The most effective music producers of all time have labored with the most important names within the trade, together with Kanye West, Girl Gaga, and Michael Jackson.
Learn on to find how these multi-talented producers outlined new genres with a sequence of multi-platinum-selling albums and singles.
The ten Greatest Music Producers of All Time
We’ve coated the manufacturing strategies, collaborations, and hit releases from these iconic music producers to convey you an outline of their iconic careers.
Right here’s our checklist of the ten greatest music producers of all time:
10. Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn is an English music producer, singer-songwriter, and studio proprietor. He started his profession because the bass participant for The Buggles earlier than transferring into full-time manufacturing.
A pioneer of a number of the early digital music strategies, Horn’s manufacturing work with David Bowie, Annie Lennox, and Paul McCartney led to a number of the greatest 80s songs ever produced.
He continued working with many gifted artists all through the Nineties, together with Seal, Tori Amos, Genesis, and Marc Almond.
Together with Mike Oldfield, Horn co-produced the 1992 album Tubular Bells II, which went on to promote over 2 million copies worldwide and stays one of the vital iconic albums of the period.
By the 2000s, Trevor Horn’s checklist of collaborations continued to signify a number of the largest names in British pop music.
As co-writer and producer, Horn labored with acts together with The Pet Store Boys, Lisa Stansfield, and Prince, in addition to serving as government producer for Jeff Beck’s album., Emotion & Commotion.
The recipient of varied awards and accolades all through his profession, Horn received Greatest British Producer on the BRIT Awards on three events and a Grammy Award in 1995.
9. Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson is without doubt one of the co-founders of the Seaside Boys, broadly thought to be a musical genius due to his experimental approaches to composition and manufacturing.
Chargeable for writing and producing a number of the greatest songs of all time, Wilson’s popularity grew with every new hit music.
Tracks together with Good Vibrations, I Get Round, Assist Me, Rhonda, and Surf Metropolis all positioned at primary within the U.S. prime 40, influencing numerous bands and songwriters of the period.
Common live performance touring and different pressures led Wilson to have a nervous breakdown in 1964. Nonetheless, throughout this era, he produced the album Pet Sounds, which stays one of the vital critically acclaimed albums of all time.
This prolonged hiatus from the music trade on account of stress and substance abuse led him to develop into a recluse for a few years, and it wasn’t till the late Nineteen Seventies that Wilson made his comeback.
Following his rehabilitation, he continued to form the form of new and progressive approaches present in one of the best on-line music manufacturing programs, influencing every part from punk and pop to outsider music and chillwave.
In 1988, Wilson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame as a member of the Seaside Boys, affirming his lasting affect on music manufacturing.
8. Jeff Lynne
English multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and report producer Jeff Lynne started his profession as co-founder of the rock band Electrical Mild Orchestra.
After a quick interval as a solo artist, Lynne started work as a music producer for a spread of bands and singers underneath the pseudonyms Otis Wilbury and Clayton Wilbury.
Collaborations with John Lennon, Tom Petty, and George Harrison marked Lynne as probably the greatest music producers of the period, famend for his minimalist instrumentation and natural ambiance.
By the Nineties, Lynne expanded his collaborations past the previous Beatles stars, which had helped to make his title as a producer.
His work with Joe Cocker, Tom Jones, Hank Marvin, and Aerosmith demonstrated a versatility present in one of the best music manufacturing colleges on this planet and a knack for straddling totally different genres.
By the 2010s, a reunion tour with ELO noticed the music manufacturing legend performing all through Europe and america, releasing a brand new album for the band in 2019.
Lynne has acquired varied awards and honors all through his profession, together with turning into an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.
7. Brian Eno
Brian Eno pioneered an unconventional strategy to music manufacturing and helped form the modern music panorama as a pioneer of ambient, rock, and digital music.
All through his lengthy and illustrious profession composing and producing music for a number of the largest report labels on this planet, Eno has helped launch numerous careers.
Within the Nineteen Seventies, Eno’s work helped to outline the progressive rock motion, working with King Crimson founder Robert Fripp to create experimental soundscapes.
By the Nineteen Eighties, he collaborated with artists from varied genres, together with jazz icon Miles Davis and pop acts reminiscent of David Bowie and David Byrne from Speaking Heads.
Brian Eno can also be a prolific report producer, with an extended checklist of solo studio albums to his title, lots of which have acquired crucial acclaim.
Many of those works have been launched as installations, combining music and visuals, with Eno looking for to blur the boundaries between the senses.
One of the vital influential producers within the historical past of the music trade, Brian Eno’s work redefined modern music has led to him turning into one of many prime music producers on this planet.
6. Phil Spector
American report producer, singer, and entrepreneur Phil Spector started his music profession within the Nineteen Fifties as a session musician for varied rock and roll bands.
By the Sixties, Spector was working as a producer for bands reminiscent of Soxx and the Blue Denims, the Ronettes, and the Righteous Brothers, constructing a popularity as one of many hottest producers of his time.
He’s labored with a number of the greatest feminine singers of all time, most notably because the producer for Tina Turner on a number of of her early singles launched within the mid-to-late-Sixties.
After a couple of years away from music manufacturing within the late 60s and early 70s, Spector’s profile because the go-to producer of hit pop tracks skyrocketed due to his work with the Beatles.
The success of albums reminiscent of Let It Be led Spector to develop into the pinnacle of A&R for Apple Information, producing a number of solo albums for former Beatles band members.
Regardless of a near-fatal accident, Spector continued to work with high-profile singers, collaborating with Leonard Cohen, the Ramones, and Bob Dylan within the late Nineteen Seventies.
