Shel Talmy

American composer, arranger and producer, Shel Talmy is known for forging the raw sound of British bands such as The Who and The Kinks, among many other collaborations. Born in Chicago on August 11, 1937, Sheldon Talmy trained as a sound engineer in Los Angeles, before moving to Great Britain in 1962, where he managed to get himself hired by the Decca label, claiming to have produced The Beach Boys. Despite the deception, he was already working with The Bachelors and The Who, producing their first three singles, including "My Generation". Now a freelance producer, he set about making the guitar tones, recorded at high volume, as brutal and distorted as possible. Between 1964 and 1967, he was present at every session with The Kinks, helping to amplify the wild, rough sound of "You Really Got Me" or "All Day and All of the Night", or to enhance the sophisticated melodies of "Sunday Afternoon" and "Waterloo Sunset" . In addition, Shel Talmy produced two early David Bowie singles and sculpted the sound of The Creation, whose guitarist Eddie Phillips used a bow, before working with The Easybeats on "Friday on My Mind" and with many other artists and groups such as Chad & Jeremy, Manfred Mann, Roy Harper, Pentangle, The Nashville Teens, Bert Jansch, Amen Corner, Tim Rose, The Blues Project, The Sallyangie and, in 1974, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, for a long-unreleased album. In 1977, he was still active with The Small Faces and The Damned or Ralph McTell, then in 1989 at the request of The Fuzztones. In 2017, reissue label Ace Records gave an overview of his contribution in the compilation Making Time - A Shel Talmy Production. Retired to Los Angeles, Shel Talmy died after a stroke on November 13, 2024, at the age of 87.

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