Mick Thornton
Lighting Designer and Tour Manager for famous
artistes and rock/pop bands, Mick Thornton,
completed a National Diploma in Graphic Design
at Bradford Art College in 1983.
The list of artists and bands that Mick has been
lighting designer, production or tour manager for
reads like a Who’s Who of music and includes The
Stone Roses, Smokey Robinson, PJ Harvey, Morrissey,
Englebert Humperdink, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath,
East 17, The Cure, Judas Priest, The Moody Blues,
Andrea Bocelli, The Libertines, Lulu, Gipsey Kings,
Sophie Ellis Bextor and Shayne Ward.
In 2003 Mick was nominated for Lighting Designer
of the year at the Total Production Awards but was
runner up along with the LDs for the Rolling Stones,
Radiohead and Kylie Minogue.
“I have fond memories of my time at Bradford
College from an educational and social point of view.
There were some very talented individuals who have
influenced my life to date. The Govs (Govinder Nasran,
the artist) and the Koots (Rod Chambers who was
doing a BA as a mature student at the ripe old age of
24. He is still painting, teaching part time and wowing
everyone with his encyclopaedic understanding
of spaghetti westerns. He has recently lectured at
Edinburgh University on the subject!) of this world.
The person I feel I learned so much from was Lecturer,
Brian Jocking. I just loved the way he worked and
still have some of the photographs he took of Keith
Richards on my office wall. He was kind to me and
treated me with respect when I was a very young and
naive16 year old.
I often wonder what direction my life would have run
if I had continued my studies in graphic design. But I
left College and met a very special guy named Robb
Heaton, who was the drummer in a band called New
Model Army. They were touring Europe in a mini bus
and needed a light/crew guy. He said that he had
seen me dancing at Pickwick’s and that I was artistic.
A simple ‘do you fancy coming on tour and having
a go?’ The following day I set off for Scandinavia,
followed by Japan, I remember looking out of the
airplane window with a large vodka and tonic and
seeing the Great Wall of China and thinking not many
people from my life would ever see this. Sentimental
old dog! But a great experience.
And many more were to come my way, from watching
Ozzy being coaxed on stage in Brazil to having
breakfast with Alice Cooper in Germany and hearing
his stories about the good bad old days. At 44 I
have travelled around the world countless times with
hundreds of acts and feel very fortunate to have met
and worked with the people I still continue to respect
and love.
It has got harder being away now that I have a
beautiful wife and son. I try and arrange as much
design work (AutoCAD) and media server design which
I work from home, but this year I am away about 8
months of the year.”
Photograph supplied by Mick Thornton