Gus Dudgeon
Gus Dudgeon, The King producer!
Like many have said before, Gus Dudgeon was to Elton what George Martin
was to the Beatles. He started like many in the business as a tape operator,
where he worked with names like the Rolling Stones and the Zombies. Gus
took over Steve Brown's job as producer after Empty Sky in 1969. Paul Buckmaster
who was string arranger on the "Elton John" album was the one
who suggested Gus. The first album he produced for Elton was the "Elton
John" album, 1970. From then and throughout the seventies Gus created
a trademark sound for Elton. He has produced some of Elton's best work to
date, like "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Captain Fantastic".
Common for these albums are the choir arrangements and his flair for bringing
out the band's little instrumental sound pieces to the ears of the listener.
That not only gave the records a unique feel, but also a depth never heard
before. After "Blue Moves" in 1976, Gus decided to leave Elton
because of his change of musical direction. It is known that Gus was not
satisfied with several numbers on the album, such as "Cage the Songbird"
and "Bite Your Lip". In the meantime Gus worked with a varied
group of musicians : Kiki Dee, Marianne Faithful, Chris Rea and many others.
He later produced "Leather Jackets", "Ice On Fire",
and "Live in Australia .." in the mid eighties. It was planned
that Gus should have produced "Songs From the West Coast" but
Gus and his wife Sheila were sadly killed in a tragic car accident in 2002.
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Chris Thomas
Like Elton, Chris Thomas also attended
The Royal Academy Of Music as a child, studying violin. In 1968 he produced
a instrumental record by the "Bread and Beer Band" though never
released. The "Bread and Beer Band" was a group of session players,
including Elton. Later on, in the eighties Chris produced most of Elton's
work, "Jump Up !", "Too Low For Zero", "Sleeping
With the Past" etc.
Chris has worked with the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, John Cale among
others. His work with Elton has also brought him a grammy nomination. But
despite their history Elton chose Greg Penny to produce the "Made In
England" album in 1995. Chris returned in 1997 to produce "The
Big Picture". |
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Clive Franks
Clive
Franks has had a great influence on Elton's career. He started as a tape
operator on "Empty Sky" 1969 (Frank does the whistling in the
end of "Hymn 2000"). He has co-produced three of Eltons albums,
"The Fox", "21 at 33", "A Single Man". Together
they have produced several albums on the Rocket Record label. Working as
Frank. N. Stein productions ( Frank for Clive - and Stein for Steinway pianos
) Elton served as best man for Clive's wedding. |
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Steve Brown
Steve Brown's and Elton's
cooperation goes all the way back to Elton's first solo release "Empty
Sky", 1969. Steve was a big support for Elton and Bernie in the early
days where he encouraged the team to write the music they liked, instead
of writing what Dick James wanted them to. After producing "Empty Sky"
Steve realized that Elton would need a more experienced producer. Because
of Eltons great faith in Steve, he remained a member of Eltons management
until 1995. |
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Greg Penny
Greg met Elton in the early seventies
under the recordings to "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". But it was
not until the making of "Duets", 1993, that he started to produce
for Elton. He supervised the "Duets" release and co-produced the
album "Made In England" 1995, with no greater success. |
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Patrick Leonard
Patrick Leonard produced the album
"Songs From the West Coast", 2001. The album was a little comeback
for Elton, where he went back to the basics. Patrick is also known for his
work with the rock band "Red Hot Chili Peppers". |
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Don Was
Don
Was produced the new songs for the "To be continued .." box set
which included the single "You gotta love someone". The b-side
"Medicine Man" was produced by Adamski. Don Was has also worked
with Bonnie Raitt. |
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Pete Bellotte
Pete Bellotte wrote and produced the disco album "Victim Of
Love", 1979. Besides from that he has also worked with Donna Summer
and played with the band Trax. |
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Phil Ramone
Phil Ramone worked as a recording engineer on the album "17-11-70
/ 11-17-70", 1970. Many years later he produced the live album "One
Night Only", 2000. Phil is also known for his work with Billy Joel. |
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Matt Still
Together with Elton Matt Still
produced "Captain And The Kid" which is the "sequel"
for "Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy". Before this
he has worked on several of Elton's projects like "Elton Johns Christmas
Party" where he produced the track "Calling It Christmas",
a duet with Joss Stone. He was assistent engineer on "The Road To El
Dorado" and he also made the vocal recordings on " Don't go Breaking
My Heart ", the later version with Rupaul. Also he engineered and mixed
the "Peachtree Road" album. Beside his work with Elton he has
among other things produced "Speakerboxx-love below" for the band
Outkast which won a price for the record of the year. |