Joe Meek
Encyclopedia
Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 Newent
, Gloucestershire
– 3 February 1967 in London
) was a pioneering English
record producer
and songwriter
.
His most famous work was The Tornados
' hit "Telstar"
in 1962, which became the first record by a British group to hit #1 in the US Hot 100
. It also spent five weeks atop the UK singles chart, with Meek receiving an Ivor Novello Award for this production as the "Best-Selling A-Side" of 1962.
Meek's other notable hit productions include "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" and "Cumberland Gap" by Lonnie Donegan
(as engineer), "Johnny Remember Me
" by John Leyton
, "Just Like Eddie
" by Heinz
, "Angela Jones" by Michael Cox, "Have I the Right?
" by The Honeycombs
, and "Tribute to Buddy Holly" by Mike Berry. Meek's concept album I Hear a New World
is regarded as a watershed in modern music for its innovative use of electronic sounds.
Joe Meek was also producing music for films, most notably Live It Up!
(US title Sing and Swing), a 1963 pop music film starring Heinz Burt, David Hemmings
and Steve Marriott
, also featuring Gene Vincent
, Jenny Moss, The Outlaws
, Kim Roberts, Kenny Ball
, Patsy Ann Noble and others. Meek wrote most of the songs and incidental music, much of which was recorded by The Saints and produced by Meek.
His commercial success as a producer was short-lived and Meek gradually sank into debt and depression
. On 3 February 1967, using a shotgun
owned by musician Heinz Burt, Meek murder
ed his landlady before turning the gun on himself
.
as a radar
operator escalated his life-long interest in electronics
and outer space
. From 1953 he worked for the Midlands Electricity Board. He used the resources of the company to develop his interest in electronics and music production, including acquiring a disc cutter and producing his first record.
, and made his breakthrough with his work on Ivy Benson
's Music for Lonely Lovers. His technical ingenuity was first shown on the Humphrey Lyttelton
jazz single "Bad Penny Blues
" (Parlophone Records, 1956) when, contrary to Lyttleton's wishes, he 'modified' the sound of the piano and compressed the sound to a greater than normal extent. The record became a hit. He then put enormous effort into Denis Preston
's Landsdowne Studio but tensions between Preston and Meek soon saw Meek forced out. During his time he recorded US actor George Chakiris
for SAGA Records and it was this that led him to Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and an independent career.
, Meek founded Triumph Records
. At the time Barrington-Coupe was working at SAGA records in Empire Yard, Holloway Road for Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and it was the Major who provided the finance. The label very nearly had a #1 hit with Meek's production of Angela Jones by Michael Cox
. Cox was one of the featured singers on Jack Good's
TV music show Boy Meets Girl
and the song was given massive promotion. As an independent label,Triumph was at the mercy of small pressing plants, which could not -or would not – keep up with sales demand. The record made a respectable appearance in the Top Ten, but it proved Meek needed the major companies' distribution muscle to get his records into the shops when it mattered.
In spite an interesting catalogue of Meek productions, its indifferent business results and Joe proving difficult to work with eventually led to the label's demise. Meek later licensed many Triumph recordings to labels such as Top Rank
and Pye
.
That year Meek conceived, wrote and produced an "Outer Space Music Fantasy"' concept album
I Hear A New World
with a band called Rod Freeman & The Blue Men. The album was shelved for decades, apart from some EP tracks taken from it.
, Islington
, a three-floor flat above a leather-goods store.
His first hit from Holloway Road was a UK #1 smash: John Leyton
's Johnny Remember Me
(1961) written by active psychic Geoff Goddard
. This memorable "death ditty" was cleverly promoted by Leyton's manager, expatriate Australian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood
. Stigwood was able to get Leyton to perform the song several times in an episode of ITV
's short-lived department store-based TV soap opera
Harpers West One in which he was making a guest appearance. Meek's third UK #1 and last major success was with The Honeycombs
' Have I The Right?
in 1964, which also became a number 4 hit on the American Billboard pop charts. The success of Leyton's recordings was instrumental in establishing Stigwood and Meek as two of Britain's first independent record producers.
When his landlords, who lived downstairs, felt that the noise was too much, they would indicate so with a broom on the ceiling. Joe would signal his contempt by placing loudspeakers in the stairwell and turning up the volume.
A privately manufactured "black plaque" (designed to ape the official blue plaque
) has since been placed at the location of the studio to commemorate Meek's life and work.
and the idea of "the other side". He would set up tape machines in graveyards in a vain attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he claimed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly
(claiming the late American rocker had communicated with him in dreams) and other dead rock and roll musicians.
