Beau Hill
Beau Hill is an American record producer who is best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger,[1] Streets, Warrant, Fiona, Europe and Ratt.[1] He also played instruments and sang backing vocals for some of the artists that he produced, as well as for his own band Airborne, which had a record released in 1979 on Columbia. He has co-written hit singles. He was one of the founding partners of Interscope Records.
Biography
At age six Beau entered The Texas Conservatory of Music and studied classical piano and composition. Five years later he was playing guitar in local groups and began learning how to write pop / rock music. He graduated from Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas and was accepted at Yale but declined to attend in order to pursue a career in recording and production. Beau attended the University of Colorado from 1971 to 1974, majoring in music and history, while working as an engineer at Applewood Recording Studios.
1974 - 1978 After being promoted to head engineer at Applewood, Beau got his first production job working for Chicago producer and Caribou Ranch Studios owner James William Guercio. During this time period, Beau honed his production skills after hours at Applewood doing demos with his band Airborne, featuring the guitar work of David Zajicek. These demos caught the ear of veteran producer Keith Olsen (Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, Whitesnake and Grateful Dead).
Airborne signed in 1978 a major recording contract with Columbia Records and a management contract with Irving Azoff and Bob Buziak at Frontline Management. Keith Olsen produced the debut album in LA. An Airborne demo of the song "Bored with Russia", written by Beau, found its way into the hands of Welsh band Budgie who recorded it for their 1982 album Deliver Us from Evil.
Beau moved to New York City in 1980, signed with Chrysalis Records and Aucoin Management (Kiss, Billy Idol), and recorded the debut album with his new group Shanghai, produced by Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock.
1981 - 1982 An opportunity presented itself for Beau to develop and record Houston-based singer/songwriter Sandy Stewart. Sandy’s demos found their way to Stevie Nicks, immediately after her first platinum solo effort, and resulted in Sandy getting signed to Modern / Atlantic Records (Stevie’s label), with Beau as the producer. Sandy and Beau went on to co-write three songs with Stevie for her next solo venture The Wild Heart.
1983 - 1984 Atlantic Records president Doug Morris recruited Beau to produce the newly signed group Ratt. The debut effort sold over 3 million copies domestically alone, and made Beau Hill an internationally acclaimed producer. Beau went on to produce the next three Ratt albums, which all enjoyed multi-platinum success.
1985 At the same time he worked with Ratt, he also produced Midnite Dynamite by Kix and Crimes in Mind by Streets.
1986 In London, Beau produces and arranges the original motion picture soundtrack to Hearts of Fire. The recording features three new songs by Bob Dylan with Eric Clapton and Ron Wood.
1987 - 1990 The formation of ‘Control Management’ found Beau stretching his talents in a slightly new direction, working with Winger, whose debut Atlantic Records album sold 1.8 million copies. He worked with multi-platinum band Warrant[1] and the Japanese female rock band Show-Ya as well.
1990 Beau was tapped by Doug Morris to form a new label for Atlantic Records with multi-platinum producer Jimmy Iovine. Shortly after the introduction of Ted Field, Interscope Records was born. Beau also produces Bad Reputation for the band Dirty White Boy
1991 Produced Prisoners in Paradise, Europe's fifth album.
1994–2014 Beau has continued producing, mixing and developing new talent including up and coming Michigan rockers, Bad Side. Beau mixed some songs for the band's 2007 CD, Bad Side II (released September 18, 2007). He has also been involved with several successful international business ventures, but his passion and drive is to work with up and coming artists, and help create the next big recording act. In 2012, Beau Hill did remix of song "Pamela", of glam-rock band from Finland - Stala & SO.
2014 Beau mixed Irish Rock band Nine Lies track 2 'Save Me' from their 2015 Album 9 Lies
Affiliations
NARAS National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammys) Voting Member
BMI Broadcast Music, Inc. Writer / Music Publisher
ASCAP American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Music Publisher
References
- 1 2 3 Konow, David (2002). Bang Your Head: the Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal. Random House, Inc. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-609-80732-3. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
External links
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