Tom Dowd was an innovative record producer and engineer who helped develop the Atlantic Records sound thanks to hundreds of popular albums he collaborated on. A master of physics, Dowd worked on the Manhattan Project while in the Army prior to his days at Atlantic. The Manhattan Project was the code name for the development of the first atom bomb. After his time in the service, Dowd got a job in the studio at Atlantic Records where he produced or engineered albums by the likes of Ray Charles, Bobby Darin, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Derek & the Dominos, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, the Allman Brothers, and many many more. Dowd was far from a silent producer behind the board. He has been credited numerous times for helping develop and shape the sound of the artist into what ultimately made them famous. He was also instrumental in the growth of stereo and eight-track recording in the industry. Dowd continued to work right up until the time of his death, October 27, 2002. He died of emphysema a week after his 77th birthday.
Walt Andrus was a recording engineer for Austin, Texas based label, International Artists. While working with International Artists, Andrus engineered numerous psychedelically charged groups as Red Krayola, Golden Dawn, and most famously, 13th Floor Elevators whose Andrus produced Easter Everywhere is considered by many to be the most truly psychedelic album ever recorded. Walt Andrus, 72, died of melanoma.
Greg Ladanyi was an engineer and producer who worked with some of the biggest acts of the ’70s and ’80s. His talents can be heard on landmark albums by the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, the Church, the Cruzados, David Lindley, and Toto. In 1983, he won a Grammy for Best Engineered Album for Toto IV. In recent years he was working with Greek singer and actress, Anna Vissi. On Friday, September 25, 2009, Ladanyi was injured in an accident while on stage with Vissi. He suffered head injuries that lead to his death on September 29, 2009. He was 57 years old.
Jerry Finn was a well-respected producer who lent his talents to a who’s who of alternative rock, artists like Blink-182, Green Day, Sum 41, AFI, Rancid, the Offspring, Morrissey, Alkaline Trio and many others. While working on a Morrissey release in July of 2008, Finn suffered a massive brain hemmorage. Never regaining consciousness, he was taken off life support on August 9 and passed away twelve days later. He was just 39.
Born to a well-to-do family in Istanbul, Turkey, Arif Mardin, moved to the United States in 1958, having been awarded a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. After graduating, Mardin moved to New York City to break into the music business. He took a job at Atlantic Records as assistant to fellow Turkish immigrant, Nesuhi Ertegun. Within no time, Mardin became the label engineer and producer and eventually Sr. Vice President of the company. Along with Tom Dowd and Jerry Wexler, he would be credited for creating the legendary “Atlantic Sound.” Over his career he produced hits by a who’s who of popular music, and in doing so was awarded a dozen Grammys and over 40 gold and platinum records. Artists that he produced include Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, Diana Ross, Queen, Aretha Franklin, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Dusty Springfield, and many more. Arif Mardin died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 74.
Andy Huhges was a respected UK music producer who is best remembered for his work with the Orb and Basement Jaxx. His work on the Orb’s “Toxygene” single helped it reach #4 on the UK charts back in 1997. He’s also done work on music by the Cranberries and Tangerine Dream. He died of a short undisclosed illness at the age of 44.
Elmer Alley’s career spanned radio, television, cable television and the record industry, but he is probably best known as one of the creators of Nashville’s Fan Fair and Opryland. As a recording engineer, Alley worked on records by, among others, Hank Williams and Burl Ives. He passed away on June 9, 2008 at the age of 87.
Stephen Bruton was a beloved Texas songwriter, guitarist, and producer. Born in Fort Worth, Bruton’s first big break came at age 22, when he was asked to play in Kris Kristofferson’s band. Since then, Bruton has been an entertainment jack of all trade. After many years as a sideman, Bruton stepped out to the front of the stage and became a headliner himself. As a respected songwriter, he’s written songs for Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Jimmy Buffett, Martina McBride and many more. As a producer, he worked the board for such greats as Joe Ely, Alejandro Escovedo, Hal Ketchum and others. Bruton also engineered albums by the likes of Ziggy Marley, John Mellencamp and R.E.M. He even had some acting credits, appearing in such films as A Star Is Born, Miss Congeniality, and Heaven’s Gate. But it was his outstanding guitar work that might end up being his strongest legacy. Over the years, he’s been heartily invited to play on projects by Elvis Costello, Delbert McClinton, Carly Simon, Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge, and many more. Bruton was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2007 and succumbed to it in Los Angeles where he was working on the soundtrack to Jeff Bridges’ upcoming film, Crazy Heart.
