Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is an English music video and film director, writer and musician from Catterick, North Yorkshire, now based in Los Angeles, California. He has directed many pop videos, for singers who include Britney Spears,[1] Toto and Band Aid.[2]

Education

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Educated at Gresham's School in Holt and the University of Bath, Dick began to work for a degree in architecture before pursuing a career in the record business. He has studied mime and is also a graduate of Judith Weston's Acting for Directors class.

Career

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Before success in the music and film industries, Dick worked as an architectural draughtsman, a clerk, a busker, a cab driver, a construction worker, a farm labourer, a motorcycle messenger, a salesman, a waiter, and served a spell in the Sewage Division of the Anglian Water Authority.

He began his career in the record business working at Stiff Records, where he stayed for five years working as a Press Officer with Madness, Ian Dury, Lene Lovich, and the Plasmatics. In the early 1980s he moved to Phonogram Records, and while there directed the original Band Aid video "Do They Know It's Christmas?". In 1986, Dick moved to Los Angeles to direct his first feature film, P.I. Private Investigations (1987), starring Ray Sharkey and Martin Balsam. Since then, he has directed more than twenty documentaries and feature films and over three hundred music videos.

In 1986, he co-founded Propaganda Films, which became a major production company for commercials and music videos.

Dick directed the Britney Spears videos "...Baby One More Time", "(You Drive Me) Crazy", "Sometimes", and "Oops!... I Did It Again",[3][4] the Band Aid video "Do They Know It's Christmas?", and over 500 other music videos.[5] Other groups whose videos he has directed include Backstreet Boys and Guns N' Roses.[4]

In 1999, Dick directed MTV's first made-for-TV feature 2gether. The film spawned a TV series and two albums. Dick co-wrote a number of songs on the first album which reached the US Top-40 chart. In 2003, he directed Seeing Double for Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment, which starred British pop act S Club 7.

In 2008, E! Television announced that Dick would be co-exec producing an observational documentary TV series starring Pamela Anderson titled: Pam: Girl On The Loose.

The artists and bands Dick has directed to date include The Offspring, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Jessica Simpson, Cher, Breaking Benjamin, Anastacia, Carly Simon, Def Leppard, Steve Lukather, Nickelback, Oasis, Kula Shaker, Toni Braxton, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Il Divo, Elton John, Ricky Martin, Paul McCartney, Amy Lee, Tina Turner, Celine Dion, REM, Gloria Estefan, S Club, Pussycat Dolls, Tears for Fears and Ozzy Osbourne.[6]

Awards

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Dick's film work has won three MTV awards, two Billboard Awards and three MVPA awards. His videos have won a BRIT Award and been nominated for more than twenty MTV Video Music Awards, sixteen MuchMusic Video Awards and a Grammy Award. His personal nominations include a Cable Ace Award.

In 2000, Dick was given a Lifetime Achievement Award in the MPVA Awards.[7]

Musician

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Dick was a founding member of pub-rock act and Stiff Records house band The Stiff All Stars. The band was briefly signed to Stiff Records competitor Chiswick Records in 1980 and subsequently released four singles. Band line-up was Andy Murray (guitar, vocals), Nigel Dick (bass, vocals), Pete Glenister (guitar), Nicky Graham (keys), Nick Garnett (drums) Hugh Attwooll (drums). Despite the band's name, only Murray and Dick actually worked at Stiff Records; Glenister went on to write and produce for Alison Moyet, Kirsty MacColl, Darius; Graham went on to write and produce Bros. The band appeared on TV, toured frequently and supported Jools Holland, Any Trouble, Madness amongst others. Jamie West-Oram featured in an early line-up but left to join The Fixx. Thirty years after the release of their first single The Stiff All Stars released their first album '12.5 on a 10 Point Scale' which featured new tracks and previously unreleased songs featuring Jeff Porcaro (Toto) and Carl Verheyen (Supertramp).

Dick also appeared four times as a backing musician on BBC's famous 'Top of the Pops': three times with Jona Lewie ('Kitchen at Parties', 'Stop The Cavalry') and once with The Snowmen ('Hokey Cokey').

As a guitarist, he has released three albums:

  • Flesh, Blood, Wood, Steel
  • All Stars And All Sorts
  • Weird Stain

Traveller

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Dick travels by bicycle and has made cycle tours in fourteen countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, and various European countries, including the United Kingdom.

Selected music video credits (as director)

