Queen record producer David Richards died on Friday morning in England after a long illness.
In a statement, Queen’s Brian May said, “Today we lost a very fine rock music producer and a great friend. Very sad to say that David Richards passed away today in Switzerland – after recurrent bouts of illness.
“We, as Queen, met David when we first stepped into Mountain Studios in the 1980s – and we instantly ‘clicked’. Dave was one of those people with a magic touch. Softly spoken and always absorbed in his work, David became our producer/ engineer of choice for half a dozen Queen studio albums – which is quick to say, but sums up an enormous volume of work. He had an innate talent for blending sounds – it was as if the studio was an extension of his body, so intimately in control of its workings was Mr Richards”.
Richards produced Queen’s last four albums ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Innuendo’, ‘The Miracle’ and ‘Made In Heaven’.
“David was our lynch-pin during all those final days when we knew Freddie was near the end,” May said. “When, months later, we got close to assembling the final versions of all those precious fragments into the tracks which made up the ‘Made in Heaven’ album, most of which we’d worked in Roger’s and my own studios in England, we once again returned to Montreux and David. Together we tied up every loose end, polished and fine-tuned the mixes”.
David Richards also produced Iggy Pop ‘Blah Blah Blah’, David Bowie ‘Never Let Me Down’ and he worked on Yes ‘Going For The One’.
David was the son of Bobby Richards who was an arranger for a number of artists including John Barry. He began playing piano at the age of 3 and found a love for music editing tracks for his fledgling ice skating career and watching his father work in the studio.
Richards’ first professional experience came in 1973, working at Chappell Studios in London. Two years later, he moved to Montreux, Switzerland to work at the newly opened Mountain Studios and, by the age of 21, had become their chief engineer.
While working at Mountain Studios, Richards made hundreds of connections with artists and management and gained a lifetime of experience behind the board. He soon became an in-demand producer, helming such albums as A Kind of Magic, The Miracle, Innuendo and Made in Heaven for Queen, Never Let Me Down, The Buddah of Suburbia and Outside for David Bowie and Blah Blah Blah for Iggy Pop.
Richards would eventually buy Mountain Studios, which he eventually moved to Attalens in 2002.
The Queen site posted a rememberence of Richards, saying “He will be remembered by many as a good friend. He was funny and generous and great company, a talented and capable man who had an instinctive “magic touch” in the recording studio. His creative productions will be enjoyed for years to come.”
Read more at VVN Music
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