Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker dead at 78
Roy Thomas Baker, the British producer who steered Queen’s first four albums and later worked with The Cars, Devo and Cheap Trick, has died at the age of 78. No cause of death has been revealed.
Baker began his music career at a young age. He was born in London in 1946 and began working at the city’s Decca Studios at age 14. During his apprenticeship, he worked on recordings by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Dusty Springfield, Moody Blues, Nazareth, Yes, Be Bop Deluxe, and many more.
The hard work paid off. Baker produced Queen’s first four studio albums, Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, and A Night at the Opera. He returned to the band to helm their seventh album, 1978’s Jazz, which featured the hit ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’.
In the early 1980s, Baker was named Senior Vice President of A&R for Elektra Records. During this era, Baker was influential on the sounds of Devo, Cheap Trick, Ozzy Osbourne, and Guns N’ Roses. The producer also oversaw the signings of Metallica, Simply Red, and 10,000 Maniacs.
Later in his career, Baker produced albums including The Darkness’ One Way Ticket to Hell… and Back and The Smashing Pumpkins’ Zeitgeist.
The Cars’ late singer-songwriter made Baker’s influence on his music career evident in 2016. “Roy taught me a lot about handling band personalities,” Ric Ocasek said in 2016. “He got harmony. And he took things in stride — a very upbeat, elegant man. Spontaneous, too.”
Ocasek wasn’t the only one who was impressed by Baker. Queen’s Roger Taylor 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.”
