Thomas Mitchell Watt[1] (31 October 1925, Glasgow – 20 May 2006, Bristol, England) was a Scottish jazz bandleader.
Born to a working-class family, his father a machinist toolmaker,[2][3]
Watt was hired as a pianist by Carl Barriteau at age 17, and served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He moved to London following the war, where he played with Ambrose, Harry Roy, and Ken Mackintosh. He teamed up with actor Brian Rix, whom he had met during the war, in 1955 to record a demo, which eventually led to a contract with the BBC. After making appearances behind Matt Monro, Watt was hired by Parlophone for session and arranging work. In 1956 Watt put together his first big band, which played at Quaglino's, a London restaurant. Among his sidemen were Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Ross, Jackie Armstrong, Tommy McQuater, Bert Courtley, and Phil Seamen.
Watt became one of the better-known British bandleaders of the 1950s, winning an Ivor Novello Award for the song "Overdrive" and releasing their first LP record in 1958. Watt's arrangements of Count Basie songs so impressed Basie himself that he incorporated some of Watt's changes into his own performances. After disbanding his ensemble, Watt worked with Rix on stage shows and films, including the 1961 movies The Night We Got the Bird and Nothing Barred. He led the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra and the BBC Big Band briefly in the early 1960s, but squabbles with management quickly ended this contract. In 1964 he assembled the Centre 42 Big Band, and through the end of the decade wrote for television and directed singers Tommy Cooper and Freddie Starr.
In 1970, Watt put together a new group to perform at the Dorchester Hotel in London, but was dissatisfied with the gig and disbanded the orchestra soon after. He left music, aside from occasional piano performances, and became an interior decorator.
Watt was married to journalist Romany Bain from 1962 until his death in 2006.[4] Their son Ben Watt became famous in his own right as a member of Everything but the Girl.
^Romany and Tom, Ben Watt, Bloomsbury, 2014, p. 340
^Romany and Tom, Ben Watt, Bloomsbury, 2014, p. 139
^"Obituary: Tommy Watt". TheGuardian.com. 29 May 2006.
^Vacher, Peter (30 May 2006). "Obituary: Tommy Watt". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
were Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Ross, Jackie Armstrong, Tommy McQuater, Bert Courtley, and Phil Seamen. Watt became one of the better-known British bandleaders...
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Castellano. Watts was not a made man due to being only Italian on his maternal side, while being German, Welsh on his paternal side. After caporegime Tommy Bilotti...
big band and jazz world including Billy May, Robert Farnon, Les Brown, TommyWatt, Angela Morley, Stan Tracey, Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Russo, Gerald Wilson...
receive any funding from the exchequer. 1933–1941: Sean Murray 1941: TommyWatters 1970–1983: Michael O'Riordan 1984–2001: Jimmy Stewart 2002–2023: Eugene...
Starring Brian Rix Cinematography S.D. Onions Edited by Bert Rule Music by TommyWatt Production company Rix-Conyers Distributed by British Lion Film Corporation...
Tommy Makinson (born 10 October 1991) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a Fullback and winger for St Helens in the Betfred...
2017) 31 October John Pople, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) TommyWatt, jazz bandleader (died 2006) 1 November – Dickson Mabon, politician (died...
Hello Tomorrow! (2023). In June 2023, he married British actress Naomi Watts. Crudup was born in Manhasset, New York. His parents, Georgann (née Gaither)...
Terry Waldron 1954: Jim Collins 1960: Sean Dunne 1968: Tom Brady 1971: TommyWatt 1978: Paddy Carmody 1979: Sam Nolan 1884: Joseph Nannetti 1904: F. Farrell...
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