Henry Lewy
Henry Lewy (actually Heinz Lewy ; born May 31, 1926 in Magdeburg ; † April 8, 2006 in Prescott , Arizona ) was an American sound engineer from Germany . He has recorded some hugely successful pop and folk albums, including by Joni Mitchell , Leonard Cohen , Neil Young , Crosby, Stills and Nash , Stephen Bishop and Judee Sill .
Life
Lewy was born into a Jewish family in Magdeburg, where his father Emil Lewy owned an agricultural machinery business. The family left Germany in 1939 and traveled to England and Canada before settling in Savannah , Georgia , and then Los Angeles , California . Henry Lewy graduated from Hollywood High School in 1945 and served in the US Army before working as an audio engineer and announcer at radio stations in San Diego , Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
In the 1950s he studied engineering and traveled to South America . For some time he worked as an engineer in a circus before he got a job at Electrovox Studios in Los Angeles in 1959. Shortly after, he moved to Liberty Records , where he worked with Ross Bagdasarian on Alvin and the Chipmunks . He also worked at Gold Star Records with Jackie DeShannon and Leon Russell, and with Bones Howe on records from The Mamas and the Papas and Johnny Rivers . In 1967 he moved to A&M Records , where he worked on hit records by Sérgio Mendes and Boyce and Hart .
During his work with Crosby, Stills and Nash, David Crosby introduced him to Joni Mitchell, which led to a long and very successful collaboration. Lewy worked with Mitchell on the development and production of Clouds , Ladies of the Canyon , Blue , Court and Spark , The Hissing of Summer Lawns , Hejira , Wild Things Run Fast, and other albums from the 1960s to 1980s.
A similar collaboration developed with Neil Young ( Harvest , 1972), Judee Sill ( Heart Food , 1973), Leonard Cohen ( Recent Songs , 1979), Minnie Riperton ( Minnie , 1979), Van Morrison ( Common One , 1980) and Jennifer Warnes ( Famous Blue Raincoat , 1986).
Lewy retired in the late 1980s and lived in Prescott, Arizona for later years. He died there at the age of 79.
literature
- Jon Thurber, Henry Lewy, 79; Sound Engineer, Music Producer Worked With Joni Mitchell , in: Los Angeles Times , April 19, 2006 ( online )
- David Yaffe, Joni Mitchell. A portrait , Berlin 2020
Movie
- The Man Behind The Music: The story of Henry Lewy, the unsung giant among the music producers and engineers of the rock era , documentary, director: Bob L. Burton, USA 2017, 38 minutes ( Credits by IMDb )
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lewy, Henry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lewy, Heinz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American sound engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 31, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Magdeburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 8, 2006 |
| Place of death | Prescott , Arizona |