Terry Melcher

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Terrence "Terry" Melcher (born February 8, 1942 in New York , † November 19, 2004 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American music producer and songwriter . He was also the only child of the film actress Doris Day . Terry Melcher was best known as the producer of the folk rock band The Byrds .

Live and act

Terrence P. Jorden was the son of Doris Day from her first marriage to trombonist Al Jorden . After the birth, the then 20-year-old Day filed for divorce. At the age of ten, Terry was adopted by Day's third husband, film producer Marty Melcher , and was renamed Terrence Melcher. The family lived in Beverly Hills .

Melcher and Johnston

Terry Melcher wrote numerous hits. In the early 1960s he worked with the future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston . They released numerous singles in the trendy surf sound under the names Bruce & Terry, The Hot Doggers and The Rip Chords , including Hey Little Cobra , which reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1964 . In the mid-1970s, Johnston and Melcher revived this collaboration. Between 1974 and 1976 Terry Melcher released two solo albums with the help of Bruce Johnston.

Columbia producer

At the age of 22, Terry Melcher became staff producer at Doris Days record company Columbia Records , where he was responsible for the “youth music” division. Here he produced surf music under pseudonyms such as The Rip Chords, Bruce & Terry or The Rogues, but also directed youth-oriented recordings by Doris Day, Frankie Laine and Eddie Hodges. When rock music developed in the mid-1960s , he was instrumental in the sound of the Rising Sons , the joint group of Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal , as well as Paul Revere & the Raiders .

The Byrds

After the West Coast label Capitol Records was able to establish a solid rock group with the Beach Boys , Columbia was looking for a similar figurehead. They bet on the folk rock band The Byrds . Terry Melcher produced both the debut album Mr. Tambourine Man and the equally successful successor Turn! Turn! Turn! The best-known song from the collaboration with the Byrds is the Bob Dylan title Mr. Tambourine Man . Melcher also made the decision to  record the song with the exception of Roger McGuinn and his characteristic Rickenbacker guitar by experienced studio musicians - the Wrecking Crew .

Charles Manson

In 1968 Terry Melcher founded his own record and production company Equinox Records , with which he produced the Doris Day Show from 1968 to 1973 . He and his partner Candice Bergen moved into a house on 10050 Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills. The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson , who lived in the neighborhood , introduced Melcher to Charles Manson and his supporters. After several test recordings with Manson, however, he declined to produce an album with him. Manson was upset and would often visit Melcher unannounced at his home. After Melcher moved to Malibu in 1969 , the owner Rudolph Altobelli rented the property to the director Roman Polański and his wife Sharon Tate . Tate and several guests present were murdered there on August 9, 1969 by the so-called Manson Family . Melcher then withdrew almost completely.

The 1970s and 1980s

Between 1969 and 1971 Terry Melcher produced the three Byrds albums Ballad of Easy Rider , (Untitled) and Byrdmaniax . In the mid-seventies, Melcher became active again with Johnston, who had left the Beach Boys, revived Equinox Records and produced with him, among others, Barry Mann, Jack Jones, Bill House and the Legendary Masked Surfers. In 1985 he joined the Beach Boys as a songwriter through the mediation of Johnston. He wrote the tracks Getcha Back and Rock 'n' Roll to the Rescue for the band . In 1988 he wrote and produced, for the most part, the Beach Boys album Still Cruisin ' , which includes the number one hit Kokomo . Melcher was nominated for the Golden Globe in 1988 with Kokomo . The album Summer in Paradise , which Melcher wrote and produced for the Beach Boys in 1992, was the low point of his career, as the badly performing album was taken off the shelves after a few weeks.

Together with his mother Doris Day, Melcher also ran the "Cypress Inn" hotel in Carmel, California . He also managed his mother's charity work. Some of his previously unreleased recordings with her appeared on Doris Day's 2011 album My Heart .

