Mike Hurst (producer)
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Mike Hurst (born Michael John Longhurst-Pickworth[1][2], 19 September 1941, Kilburn, North West London) is a English musician and record producer.
[edit] Career
A singer, songwriter and guitarist from the age of 13, Mike Hurst was encouraged by Eddie Cochran when he was young after auditioning for Jack Good's television show Oh Boy!. During the early 60's after failing to secure a recording contract Hurst moved away from music and began to work in insurance. Hurst won an audition for pop/folk group The Springfields after his mother answered an ad for a singer in The Stage, and joined both Dusty and Tom Springfield in the The Springfields in February 1962. They scored their first big hit single in the US with "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" becoming the first UK vocal group to make the US top 20. Uk chart success followed with "Island Of Dreams" and "Say I Won't Be There" in 1963. Following a live appearance at the Sunday Night At The Palladium the group disbanded in October 1963.
In 1964 he joined a band called The Methods, featuring Jimmy Page and then Albert Lee on guitar, plus Tony Ashton on keyboards. After leaving the band Hurst began producing for Andrew Oldham (Tony Rivers and The Castaways) and Mickie Most. In September 1965 he over seen Marc Bolan's first ever recording session whilst he was at Decca where he recorded "The Wizard" In 1966 he discovered singer-songwriter Cat Stevens whilst he was performing at Hammersmith College. He had him signed up to the new Deram record label (an imprint of Decca) and produced his first five hit singles including "Matthew & Son" and "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun". During this time he also produced hit singles for PP Arnold ("first Cut Is The Deepest"), The Move ("Curly"), Manfred Mann ("Mighty Quinn"), Spencer Davis Group ("Time Seller") and Colin Blunstone.
In 1970 and 1971 he recorded two albums for Capitol records, utilising sidesmen such as Tony Ashton, B. J. Cole, Clem Cattini, Ian Paice, Jon Lord, Rod Argent and Nicky Hopkins [3]. In 1973 he formed his own production company Solid Gold and wrote and produced for the band Fancy (band), achieving US chart success with the singles "Touch Me" and a cover of the Troggs "Wild Thing". The same year he signed Showaddywaddy to Bell Records and produced a string of UK hit singles for them. These included "Under The Moon Of Love", "Three Steps to Heaven" and "When".
Following his success with Showaddywaddy he started managing Shakin Stevens in 1978, producing his first hit single "Hot Dog" in 1980. After parting company with Stevens in 1982 he formed a vocal group with Mary Hopkin called Sundance and toured with Dr Hook. In 1984 he became head of Lamborghini Records, famous for discovering Samantha Fox
His most recent work included producing for the band Belle & Sebastian. [4] in 2002.
