Roy Thomas Baker, the revered British document producer who helmed Queen’s first 4 albums and later labored alongside acts together with The Vehicles, Devo, and Low-cost Trick, amongst others, has died on the age of 78.
Born in Hampstead, London, Baker received his begin as a second engineer for Gus Dudgeon and Tony Visconti, engaged on recordings by David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Ginger Baker’s Air Pressure, The Who, and extra. He ultimately set out on his personal, growing and producing a then-unknown band named Queen.
Baker produced Queen’s first 4 studio albums—Queen (1973), Queen II (1974), Sheer Coronary heart Assault (1974), and A Night time on the Opera (1975)—which yielded early hits akin to “Killer Queen” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” He additionally helmed their seventh album, 1978’s Jazz, which featured the only “Don’t Cease Me Now.” Queen’s Roger Taylor mentioned of Baker, “I feel he introduced a specific amount of self-discipline and quite a lot of cynicism and a ardour for fattening desserts. He favored his meals, Roy. He was very disciplined and really strict to start with . . . he would at all times get it proper. The take needed to be proper.”
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Baker’s success with Queen let to a multi-album manufacturing cope with CBS Music and gigs producing for Journey, Ian Hunter, and Ronnie Wooden. Most notably, he started a collaboration with The Vehicles that lasted 4 albums, from their 1978 self-titled debut by way of 1981’s Shake It Up, and spawned hits like “Simply What I Wanted, “Good Instances Roll,” and “Shake It Up.”
Within the early Eighties, Baker was named Senior VP of A&R for Elektra Data. Throughout this era, he labored with the likes of Devo, Low-cost Trick, Ozzy Osbourne, and Weapons N’ Roses, and likewise oversaw the signings of Metallica, Merely Crimson, and 10,000 Maniacs.
Later in his profession, Baker produced albums together with The Darkness’ One Manner Ticket to Hell… and Again and The Smashing Pumpkins’ Zeitgeist.