Shel Talmy RIP

Shel Talmy, who has died aged 87, was one of the top UK based record producers of the sixties who guided the early careers of artists such as the Kinks, the Who and David Bowie. Born in Chicago he moved early on to LA where he graduated from the same high school as Jerry Leiber, Herb Alpert, Michael Jackson and Phil Spector. As part of the 'Wrecking Crew' he worked on records produced by the likes of Gary Paxton, Rene Hall and Bumps Blackwell. But it was only when he relocated to the UK in 1962 that his production career took off. Signed to Decca as an independent record producer he was responsible for 'Charmaine' by the Bachelors and under-appreciated singles by Wayne Gibson (whose recording of 'Beachcomber' I picked up only yesterday) and girl group the Orchids among many others. In 1964 he began producing records by the Kinks, beginning with their first 45 'Long Tall Sally' and all their early hits including 'You Really Got Me' right up to 'Waterloo Sunset' in 1967. He also produced the Brunswick hits by The Who, including 'I Can't Explain' and 'My Generation', early records by David Bowie when he was known as Davy Jones, the Easybeats, Manfred Mann, Roy Harper and Pentangle. Other sixties productions included records by the Zephyrs, the Dennisons, the Fortunes, Johnny B Great, Amen Corner, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, Houston Wells and the Nashville Teens. He formed his own short-lived record label Planet with Arthur Howes whose early releases included several by the Creation. He worked on a wide variety of albums including ones by Tim Buckley and Lee Hazlewood and remained in demand in the seventies, with production deals with the Bell and Charisma labels. By this time he was more focused on book publishing and film making but in 1977 he produced a record by the Damned. He returned to the US in 1979 but continued to produce records on occasion.