Larry Levine, was the gifted studio engineer who helped producer Phil Spector create the “wall Of sound.” He took Spector’s vision and made it work on such hits as “Be My Baby,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” and “Da Do Ron Ron.” Outside of Spector, Levine worked on records by the likes of Eddie Cochran, the Beach Boys, Sonny & Cher, and the Carpenters. In 1965, Levine won a Best Engineering Grammy for his work on Herb Alpert’s “A Taste Of Honey.” After years of suffering from emphysema, Larry Levine died in his home on his 80th birthday.
Norman “Hurricane” Smith was a British engineer and producer who worked closely with George Martin and who could count the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Pretty Things among his successes. He was lead engineer on every song the Beatles ever recorded at EMI Studios. After being promoted to A&R and Producer at EMI, he signed Pink Floyd to the label. And along with his work with both Pink Floyd and the Pretty Things, he reluctantly helped usher in what would become known as psychedelic rock. In the early 1970s, Smith recorded under the name Hurricane Smith and had a couple of hits including “Don’t Let It Die” and “Oh Babe, What Would You Say?.” John Lennon’s nickname for Smith was “Normal.” Cause of death was not determined by press time, but likely Smith likely died of natural causes at the age of 85.
Remembered most for his sweet, bubbly 1970 album Montego Bay, Bobby Bloom also played a role as a songwriter and entrepreneur connected to the Kama Sutra/Buddah group of labels. He did engineering work for a number of artists, including Louis Jordan and Shuggie Otis. He formed a producing/songwriting partnership with Jeff Barry that included working on a late Monkees album. Early solo projects include Love Don’t Let Me Down and Count on Me, but his break came with Montego Bay. All of the recordings that followed it employed its successful formula of pop, calypso, and rock. They include Heavy Makes You Happy and the Bobby Bloom Album, which was produced by Barry. Toward the end of his life, Bloom suffered from depression and was killed in an accidental shooting on February 28, 1974. – Stacia Proefrock (allmusic)
Largely through chance, Mal Evans became (with Neil Aspinall) one of the Beatles‘ two main road managers throughout Beatlemania. Aspinall and Evans were probably, aside from manager Brian Epstein, the two people most apt to be in the Fab Four’s company from 1963 to 1966, the most intense years of their international fame. After the Beatles stopped touring in late 1966, Evans remained a personal assistant to the group, and landed a few minor bit parts in Beatles recording sessions and films. He did, however, have ambitions to be more than a gopher at some point, getting involved in record production at the end of the 1960s. Although he wasn’t really qualified to be a professional in this field, he did some work in this capacity for Beatle/Apple Records proteges Badfinger, whom he helped bring to the attention of the Beatles to begin with. Evans was a 27-year-old telecommunications engineer at the post office in Liverpool when he came across the Beatles by accident in 1962. On a lunch break, he passed the Cavern Club, went in, became a regular with more visits, and eventually became a bouncer for the venue. In the summer of 1963, Brian Epstein asked him to become the Beatles’ second manager, as the group’s increasingly frenzied touring schedule was proving impossible for Neil Aspinall to handle alone. Evans was responsible, among other things, for driving their equipment to gigs, setting it up, testing it, and packing it up. Considering this was for the Beatles, it was far more glamorous than working for the post office. Because he was always with the group during their tours, he can be glimpsed in various scraps of film footage from the time. Even at the end of touring, Evans was still involved in handling their equipment as it was transported among recording sessions and promotional films. Because he was in the studio so often, he ended up making minor contributions to some of their tracks, probably because he was a friend and he was there. His miscellaneous credits including as the voice counting the bars on an outtake of “A Day in the Life,” digging the gravel on “You Know My Name,” singing as one of the large chorus on “Yellow Submarine,” hitting one of the piano notes that ends “A Day in the Life,” playing harmonica on “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” playing some incidental percussion on “Magical Mystery Tour,” playing trumpet on “Helter Skelter,” doing handclaps on “Birthday.”