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Year Song Artist
1983 "I Think I'll Get My Haircut" Jona Lewie
1984 "Mothers Talk" Tears for Fears
"Shout"
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" Band Aid
1985 "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" Tears for Fears
"Head over Heels"
"I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording)"
"Living on the Borderline" Smash Palace
1987 "Welcome to the Jungle" Guns N' Roses
1988 "Sweet Child o' Mine"
"Paradise City"
"Rocket" Def Leppard
1989 "Patience" Guns N' Roses
1990 "Love Will Lead You Back" Taylor Dayne
1992 "TV Crimes" Black Sabbath
1993 "Right By Your Side" Enuff Z'Nuff
"Another Night" Real McCoy
"Down in a Hole" Alice in Chains
1994 "Rock 'n' Roll Star" Oasis
1995 "Wonderwall"
"Run Away" US version Real McCoy
1996 "Falling into You" Celine Dion
"It's All Coming Back to Me Now"
"Tattva" Kula Shaker
"Wide Open Space" Mansun
"Don't Look Back in Anger" Oasis
"Champagne Supernova"
"A Thousand Times a Day" Patty Loveless
"Slang" Def Leppard
"Work It Out"
1997 "As Long as You Love Me" Backstreet Boys
"All I Have to Give" TV Version / DVD Version
"Push" Matchbox Twenty
"When the Angels Sing Social Distortion
"Gone Away" The Offspring
"How's It Going to Be" Third Eye Blind
"I Want You" Savage Garden
"To the Moon and Back"
1998 "Don't Go Away" Oasis
"Shorty (You Keep Playing with My Mind)" Imajin featuring Keith Murray
"Only When I Sleep" The Corrs
"...Baby One More Time" Britney Spears
"Cruel Summer" Ace of Base
"When the Lights Go Out" US version Five
"I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" Marc Anthony & Tina Arena
1999 "At My Most Beautiful" R.E.M.
"Sometimes" Britney Spears
"(You Drive Me) Crazy (The Stop! Remix)"
"I'm Outta Love" Anastacia
"Believe" Cher
"Don't Say You Love Me" M2M
"Strong Enough" Cher
"Me, Myself & I" Vitamin C
2000 "Oops!... I Did It Again" Britney Spears
"I Think I'm in Love With You" Jessica Simpson
"Swear It Again" (U.S. version) Westlife
"Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" Fuel
"Breathless" The Corrs
"Innocent" Fuel
"Tell Me" Mel B
"Pretty Boy" M2M
"I Wanna Be with You" Mandy Moore
2001 "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" Train
"Cowboys & Kisses" Anastacia
"Bad Day" Fuel
"Drowning" Second Version Backstreet Boys
"Astounded" Tantric
"Aroma" Pru
"For You" Staind
2002 "Too Bad" Nickelback
"Never Again" Nickelback
"Hero" Chad Kroeger (featuring Josey Scott)
"That's What Girls Do" No Secrets
"Kids in America"
"Alive" S Club
2003 "Someday" Nickelback
2003 "Like What Tommi (group)
2004 "Out of the Blue" Delta Goodrem
"Vindicated" Dashboard Confessional
(Spider-Man 2 soundtrack)
"Broken" Seether (featuring Amy Lee)
"Angel" The Corrs
"Everything to Me" Brooke Hogan
2005 "Far Away" Nickelback
"Blind" Lifehouse
"Dancing" Mai Kuraki
"Photograph" Nickelback
"Stickwitu" Pussycat Dolls
2006 "Always on Your Side" Sheryl Crow & Sting
"Savin' Me" Nickelback
"Rock On" Def Leppard
"The Time of Our Lives" Il Divo & Toni Braxton
2007 "Better Than Me" Hinder
2008 "Absolutely Positively" Anastacia
"Gotta Be Somebody" Nickelback
"Underneath the Same Sky" Kenny Loggins
2009 "I'd Come for You" Nickelback
"If Today Was Your Last Day"
"Never Gonna Be Alone"
"I Love This Town" Clive Gregson
"Constant as the Wind" Carl Verheyen
"First There Is a Mountain" Kenny Loggins
2010 "Give Me a Sign" Breaking Benjamin
"Ambitions" Joe McElderry
"Monster High Fright Song" Monster High
"This Afternoon" Nickelback
"Fever" Bullet for My Valentine
"Bittersweet Memories"
"Pretend" Destinee & Paris
"Not a Love Song" Wonderland
"Lose My Mind" The Wanted
2011 "Bittersweet" Clive Gregson
"The Road Divides"
Live DVD
Carl Verheyen
"Wranglin'" 3 Boxes
"Gold Forever" The Wanted
"Starlight" Wonderland
"The Last Goodbye" David Cook
"Something To Say" The Brilliant Things
"Give" LeAnn Rimes
2012 "Forbidden Kiss" Frank Gambale
"Lullaby" Nickelback
"Start of Something Good" Daughtry
"Bang, Bang" Beth Hart
2013 "Borrowed" LeAnn Rimes
"Spirit of Julia" Carl Verheyen
"These Things You Do" Billie Rainbird
"Cantik Calls"
"My Kind of Girl" Clive Gregson
2014 "A Billion Girls" Elyar Fox
"Dirt" Florida Georgia Line
"Wastin' Gas" Dallas Smith
"All I Want for Christmas is You" Fifth Harmony
2015 "Lifted" Dallas Smith
"She Keeps Me Up" Nickelback
"Get 'Em Up"
"Satellite"
"Kids with Cars" Dallas Smith
2016 "Behind the Sun" Fastball
2017 "I Will Never Let You Down"
"We're On Our Way"
"Song on Fire" Nickelback
2022 "Those Days"

Credits as director (feature films)

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Credits as screenwriter (feature films)

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References

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  1. ^ Goldstein, Jessica M. (23 October 2018). "'Britney Spears wanted to be a star': An oral history of '...Baby One More Time'". EW.com. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  2. ^ Sonego, Anthony (28 February 2020). "Nigel Dick, Toto Video Director: Something Else! Interview". Something Else!. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  3. ^ Britney Spears's 'Oops!… I Did It Again' Director Looks Back At Her Iconic Trip To Mars: As the video turns 20, Nigel Dick shares his memories from the intergalactic rom-com, MTV.com, accessed 14 June 2023
  4. ^ a b Alix Strauss, Britney Spears: An Unauthorized Biography (St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2014), p. 53
  5. ^ Nigel Dick gives his works "DF" (Dick Films) numbers, and as of 4 June 2014 had reached DF514. See nigeldick.com
  6. ^ "Nigel Dick", discogs.com, accessed 14 June 2023
  7. ^ Carla Hay, "Chemical Bros. video wins 3 MPVA Awards", Billboard, April 29, 2000, p. 94
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