Private life

Terry Melcher was married three times. At first he was Melissa E. Brown's husband for four years. At a friend's wedding, he met Jacqueline Carlin, who had just been divorced from Chevy Chase . They married in 1981 and had son Ryan in 1983. From 1998 to 2004 he was married to his third wife Terese.

Before his death, Terry Melcher suffered from dementia , which contemporary witnesses see as a result of his long-term alcohol consumption. According to Roger McGuinn , Terry Melcher started excessive drinking after the "Manson Story". After Melcher was diagnosed with skin cancer, he refused any treatment. He died on November 19, 2004 at the age of 62 in Beverly Hills.

Discography (selection)

Involved musician

  • Bruce Johnston: Surfin '' Round the World (1963; CD on Sundazed)
  • The Hot Doggers: Surfin 'USA (1963; CD on Sundazed)
  • The Rip Chords: Hey Little Cobra (1964; CD on Sundazed)
  • The Rip Chords: Three Window Coupe (1964; CD on Sundazed)
  • Terry Melcher: Terry Melcher (1974; CD on Collector's Choice)
  • Terry Melcher: Royal Flush (1976)

producer

  • Paul Revere & the Raiders : Here They Come (1965; CD on Sundazed)
  • Paul Revere and the Raiders, Just Like Us (1965) (CD on Sundazed)
  • Paul Revere and the Raiders, Midnight Ride (1965) (CD on Sundazed)
  • The Rising Sons (1965) (CD on Sony)
  • The Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) (CD on Sony)
  • The Byrds: Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965) (CD on Sony)
  • Paul Revere and the Raiders, Revolution (1966) (CD on Sundazed)
  • Paul Revere and the Raiders, Their Spirit of '67 (1966) (CD on Sundazed)
  • Paul Revere and the Raiders, A Christmas Present and Past (1966)
  • The Gentle Soul, The Gentle Soul (1967) (CD on Sundazed)
  • Grapefruit , Around Grapefruit (1968) (CD on repertoire)
  • Grapefruit, Deep Water (1969) (CD on repertoire)
  • The Byrds: Ballad of Easy Rider (1969) (CD on Sony)
  • The Byrds: Untitled (1970) (CD on Sony)
  • The Byrds: Byrdmaniax (1971) (CD on Sony)
  • Bill House, Give Me a Break (1974)
  • Oklahoma, Oklahoma (1977)
  • Rab Noakes, Restless (1978)
  • Freeway, freeway (1979)
  • The Late Show, Snap! (1979)
  • Susan Lynch, Big Reward (1981)
  • The Beach Boys: Still Cruisin ' (1987)
  • The Beach Boys: Summer in Paradise (1992)
  • Doris Day: My Heart (2011)

literature

  • Naomi Webster-Grundl: RS Legends: Terry Melcher . In: Rolling Stone , Issue 272, June 2017, pp. 78–81.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Naomi Webster-Grundl: RS Legends: Terry Melcher . In: Rolling Stone , 272/2017, p. 78.
  2. ↑ Terry Melcher in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  3. ↑ a b Naomi Webster-Grundl: RS Legends: Terry Melcher . In: Rolling Stone , 272/2017, p. 80.
  4. ↑ Hey Little Cobra . billboard.com; Retrieved June 4, 2012.
  5. ^ Ed Sanders: The Family - The Story of Charles Manson 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek b. Hamburg, 1995. pp. 211-298.
  6. ↑ Juliane Lutz: One night with Doris. In: FAZ.net . September 6, 2006, accessed December 14, 2014 .
  7. ↑ a b Naomi Webster-Grundl: RS Legends: Terry Melcher . In: Rolling Stone , 272/2017, p. 81.
  8. ↑ Terry Melcher. Obituary. In: The Daily Telegraph , November 23, 2004.
personal data
SURNAME Melcher, Terry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melcher, Terrence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American music producer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 2004
Place of death Beverly Hills , California