His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia
(Meek was convinced that Decca Records
would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper in order to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression
. Upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from Phil Spector
, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.
Meek's homosexuality
– illegal in the UK at the time – put him under further pressure; he had been convicted of "importuning for immoral purposes" in 1963 and fined £15: he was consequently subject to blackmail
. In January 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk
, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver. According to some accounts, Meek became concerned that he would be implicated in the murder investigation when the Metropolitan Police
said they would be interviewing all known homosexual men in the city.
The hits had dried up and Meek's depression deepened as his financial position became increasingly desperate. French
composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism
, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz
. This lawsuit
meant Meek never received royalties
from the record during his lifetime.
On 3 February 1967, the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death
, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself with a single barreled shotgun
that he had confiscated from his protegé, former Tornados
bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the shotgun had been registered to Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries.
Meek was subsequently buried at Cemetery lodge Newent
, Gloucestershire
. His black granite
tombstone can be found near the middle of the cemetery.
The lawsuit against Meek was eventually ruled in Meek's favour three weeks after his death in 1967. It is unlikely that Meek was aware of Austerlitz, as it had been released only in France at the time.
, Meek displayed a remarkable facility for writing and producing successful commercial recordings. In writing songs he was reliant on musicians such as Dave Adams
, Geoff Goddard
or Charles Blackwell to transcribe melodies from his vocal "demos". He worked on 245 singles, of which 45 were major hits (top fifty).
He pioneered studio tools such as multiple over-dubbing on one- and two-track machines, close miking, direct input of bass guitars, the compressor
, and effects like echo and reverb
, as well as sampling
. Unlike other producers, his search was for the 'right' sound rather than for a catchy musical tune, and throughout his brief career he single-mindedly followed his quest to create a unique "sonic signature" for every record he produced.
At a time when many studio engineers were still wearing white coats and assiduously trying to maintain clarity and fidelity, Meek, the maverick, was producing everything on the three floors of his "home" studio and was never afraid to distort or manipulate the sound if it created the effect he was seeking.
Meek was one of the first producers to grasp and fully exploit the possibilities of the modern recording studio. His innovative techniques—physically separating instruments, treating instruments and voices with echo and reverb, processing the sound through his fabled home-made electronic devices, the combining of separately-recorded performances and segments into a painstakingly constructed composite recording—comprised a major breakthrough in sound production. Up to that time, the standard technique for pop, jazz and classical recordings alike was to record all the performers in one studio, playing together in real time, a legacy of the days before magnetic tape
, when performances were literally cut live, directly onto disc.
Meek's style was also substantially different from that of his contemporary Phil Spector
, who typically created his famous "Wall of sound"
productions by making live recordings of large ensembles that used multiples of major instruments like bass, guitar and piano to create the complex sonic backgrounds for his singers.
In 1993, ex-Joe Meek session singer Ted Fletcher introduced a line of audio equipment named after Joe Meek, due to his influence in the early stages of audio compression. The name and product line were sold to the American company PMI Audio Group in 2003. This product line includes a microphone series called "Telstar", named after Joe Meek’s most famous work.
Meek's reputation for experiments in recording music was acknowledged by The Music Producers Guild
who created The Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production in 2009. MPG chairman Mike Howlett
said the award was "paying homage to this remarkable producer’s pioneering spirit". The winner of the inaugural award in 2009 was producer and musician Brian Eno
.
, the Beatles (the latter he once described as "just another bunch of noise, copying other people's music") and Rod Stewart
. John Repsch, in The Legendary Joe Meek recounts that upon hearing Stewart sing, Meek rushed into the studio, put his fingers in his ears and screamed until Stewart had left. He preferred to record instrumentals with the band he sang with – The Moontrekkers.
