78 Year Old Record Producer/Engineer/Songwriter Roy Thomas Baker R.I.P.—Died April 12th, Family Just Announced
your record collection is surely filled with his work
Roy Thomas Baker, one of the rock era's most successful producer/engineers, best known for producing Queen's first five albums, as well as the first four albums by The Cars, died at age of 78 at his home in Lake Havasu City, AZ on April 12 his family just revealed. Cause of death not known. (Photo credit: Jimmy Steinfeldt)
Baker's best known production, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" released in 1975 is currently the most streamed song recording during the 20th Century. Baker began his career at Decca Studios working as second engineer to Gus Dudgeon and Tony Visconti. According to publicist Bob Merlis (much of the information contained herein is from Merlis's press release), Baker worked on recordings by, among others, Ten Years After, Dr. John, Ginger Baker’s Air Force, Savoy Brown, Moody Blues, Nazareth, Yes, David Bowie, Be Bop Deluxe, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Dusty Springfield.
By 1971 he'd graduated to chief engineer, recording Free's "All Right Now" as well as T.Rex's "Bang A Gong", among many others. He later moved to Trident Studios where his work developing, recording and producing the unknown band Queen, the fictional version of which was portrayed in the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody". In 1978 he produced The Cars debut album in George Martin's AIR Studios in London.
Some time later he moved to The United States where he produced albums by Journey, Ian Hunter, Lindsey Buckingham, Mötley Crüe and many others for his RTB Audio Visual Productions.
The Cars guitarist Elliot Easton recalled Baker and his contribution to their success. “Roy was one of the pieces of the puzzle that made The Cars what they became. He didn’t belabor anything or take things overly seriously. He was fun to work with, a mirthful guy whose affect was kind of Monty Pythonesque and, as it happens, a great cook.”
While with Elektra, Roy Thomas Baker oversaw the signing of Metallica, Simply Red, Yello, Peter Schilling and 10,000 Maniacs. Over the course of his career, he also produced Foreigner, Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick, Devo, Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hager, The Stranglers, Guns N’ Roses and Smashing Pumpkins. Jimmy Chamberlain of the Pumpkins noted of Baker, “That guy hears things that nobody else hears! I learned more with Roy Thomas Baker in those four or five months [recording the Zeitgeist album] than I have ever learned in my entire recording career.”
Roy Thomas Baker is survived by his wife Tere Livrano Baker and brother Alan Baker. Additionally, he leaves Eva Ashley, his aunt, Tere’s nephews Dominic Ledesma and Julian Ledesma, as well as sisters-in-law Lezlee, Lori and Lyn Livrano.
It’s been suggested that Roy Thomas Baker’s life was the inspiration for The Cars’ first hit single “Good Times Roll.”
Take some RTB records off the shelf (or stream), play and thank him for all the pleasure his engineering and production continues to deliver. First up here:
