Geoff Emerick, the iconic engineer who worked on The Beatles‘ most influential albums, has died after suffering a heart attack aged 72, reports CoS.
“Today at around 2’o’clock, I was making my way back from Arizona to Los Angeles to pick up Geoff so we could transport some gold records and platinum plaques to our show in Tucson,” his manager, William Zabaleta, said in a statement to Variety.
“While on the phone, he had complications and dropped the phone. I called 911, but by the time they got there, it was too late. Geoff suffered from heart problems for a long time and had a pacemaker. … When it’s your time it’s your time. We lost a legend and a best friend to me and a mentor.”
Iconic engineer, Geoff Emerick, who worked on all of the The Beatles’ greatest records, has died of a heart attack, aged 72. Rest in peace.
Emerick had a long and rich career. He began working as an assistant engineer at EMI in 1962 at the age of 15. He was one of the few people to witness the first-ever EMI recording of The Beatles as we know them during a session that would birth their first hit single, Love Me Do.
From this moment held a close relationship with the band. He was the lead engineer on the sessions for Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album and Abbey Road, helping shape sonic masterpieces like Tomorrow Never Knows, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, A Day In The Life, and many others.
Alongside producer George Martin, he is credited as being a central figure in The Beatles’ sound.
Beyond the ’60s, Emerick worked with such artists as Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, Stevie Wonder, Supertramp, Robin Trower, Wings, and on Paul McCartney’s solo records.
Abbey Road Studios music director Isabel Garvey paid tribute to Emerick in a statement on Facebook; “A true pioneer of the recording industry… his contribution to some of the world’s greatest musical recordings and his impact on popular music and audio technology is immeasurable.”
Giles Martin (the son of George Martin) described Emerick as “one of the finest and most innovative engineers to have graced a recording studio.”
Rest in peace, Geoff. Read our extensive interview with him here.
