watts divorced rock journalist Michael Watts, formerly of music magazine ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' in 2008, with whom she had a son and a daughter, media executive Sophie Watts. She was a member of the influential

Whitney family The Whitney family is a prominent American family descended from non-Norman English immigrant John Whitney (1592–1673), who left London in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elm ...

.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3685694/ IMDB Following her divorce she moved to near Pau, France. She died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

on 13 May 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Tessa 1945 births 2014 deaths English music video directors English film producers Deaths from pancreatic cancer People from Bedfordshire 20th-century English businesspeople