Steve Lillywhite

Steve Lillywhite
Background information
Born 1955 (age 56–57)
Origin Egham, England
Genres Rock
New wave
Occupations Record producer
Years active 1977–present
Associated acts Kirsty MacColl (former wife)

Stephen Lillywhite, CBE (born 1955) is an English Grammy Award winning record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited for working on over 500 records[1] and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Peter Gabriel, Morrissey, The Psychedelic Furs, The Pogues and Phish.

Contents

Early career

Lillywhite entered the music industry in 1972, when he worked as a tape operator for Polygram. He produced a demo recording for Ultravox, which led to them being offered a recording contract with Island Records. Lillywhite soon joined Island as a staff producer, where he worked with many of the leading new wave musicians. His first commercial success was with Siouxsie and the Banshees in August 1978, after producing their first single, "Hong Kong Garden". He also produced "Ku Klux Klan" - the first single that Steel Pulse released under Island Records in 1978.

1980s

In 1980, Lillywhite produced Peter Gabriel (also known as III or Melt). The same year, he produced The Psychedelic Furs debut album, as well as Boy, the debut album of the then practically unknown U2. Lillywhite went on to produce U2's October and War. He moved on to produce work by Simple Minds, Big Country, XTC, The Chameleons, Toyah, Talking Heads, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Morrissey, The Rolling Stones and the Shine album by the former ABBA vocalist Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

In 1987 Lillywhite worked with The Pogues, producing "Fairytale of New York". It was due to him that his then wife, Kirsty MacColl, provided the lead female vocal for their biggest hit. The single narrowly missed being the UK Christmas number one single, but was still one of the biggest selling records that year.

1990s

During the 1990s, Lillywhite continued to produce Morrissey, but began to make his mark with albums by Travis, Phish and on multi platinum albums, including Under the Table and Dreaming, Crash, and Before These Crowded Streets by the Dave Matthews Band. In 1990, he co-produced U2's Achtung Baby, along with Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Flood. In 1991 he returned to Dublin to produce the debut album, A Sonic Holiday, with the Kilkenny based band, Engine Alley. He was also brought in to produce the debut (and only album) by The La's. In 1996, he produced Phish's Billy Breathes, and he returned to produce Joy in 2009.[2]

Lilywhite was featured as the subject for a BBC Radio 1 documentary series on record producers. In 1999, he produced Boston band Guster's Lost and Gone Forever.

2000s

In 2000, Lillywhite was fired from his fourth album by the Dave Matthews Band after band members cited creative differences. In 2001, a number of their recordings emerged on a bootleg album, known now as The Lillywhite Sessions; many of the songs from those recordings followed later, on the Dave Matthews Band's album Busted Stuff. The unfinished tracks appeared online, and the majority of the tracks were re-recorded, without Lillywhite, with Stephen Harris as the preferred choice by the band.

In 2002, Universal Music Group head Lucian Grainge invited him to become managing director. Lillywhite signed singer-songwriter Darius Danesh and executively produced his debut album Dive In, which spawned three Top 10 hits, and Mercury Records' first number one in eighteen years. He also signed Razorlight, and also produced Jason Mraz's Mr. A-Z.

In September 2005 Lillywhite joined Columbia Records as a Senior Vice President of A&R. During his tenure he signed MGMT. He left the label at the end of 2006. Lillywhite collected consecutive Grammy Awards for Record of the Year with U2's "Beautiful Day" and "Walk On." In 2006, Lillywhite won three more Grammys: Producer of the Year (Non-Classical), Best Rock Album also with U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb; and a partial win for Album of the Year, also for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

In late 2006 he began working with Chris Cornell on Carry On, his second solo album, which was released in June 2007. He also produced two songs on Switchfoot's album, Oh! Gravity., which was released on 26 December 2006. In February 2007 Lillywhite began work with Crowded House on tracks for their first studio album in fourteen years, Time On Earth. The majority of the album was produced by Ethan Johns, but Lillywhite produced four songs with the full touring line-up, including new drummer Matt Sherrod as well as studio guest guitarist Johnny Marr. Lillywhite's next project was working with Matchbox Twenty on an EP, that comprised a portion of Exile on Mainstream. The two disc album entered the US charts at #3 and Australian charts at #1, and included "How Far We've Come". In 2008, Lillywhite was in the recording studio with U2 working alongside Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois on tracks for 2009's No Line on the Horizon. He was also at work in Austin, Texas with Blue October on that group's follow-up to Foiled, called Approaching Normal. He joined his fellow music producer Flood in 2008 to work with 30 Seconds to Mars, on This Is War which was released on December 4, 2009.

