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Obituaries
Pat Foxton dies
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 2 April 2009
Pat Foxton, former employee of EMI and CBS/Sony, and wife of The Jam’s Bruce Foxton (pictured with her husband), has died during a course of intensive treatment for cancer in Tel Aviv.
Foxton began her career in the music industry when she joined EMI-owned United Artists/Liberty Records as a press officer back in 1979, working with the likes of Don MacLean and Gerry Rafferty. She moved to CBS Records in 1981, and during nine years with the company worked with artists such as Michael Jackson, Abba, The Pet Shop Boys, Wham, Dead Or Alive and The Stranglers.
Foxton, nee Stead, married Bruce Foxton in 1984, and it was only a few years later, in 1989, that she was initially diagnosed with cancer. She left CBS Records, by that time owned by Sony, and devoted her time to working with charities and encouraged music celebrities such as George Michael and Mariah Carey to support the causes she was concerned with.
Paul Russell, who was chairman of CBS Records during Foxton’s time there, told Music Week: “She had poise, charm and was extremely gracious. Old fashioned words, but fundamental if you are going to get your own way without ever raising your voice – which Pat never did. Pat Foxton had the full deck. She looked like a model, married a rock star, never flaunted it and was just extraordinarily hard working and brilliant at her job. She had a sense of humor that demanded intelligence to appreciate. She could wind me round her little finger and I never admit to that lightly.
He continued: “Her family’s support has been totally extraordinary but not unexpected. I am just so sad that this amazing woman who fought so inspirationally for her life has now left a vacuum that can only be filled by our reverence for her courage and humility. I am very proud to have called her a friend”.