His profession left an enduring legacy on pop and rock music, with acts together with the Seaside Boys, the Velvet Underground, and Jesus and Mary Chain all claiming to have been influenced by Spector’s manufacturing fashion.
5. Nile Rodgers
Document producer, composer, and musician Nile Rodgers started his music profession as one of many co-founders of Stylish earlier than transferring on to supply multi-platinum-selling data for different artists.
Throughout his early years as a music producer, Rodgers labored with a number of the greatest black feminine singers of all time, together with the icon of disco Diana Ross.
Chargeable for the primary multi-platinum promoting hip hop music, Rapper’s Delight, Rodgers demonstrated a knack for straddling genres all through his profession.
He produced David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, which might develop into the most important hit of his profession, and scored three hit singles for his work on Madonna’s album, Like A Virgin.
Throughout the Nineteen Eighties, he additionally labored with iconic bands and singers, together with Duran Duran, Mick Jagger, and the Thomson Twins, and took to the stage to carry out at Stay Help in 1985.
By the Nineties, Rodgers expanded his repertoire to incorporate manufacturing for Hollywood movies, writing and producing songs for Thelma and Louise, Beverly Hills Cop III, and Cool World.
In addition to having produced data promoting a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of copies, Rodgers has been celebrated by an extended checklist of music trade establishments and stays extremely regarded for his contributions to pop music.
4. Dr. Dre
Dr. Dre is a music producer and rapper who has helped outline the hip hop style, each as a performer in his personal proper and as a report producer for the biggest-selling rappers of the previous couple of many years.
His profession kicked off within the early Nineties with the discharge of his debut album, The Power, which earned Dre a Grammy Award and helped propel Dying Row Information into the music trade highlight.
Dr. Dre continued releasing tracks with N.W.A. whereas producing a number of the greatest 90s songs for artists like Snoop Dogg and Warren G.
All through the 2000s, Dre continued to work with a number of the most iconic hip-hop acts of all time, producing albums and singles for Eminem, 50 Cent, Anderson Paak, and Kendrick Lamar.
Exterior of his spectacular profession as a music producer, Dre has labored on varied film initiatives, showing as a weapons seller within the movie, Set It Off and taking over minor roles in Coaching Day and The Wash.
A lot of Dr. Dre’s huge web value has come from his headphone model, Beats By Dre, which Apple bought for an eye-watering $3 billion in 2014.
An adept producer able to pushing the capabilities of one of the best DJ software program, Dre’s lasting affect on a spread of genres and contribution to a number of the world’s main report labels will proceed for many years.
3. George Martin
Iconic rock and pop band the Beatles, earned a lot of their popularity because of the lush orchestrations of their songs, lots of which have been composed by producer Sir George Martin.
Working in a number of the hottest music genres, Martin’s ability as an arranger, composer, instrumentalist, and report producer helped make the Beatles a world success.
Hit songs that bear Martin’s distinctive manufacturing affect embrace Eleanor Rigby, Strawberry Fields Endlessly, A Day within the Life, and Being for the Good thing about Mr. Kite!
Earlier than his work with the Beatles, Martin helped launch the radio profession of a few of Britain’s best-loved comedians, working with Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, and Bernard Cribbins.
After leaving the Beatles, he moved into film manufacturing, delivering scores for the James Bond film Stay and Let Die and Pulp.
All through his profession, he produced songs for a number of the largest names within the enterprise, reminiscent of Elton John, Celine Dion, and Ultravox, in addition to lesser-known acts like Gerry and the Pacemakers and UFO.
With a profession spanning a number of many years, Martin has quite a few accolades to his title and is liable for a definite pop affect.
He’s received six Grammy Awards and has a lifetime achievement award and a spot within the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame.
2. Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones is an American musician, songwriter, and report producer with a number of many years of expertise and a whole bunch of awards and nominations.
His numerous discography of manufacturing credit contains a number of the greatest summer time songs of all time, together with a number of hits by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
Many artists Jones labored with are family names, together with jazz artists like Frank Sinatra and Rely Basie.
He’s additionally labored on a number of hit motion pictures all through his profession, together with The Colour Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg, and Austin Powers: Worldwide Man of Thriller.
A number of the awards and honors Quincy Jones has acquired embrace a Nationwide Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama, a Grammy Legend Award, and an induction into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 2013.
1. Rick Rubin
Straddling hip hop and rock, music producer Rick Rubin’s illustrious profession has seen him collaborating with a number of the world’s most iconic stars.
A co-founder of Def Jam Information, Rubin’s profession as a producer started within the Nineteen Eighties’ hip hop scene, producing albums for the Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C., and The Cult.
Increasing his manufacturing fashion into rock, Rubin would go on to work with acts together with the Pink Sizzling Chili Peppers, Johnny Money, and Aerosmith.
He additionally produced albums for bands together with U2, Inexperienced Day, and Metallica whereas performing because the co-head of Columbia Information from 2007.
Throughout his time with Columbia Information, he received two Grammy Awards for Album of the Yr for FutureSex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake and Taking the Lengthy Means by the Dixie Chicks.
With a profound legacy, together with producing a number of the greatest celebration songs of all time and rock anthems which have been carried out in packed stadiums, Rubin’s popularity as one of the best music producer of all time is well justified.
Abstract
That concludes our checklist of one of the best music producers of all time, masking their fascinating careers and the most important data they’ve produced.
These producers have helped to form genres that endure to this present day, innovating strategies and merging sounds to create really distinctive music.
You should definitely verify again on this text sooner or later, as we’ll replace it to make as and when new producers step as much as the plate.