Roy Thomas Baker, the legendary record producer behind Queen, The Cars, Motley Crue, Devo, Ozzy Osbourne and Cheap Trick, has died at the age of 78.
Baker died in Lake Havasu City, Arizona on 12 April 2025 but his death was only announced today (22 April 2025 US time) by his family. A cause of death has not been announced,
Baker produced the first four Queen albums ‘Queen’ (1973), ‘Queen II’ (1974), ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ (1974) and ‘A Night At The Opera’ (1976) and then came back two albums later for ‘Jazz’ (1978).
Roger Taylor of Queen said of Baker, “I think he brought a certain amount of discipline and a lot of cynicism and a passion for fattening desserts. He liked his food, Roy. He was very disciplined and very strict in the beginning . . . he would always get it right. The take had to be right.”
In the Queen movie ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (2018), British actor Tim Plester played Baker.
The Queen signature song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a Roy Thomas Baker production.
Baker also produced ‘Infinity’ for Journey. Neal Schon said, “We did Infinity with the infamous Roy Thomas Baker, and we did so many different things on that record that I’d never tried, or even thought about doing. I learned a lot from Roy.”
The Baker production gave Journey their first chart hit in the USA with ‘Wheel In The Sky’.
Roy Thomas Baker produced the first four albums for The Cars ‘The Cars’ (1978), ‘Candy-O’ (1979), ‘Panorama’ (1980) and ‘Shake It Up’ (1981).
Elliott Easton of The Cars said of Roy, “Roy was one of the pieces of the puzzle that made The Cars what they became. He didn’t belabor anything or take things overly seriously. He was fun to work with, a mirthful guy whose affect was kind of Monty Pythonesque and, as it happens, a great cook.”
The late lead singer of The Cars Ric Ocasek said, “I just remember when we did ‘Good Times Roll’ in the studio in England on the first record, and we heard back the vocals. I told Roy that I thought it was way, way too much. … But you know, it grew on me later and it sounded so smooth. It was a nice process to do it because Roy, you know, was fortunate enough to have a 40-track machine … so he could do layering of vocals a lot.”
Baker also produced The Smashing Pumpkins ‘Zeitgeist’ (2007) and ‘American Gothic’ (2008) as well as Jimmy Chamberain’s solo record ‘This Great Civilisation’ (2008). Jimmy Chamberlain said, “That guy hears things that nobody else hears! I learned more with Roy Thomas Baker in those four or five months [recording the Zeitgeist album] than I have ever learned in my entire recording career.”
The list of Baker produced albums also included Foreigner ‘Head Games’, Alice Cooper ‘Flush The Fashion’, The Stranglers ‘10’, Ozzy Osbourne ‘No Rest For The Wicked’, Devo ‘Oh No Its Devo’, Motley Crue ‘Too Fast For Love’ and Cheap Trick ‘One On One’.
Roy Thomas Baker is survived by his wife Tere Livrano Baker and brother Alan Baker. Additionally, he leaves Eva Ashley, his aunt, Tere’s nephews Dominic Ledesma and Julian Ledesma, as well as sisters-in-law Lezlee, Lori and Lyn Livrano.
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