Roy Thomas Baker

born in 1946 in Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom

Roy Thomas Baker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Roy Thomas Baker

Roy Thomas Baker (Born in Hampstead, London, UK) is an English record and music producer, songwriter, arranger and Recording Academy governor, who has produced pop and rock records since the 1970s.[1]

Career

Baker began his career at Decca Records in England at the age of 14. Encouraged by music producer Gus Dudgeon he soon moved to Trident Studios, where he worked with music producer greats Gus Dudgeon, Tony Visconti, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Frank Zappa as well as recording artist The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Who, Gasolin', Nazareth, Santana, Mothers of Invention, Be Bop Deluxe, Free and T.Rex.

After co-founding Neptune (Trident's record company), Baker met a band that would eventually be known as Queen. He began a working relationship that lasted for five albums (Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races) and a number of awards including Grammy Awards and The Guinness World Records for the best single, "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Following his successes with Queen and other artists Baker signed a multi album production deal with CBS Music (Columbia Records, Sony Music, Epic Records, etc.). He then proceeded to move to the US and set up The RTB Audio Visual Productions' Offices in New York and Los Angeles. At this time under his new CBS deal RTB produced Journey, Starcastle, Reggie Knighton (The Grass Roots), Ian Hunter and Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones).

Baker, also at this time, committed to produce four albums for The Cars after being prompted by Elektra Records to see them perform in a Boston school gymnasium. The albums were certified platinum and The Cars were Grammy nominated.

He was offered the post as The Senior Vice-President of "Artist and Repertoire" (A and R) for Elektra Records as executive and/or producer with recording artists The World, Lindsey Buckingham, Mötley Crüe, Joe Lynn Turner, Josie Cotton and Dokken as well as continuing with Queen and The Cars. During his tenure as Sr. V.P. Elektra signed artists Metallica, Simply Red, Yello, Peter Schilling, The World and 10,000 Maniacs.

Baker has also worked with artists Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper, Foreigner, Pilot, Ozzy Osbourne, Devo, The Stranglers, Dusty Springfield, T'Pau, Cheap Trick and Lewis Furey. In 2005 he produced One Way Ticket to Hell and Back by The Darkness, The Smashing Pumpkins' 2007 album, Zeitgeist, The Storm's 2008 album When the Storm Meets the Ground, The Smashing Pumpkins' American Gothic and One Karma's 2011 album Life Got in the Way. He also produced Yes's forthcoming 2014 album Heaven & Earth, 35 years after his previous experience with the band, working on sessions in Paris that never led to an album.[2]

Personal life

Baker lives in Los Angeles, Europe and at the RTB Studio Du Lac, his recording retreat, in Arizona. He is married to entertainment executive and actress Tere Livrano Baker (The Godfather Trilogy, General Hospital )

Selected discography

Productions by Roy Thomas Baker:

  • Arnold Corns A.K.A.David Bowie: "Man in the Middle" (1971 released 1985)
  • Free: Fire and Water (1970)
  • Nazareth (band): Nazareth (engineer) (1971)
  • Nazareth: Exercises (1972)
  • Gasolin': Gasolin' 3 (1973)
  • Gasolin': Stakkels Jim (in English: "Poor Jim") (1974)
  • Queen (band): Queen (1973) (Credited as Roy Baker)
  • Queen: Queen II (1974)
  • Hawkwind: Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974)
  • Robert Calvert: Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters (1974)
  • Man : Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics (1974)
  • Queen: Sheer Heart Attack (1974)
  • Queen: A Night at the Opera (1975)
  • Jet: Jet (1975)
  • Be-Bop Deluxe: Futurama (1975)
  • Gasolin': Gas 5 (1975)
  • Lewis Furey: The Humours Of (1976)
  • Pilot: Morin Heights (1976)
  • Ian Hunter: Overnight Angels (1976)
  • Gasolin': Efter endnu en dag (1976)
  • Dusty Springfield It Begins Again (1978)
  • The Cars: The Cars (1978)
  • Queen: Jazz (1978)
  • Journey (band): Infinity (1978)
  • Journey: Evolution (1979)
  • Yes: Golden Age Sessions (1979)
  • Ron Wood: Gimme Some Neck (1979)
  • The Cars: Candy-O (1979)
  • Foreigner: Head Games (1979)
  • Alice Cooper: Flush the Fashion (1980)
  • The Cars: Panorama (1980)
  • The Cars: Shake It Up (1981)
  • Heavy Metal: "Motion Picture Soundtrack" (1982)
  • Devo: Oh, No! It's Devo (1982)
  • Cheap Trick: One on One (1982)
  • Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Motion Picture Soundtrack (1982)
  • Mötley Crüe: Too Fast for Love (1982)
  • Joe Lynn Turner: Rescue You (1985)
  • Jon Anderson: 3 Ships (1985)
  • American Anthem:"Motion Picture Soundtrack" (1986)
  • T'Pau: Bridge of Spies (titled T'Pau in the US) (1987)
  • Slade: You Boyz Make Big Noize (1987)
  • Ozzy Osbourne: No Rest for the Wicked (1988)
  • The Stranglers: 10 (1989)
  • Chris de Burgh: Spark to a Flame (1990)
  • Shy: Misspent Youth (1990)
  • Dangerous Toys: Hellacious Acres (1991)
  • The Stranglers: All Twelve Inches (1992)
  • Wayne's World: Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)
  • Local H: Pack Up the Cats (1998)
  • The Darkness: One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back (2005)
  • Elliot Easton: Change No Change (2006)
  • The Smashing Pumpkins: Zeitgeist (2007)
  • Transformers: "Motion Picture Soundtrack" (2007)
  • The Storm: Where The Storm Meets The Ground (2008)
  • The Smashing Pumpkins: American Gothic (2008)
  • Guns N' Roses: Chinese Democracy (2008)
  • Jimmy Chamberlin's This: "Great Civilization" (2010)
  • Maximilian Is King: Featuring Arthur Lynn and Nick Fowler "Songs To Kill Yourself With" (2012)
  • Yes: Heaven & Earth (2014)

See also

  • Category:Albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker
  • Category:Song recordings produced by Roy Thomas Baker

References

  1. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}
  2. http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/en/interviews/view/id/4957

External links

This page was last modified 14.05.2014 21:29:42

This article uses material from the article Roy Thomas Baker from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.