Gus Dudgeon

Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon (born September 30, 1942 in Woking , Surrey , † July 21, 2002 in Berkshire ) was a British music producer who achieved fame in particular through his collaboration with the British artist Elton John . Dudgeon died at the age of 59 in a traffic accident on the M4 motorway .

Beginning of his career

In the early 1960s, Dudgeon took up a job as a tea server at Olympic Studios in London, then one of the top addresses in England when it came to recording music. Without any musical or technical training, however, he managed to work his way up to sound engineer in just a short time .

After moving to the Decca studios in West Hampstead, London, he took on the duties of a sound engineer and worked with artists who were under contract there or were hoping to do so. He laid cables for the music recordings, connected the devices and positioned the microphones, everything to support the producer of the recording. For Dudgeon, these experiences would form the basis of his later music productions.

In the exercise of this activity he met artists such as The Artwoods , Bruce Channel , Davy Graham and Shirley Collins . Early successes for him were The Zombies with the single She's Not There in 1964 and John Mayall's 1966 album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton . He was part of the studio with the first test recordings of Tom Jones and the Rolling Stones . 1967 became the co-producer of Ten Years Afters debut album. During this time his productions of the Bonzo Dog Band and their two albums The Donut in Granny's Greenhouse and Tadpoles also fell .

In 1969 he became the producer of Rainmaker , Michael Chapman's first album , the following year of his second album Fully Qualified Survivor and in 1971 his third Wrecked Again . Each of these Michael Chapman albums included violin arrangements by Paul Buckmaster . Other work by Dudgeon included two successful albums for Elkie Brooks : Pearls and Pearls II . A first milestone for him in 1969 was the production of David Bowie's hit single Space Oddity .

Working with Elton John

After Dudgeon left Decca, he started his own company. Dick James , the publisher of Elton John, wanted to provide his second album Elton John with orchestrations by Paul Buckmaster. He suggested Dudgeon as a producer. This started his cooperation with Elton John in 1970. The first song they worked on together was Your Song . Dudgeon perfected the simple piano melody, Paul Buckmaster completed the orchestral arrangement. The title became John's first big hit. Dudgeon then became the producer of all of Elton John's subsequent albums through 1976.

In 1973 Dudgeon and John co-founded The Rocket Record Company with Bernie Taupin and Steve Brown . After the cooperation between Elton John and his then publisher Dick James ended, this company should own and market the rights to all new songs by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

With the album Blue Moves , the collaboration between Dudgeon and Elton John ended for no particular reason. It wasn't until 1985 that the two found each other for three more albums. The recording of the last concert of the 1986 Australian tour with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was the last album by Dudgeon and Elton John.

In 1995, Dudgeon remixed a number of Elton John's albums for re-release on CD.

Other work

1972 Dudgeon produced the debut album Whatever's for Us by Joan Armatrading , which was written by Pam Armatrading and Nestor. He also produced two singles for the songwriting team, Lonely Lady and Together in Words and Music . Both tracks were later added to the 2001 remixed CD edition of Whatever's for Us . Joan Armatrading dedicated her album Lovers Speak (2003) to Dudgeon and his wife Sheila.

In 1975 he produced Kiki Dee and her version of (You Don't Know) How Glad I Am , a song made famous by jazz singer Nancy Wilson in 1964.

Over the years Dudgeon has worked with a number of artists including Audience, Chris Rea , Ralph McTell , Gilbert O'Sullivan , Lindisfarne, Elkie Brooks , Fairport Convention , Sam Gopal Dream, The Sinceros, The Beach Boys , Mary Wilson, Solution , Voyager, Steeleye Span , XTC , Menswear, The Frank and Walters and Slinki Malinki. In 1989 Dudgeon produced the debut album by Thomas Anders (Ex- Modern Talking ).

At the end of 1976 he bought an abandoned water mill in Cookham (England), which he converted into a modern recording studio. It was mostly called simply The Mill , sometimes referred to as Sol Studios . It was originally intended to mix Elton John's albums for quadrophone playback, but this project was never realized.

The Guinness Book of Records names Dudgeon as the first person to use sampling in music editing. His 1971 production of John Kongos ' hit He's Gonna Step on You Again used a ribbon bow from African bush drums.

death

On July 21, 2002, Dudgeon and his wife Sheila died in a traffic accident. They were driving their Jaguar XK8 Cabriolet on the M4 when the car went off the road between Reading and Maidenhead .

Elton John performed at the Royal Opera House in London on December 1, 2002 . He had asked Dudgeon to record the concert for a new CD project. He dedicated the title Your Song , presented that evening, to Gus and Sheila Dudgeon (as well as the 2004 album Peachtree Road ) with the words: I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Gus's ability as a producer and an editor ... and a friend (Eng .: I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Gus' ability as a producer and editor ... and as a friend).

Web links

• Gus Dudgeon in theInternet Movie Database(English)
• Gus Dudgeon at Discogs (English)

swell

1. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1529775/bio
2. ↑ http://www.eltonjohn.com/about/gus-dudgeon/
3. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gus-dudgeon-mn0000944477/biography
4. ^ Philip Norman: Elton John. Harmony Books, New York 1992, ISBN 0-517-58762-9 , p. 435.
5. ↑ Sean Mayes: Joan Armatrading - A Biography (unauthorized) Verlag Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1990, ISBN 0-297-81058-8
6. ↑ http://www.eltonjohn.com/about/gus-dudgeon/
7. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1529775/bio
8. ↑ http://www.eltonjohn.com/about/gus-dudgeon/