Roy Thomas Baker, the journeyman rock manufacturer who used to be at the back of the forums on hits just like the Vehicles’ “Simply What I Wanted” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” has died. He used to be 78.
Baker died previous this month, April 12, at his house in Lake Havasu Town, Arizona, even though his circle of relatives best simply printed the scoop. A reason behind demise has now not but been established.
Baker labored with one of the vital greatest rock acts of the previous 50 years, together with Queen, Lindsey Buckingham, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Smashing Pumpkins, Weapons N’ Roses, Foreigner, Alice Cooper, and Reasonable Trick. He additionally labored as an A&R govt at Elektra, the place he oversaw the signings of Metallica, 10,000 Maniacs, Yello, and extra.
Baker started his profession as a 2nd engineer at Decca Studios in London, running underneath luminaries like Tony Visconti and Gus Dudgeon. He labored on data by way of the Rolling Stones, the Who, David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, and extra, in the end emerging during the ranks to change into leader engineer. Amongst his earliest successes have been T. Rex’s “Bang a Gong” and Unfastened’s “Alright Now.”
Baker met and started running with Queen within the early 1970s, putting up a fruitful courting that noticed him co-produce their first 4 albums: 1973’s Queen, 1974’s Queen II and Sheer Middle Assault, and 1975’s A Night time on the Opera. The latter album went to Quantity One, propelled by way of the seminal wreck “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
A portrait of Brian Would possibly, John Deacon, Freddie Mercury from the British band Queen with document manufacturer Roy Thomas Baker at press convention on the Fairmont Lodge, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, thirty first October 1978. David Tan/Shinko Track/Getty Pictures
Following his luck with Queen, he went on to supply the Vehicles first 4 albums — their 1978 self-titled debut, Sweet-O the next 12 months, 1980’s Landscape,and 1981’s Shake It Up. The albums spawned hits together with “Simply What I Wanted,” “My Absolute best Buddy’s Lady,” “Excellent Occasions Roll” and “Shake It Up.”
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His forays into generating the Vehicles within the 1980s discovered him pulling a bit of again from the large manufacturing sounds of Queen and increasing into new wave subject matter from bands like Devo, whilst nonetheless helming the forums for laborious rock bands comparable to Adventure, Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hager, Weapons N’ Roses, and extra.
Throughout his time at Elektra, he served as an govt manufacturer or manufacturer for artists comparable to Lindsey Buckingham, Dokken, and Mötley Crüe and signed artists Metallica, 10,000 Maniacs, and extra.
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In a 1999 interview, Baker famous how “Bohemian Rhapsody” bucked towards the craze on the time of rock bands being “so intent on being heavy.” He stated the perception at the back of “Bohemian Rhapsody” — with its multi-part mix of rock, pop, and opera — “used to be now not precisely a groovy thought,” describing it as a substitute as “principally a shaggy dog story, however a a success shaggy dog story.”
He persevered: “We needed to document it in 3 separate gadgets. We did the entire starting bit, then the entire heart bit after which the entire finish. It used to be entire insanity. The center section began off being simply a few seconds, however Freddie [Mercury] saved coming in with extra ‘Galileos’ and we saved on including to the opera segment, and it simply were given larger and larger. We by no means stopped guffawing.”