In 2008 Lillywhite produced a number of recordings for the World Cafe radio show on NPR. This included sessions at Avatar Studios in New York with Fleet Foxes, She & Him, Bell X1, Dr. Dog, and Mercury Rev.

In November 2009, he began presenting a weekly radio show on East Village Radio called "The Lillywhite Sessions".[3]

2010s

On 25 May 2010, the official Oasis website announced that Lillywhite was working with Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock on material for their new band Beady Eye. Also, On 3 February 2010, Amy Lee of Evanescence announced on her Twitter that Lillywhite will be producing their upcoming third album, which was expected to be released in late 2010.[4] However, in June 2010, Lee announced that due to conflicts with their record label, the band's album would be delayed[5] and in February, 2011, drummer Will Hunt announced that the band would be working with Foo Fighters and Alice in Chains producer Nick Raskulinecz.[6] Later, during an interview with Spin.com, Lee said that "Steve [Lillywhite] wasn't the right fit".[7] In 2011, Bono & The Edge brought Lillywhite in to Produce the "Spiderman Turn Off The Dark" cast recording for Interscope. This was followed by his Producing OberHofer's debut LP for Glassnote (2012 release). Brandon Flowers also announced on January 4th, 2011 that Lillywhite was working with his band The Killers on a new album due for release around summer 2012.

Lillywhite was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to music.[8]

Selected works

References

  1. ^ Steve Lillywhite Discography at Discogs
  2. ^ RollingStone.com: Phish Add 12 Shows to Reunion Tour, Plot Return to the Studio
  3. ^ East Village Radio: The Lillywhite Sessions Archives
  4. ^ "You could tell everyone...". Twitter.com. 3 February 2010. http://twitter.com/#!/AmyLeeEV/status/8611691786. Retrieved 2010-02-03. 
  5. ^ Amy Lee on EvThreads
  6. ^ Interview: Will Hunt talks new Evanescence album | Rhythm Magazine | MusicRadar.com
  7. ^ Interview: Amy Lee Talks Evanescence's Comeback LP | Spin.com
  8. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60009. p. 7. 31 December 2011.

External links

"Smooth"* by Santana (Rodney Holmes, Tony Lindsay, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Benny Rietveld, Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson) featuring Rob Thomas
engineered/mixed by David Thoener, produced by Matt Serletic (2000)		 "Beautiful Day"* by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.)
engineered/mixed by Richard Rainey & Steve Lillywhite; produced by Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois (2001)
"Walk On" by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.)
engineered/mixed by Richard Rainey & Steve Lillywhite; produced by Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois (2002)		 "Don't Know Why"* by Norah Jones;
engineered/mixed by Jay Newland; produced by Arif Mardin, Jay Newland & Norah Jones (2003)
"Clocks" by Coldplay (Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, Phil Harvey, Chris Martin)
engineered/mixed by Coldplay, Ken Nelson & Mark Phythian; produced by Coldplay & Ken Nelson (2004)		 "Here We Go Again" by Ray Charles and Norah Jones
engineered/mixed by Al Schmitt, Mark Fleming, & Terry Howard; produced by John R. Burk (2005)
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Frank Edwin Wright III)
engineered/mixed by Chris Lord-Alge & Doug McKean, produced by Green Day & Rob Cavallo (2006)		 "Not Ready to Make Nice"* by Dixie Chicks (Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison)
engineered/mixed by Chris Testa, Jim Scott & Richard Dodd; produced by Rick Rubin (2007)
"Rehab"* by Amy Winehouse
engineered/mixed by Tom Elmhirst, Vaughan Merrick, Dom Morley, Mark Ronson & Gabriel Roth; produced by Mark Ronson (2008)		 "Please Read the Letter" by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
engineered/mixed by Mike Piersante; produced by T-Bone Burnett (2009)
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