Andy Watkins

Absolute are London based music producers responsible for a number of hits including 7 UK No. 1 singles, 20 UK Top 10 singles, 1 US No. 1 single and record sales in excess of 50m records worldwide.

Formed in 1988 by University friends Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins, Absolute initially existed under the name ‘Bristol Bassline Productions’. They remixed artists such as Biz Markie and The Chimes.

In 1991 they underwent a name change to Absolute which was initially a band/songwriting project spawning two singles "Don't You Wanna Be Mine" (1991) and "Introduce Me to Love" (1992) on Rhythm King Records, the track featured John Paul Barrett on vocals. Following the singles they ventured into the world of dance remixes and achieved critical acclaim for their work on artists such as Lisa Stansfield, Melanie Williams, the Nightcrawlers, James Taylor Quartet and Al Green.

Pete Evans of Big Life Management approached the pair offering representation. Evans was considering branching out on his own and with the help of Simon Fuller formed Native Management with Absolute as his initial signing. In the 1990’s Tracey Ackerman joined the songwriting duo as a regular writing partner.

In order to have the pair focus on songwriting, Simon Fuller offered the band a publishing contract through BMG Music. Around this time Absolute were introduced to a new girl band called ‘Spice’, by BMG Publishings Mark Fox. Informing Fuller of the girls they had found, Absolute asked if he would consider managing them. A period of songwriting commenced and eventually Virgin Records signed the band, now known as Spice Girls.

The first album Spice was released in November 1996 leading to a BRIT nomination Best Producers. Also in 1996, following an approach by Alan Pell of Polydor Records, the duo write the theme tune to the new Mr. Bean movie – a song which would be recoded by Irish pop group Boyzone. The song "Picture of You" went on to win the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song in a Film in 1997.

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