Roy Thomas Baker
Roy Thomas Baker is an English record producer, songwriter, and arranger who has been producing pop music since the 1970s. He was born on 1946-11-10 and started working at Decca Records when he was 14-years-old, but later left to work at Trident Studios. There, he worked along side The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Who, and Frank Zappa, but he really found his stride when he met the band Queen and became the producer of their first five albums. He later went on to work with Journey, The Cars, Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, The Darkness, and The Smashing Pumpkins, as well as dozens of other bands and artists.
Contents
Personal
I learned about Baker because of this work with my favorite band, Queen. I saw his name on several of their albums and saw video of him in various Queen documentaries. At the time, I didn't really understand what a music producer did and just assumed they were leeches who paid for production costs in order to get their names on albums, but, I later realized that a good producer actually helps guide less-experienced artists and usually has a strong influence on their sound. When I started seeing Baker's name as the producer for other albums I love, I began to respect him more as an artist. My favorite of his work was from the 1970s through to the early 1980s.
Works
These are the albums that Baker produced that are important to me:
| Released | Artist | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1973-07-13 | Queen | Queen |
| 1974-03-08 | Queen | Queen II |
| 1974-11-01 | Queen | Sheer Heart Attack |
| 1975-11-21 | Queen | A Night at the Opera |
| 1978-01-20 | Journey | Infinity |
| 1978-06-06 | The Cars | The Cars |
| 1978-11-10 | Queen | Jazz |
| 1979-03-23 | Journey | Evolution |
| 1979-06-13 | The Cars | Candy-O |
| 1980-04-28 | Alice Cooper | Flush the Fashion |
| 1981-11-06 | The Cars | Shake It Up |
| 2005-11-28 | The Darkness | One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back |
He also worked on dozens of singles that I won't list here.
Media
Roy Thomas Baker with Queen in the 1970s.
Roy Thomas Baker in his studio, circa 2005.
Links