..you get the idea. He wasn’t a musician, he was just called upon to do simple things that anyone could have done. He also had bit roles in the Magical Mystery Tour film, in which he played one of the magicians, and the Let It Be movie, in which he can be seen talking to police before they come up to the Apple headquarters rooftop to stop the Beatles’ live performance. When the Beatles were running Apple, Evans got slightly involved in the artistic end of things. In 1968, he brought demos by an unsigned band called the Iveys to Apple, and it was as a result of his uncommon enthusiasm for the music that Paul McCartney actually listened to and got enthusiastic about it as well. The Iveys signed to Apple in 1968, and in 1969, after a few releases as the Iveys, changed their name to Badfinger, who were one of the finer pop-rock groups of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were also the most successful act (other than the Beatles) to record for Apple. At the tail end of 1968, Evans actually started to get involved in the Iveys/Badfinger sessions as producer. He ended up producing much of the material that ended up on their Magic Christian Music LP, as well as their hit single “No Matter What” (although he did not produce their first hit, “Come and Get It,” which was produced by Paul McCartney). However, he was ousted from the group’s affairs in mid-1970, partly, according to the Badfinger biography Without You, because Badfinger manager Bill Collins felt that Evans was angling to get involved in their management too. Badfinger’s production was turned over to Geoff Emerick, who had been closely involved with the Beatles’ recordings from 1966 to 1969 as an engineer. Badfinger was not Evans’ sole production effort from the late 1960s. He also did an unreleased track with the obscure British band Rupert’s People, although a Record Collector article claimed that “the rather muddy, distant feel to the song proved that Mal was no producer.” With the breakup of the Beatles and the decline of Apple, Evans had less to keep him occupied in the music business. He moved to Los Angeles and somehow ended up producing some ofKeith Moon’s disastrous solo album, Two Sides of the Moon, there in 1974. The Evans-supervised sessions from these were considered so unsuitable that many of the parts were re-recorded with a different producer, Skip Taylor. The failure of the project probably exacerbated his low spirits and substance abuse problems. At the end of 1975, he was shot dead by Los Angeles Police in a murky incident at his girlfriend’s apartment. – Richie Unterberger (allmusic)
Tom Dowd was an innovative record producer and engineer who helped develop the Atlantic Records sound thanks to hundreds of popular albums he collaborated on. A master of physics, Dowd worked on the Manhattan Project while in the Army prior to his days at Atlantic. The Manhattan Project was the code name for the development of the first atom bomb. After his time in the service, Dowd got a job in the studio at Atlantic Records where he produced or engineered albums by the likes of Ray Charles, Bobby Darin, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Derek & the Dominos, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, the Allman Brothers, and many many more. Dowd was far from a silent producer behind the board. He has been credited numerous times for helping develop and shape the sound of the artist into what ultimately made them famous. He was also instrumental in the growth of stereo and eight-track recording in the industry. Dowd continued to work right up until the time of his death, October 27, 2002. He died of emphysema a week after his 77th birthday.
Greg Ladanyi was an engineer and producer who worked with some of the biggest acts of the ’70s and ’80s. His talents can be heard on landmark albums by the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, the Church, the Cruzados, David Lindley, and Toto. In 1983, he won a Grammy for Best Engineered Album for Toto IV. In recent years he was working with Greek singer and actress, Anna Vissi. On Friday, September 25, 2009, Ladanyi was injured in an accident while on stage with Vissi. He suffered head injuries that lead to his death on September 29, 2009. He was 57 years old.
Jerry Finn was a well-respected producer who lent his talents to a who’s who of alternative rock, artists like Blink-182, Green Day, Sum 41, AFI, Rancid, the Offspring, Morrissey, Alkaline Trio and many others. While working on a Morrissey release in July of 2008, Finn suffered a massive brain hemmorage. Never regaining consciousness, he was taken off life support on August 9 and passed away twelve days later. He was just 39.
Larry Levine, was the gifted studio engineer who helped producer Phil Spector create the “wall Of sound.” He took Spector’s vision and made it work on such hits as “Be My Baby,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” and “Da Do Ron Ron.” Outside of Spector, Levine worked on records by the likes of 