In 1963 Meek worked with a then-little-known singer Tom Jones
, then the lead vocalist of Tommy Scott & The Senators. Meek recorded seven tracks with Jones and took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal, with no success. Two years later after Jones gained popularity with the worldwide hit It's Not Unusual
in 1965, Meek was able to sell the tapes he'd recorded with Jones to Tower (USA) and Columbia (UK). Meek also recorded the following artists:
Robb Shenton, Screaming Lord Sutch
and The Savages, The Tornados
, The Honeycombs
, The Syndicats
, The Buzz, Mike Berry, The Outlaws
, The Moontrekkers
, Gene Vincent
, Billy Fury
, Deke Arlon
and The Offbeats, David John and the Mood, John Leyton
, Geoff Goddard
, Petula Clark
, Lonnie Donegan
, Humphrey Lyttelton
, Diana Dors
, The Blue Men, Tom Jones, Tony Dangerfield and the Thrills, Heinz
and The Wild Boys, Dave Adams
, Joy and Dave, Chico Arnez, Jimmy Miller and the Barbecues, Mike Preston, Emile Ford
and the Checkmates, Chris Williams and the Monsters, Lance Fortune
, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers
, Yolanda
, Big Jim Sullivan
, Ricky Wayne
and The Offbeats, George Chakiris
, Michael Cox
, Frankie Vaughan
, Iain Gregory, Danny Rivers, Gerry Temple, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers
, The Charles Blackwell Orchestra, Don Charles
, The Stonehenge Men, Andy Cavell, The Dowlands, Houston Wells and the Marksmen, The Packabeats, Jenny Moss, Burr Bailey and the Six Shooters, The Checkmates, The Saints
, The Cameos, Sounds Incorporated
, The Puppets
, The Beat Boys, Mike Sarne
, The Ambassadors, Pamela Blue, Glenda Collins
, The Sharades, Roger LaVern and the Microns, Gunilla Thorne, Kim Roberts, Billie Davis
, Freddie Starr
and the Midnighters, Shade Joey and the Night Owls, Flip and the Dateliners, Valerie Masters, Alan Dean and his Problems, The Blue Rondos, Peter Cook
, Jess Conrad
, The Saxons, The Shakeouts, Bobby Rio and the Revelles, Peter London, The Four Matadors, The Cryin' Shames
, The Riot Squad
, The Millionaires, The Impac, Shirley Bassey
, Anne Shelton, Kenny Graham and the Satellites, Tommy Steele
, Chris Barber
, The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers, Carter-Lewis and the Southerners
, Brian White & The Magna Jazz Band, The Ferridays (Scorpions)
, Ray Dexter and The Layabouts, Neil Christian
, Kenny Hollywood, Jamie Lee and The Atlantics, Toby Ventura, Wes Sands
, The Thunderbolts, Silas Dooley Jr., Bobby Cristo and The Rebels, Malcolm and The Countdowns, The Diamond Twins, The Hotrods, Charles Kingsley Creation, Danny's Passion, The Classics, The Manish Boys, Pete, Chris and The Outcasts, Simplicity Pattern, and Joe Meek himself.
On 4 September 2008 these unreleased recordings went up for auction in Fame Bureau's 'It's More Than Rock 'N' Roll' auction. The auction website states they fetched £200,000, but others have said considerably more was taken. The auction site says that there are over 5000 recordings on 1850 tapes containing recordings by David Bowie as singer and sax player with the Konrads, Gene Vincent, Denny Laine, Billy Fury, Tom Jones, Jimmy Page, Mike Berry, John Leyton, Ritchie Blackmore, Jess Conrad, Mitch Mitchell and Screaming Lord Sutch. The tapes also contain many examples of Joe Meek composing songs and experimental sound techniques. Tape 418 has Meek composing songs for the film Live It Up!
.
The future of these unreleased Joe Meek "Tea Chest Tapes" recordings remains unknown.
, a stage play by Nick Moran
and James Hicks which premiered in 2005, is a dramatisation of Joe Meek's life and starred Con O'Neill
as Meek and Linda Robson
as his landlady. It was also made into a film, released in the UK in June 2009, directed by Nick Moran
starring Kevin Spacey
, Ralf Little
and Pam Ferris
with O'Neill reprising his stage role.
Newent
Newent is a small market town about 8 miles north west of Gloucester City, on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean, and lying within the Forest of Dean Local Authority District. Its population at the 2001 census was 5,073...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
– 3 February 1967 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) was a pioneering English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
.
His most famous work was The Tornados
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...
' hit "Telstar"
Telstar (song)
"Telstar" is a 1962 instrumental record performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a number one hit in the UK. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, which went into orbit in...
in 1962, which became the first record by a British group to hit #1 in the US Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. It also spent five weeks atop the UK singles chart, with Meek receiving an Ivor Novello Award for this production as the "Best-Selling A-Side" of 1962.
Meek's other notable hit productions include "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" and "Cumberland Gap" by Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
(as engineer), "Johnny Remember Me
Johnny Remember Me
"Johnny Remember Me" is a song which became a 1961 UK #1 hit single for John Leyton, backed by The Outlaws. It was producer Joe Meek's first #1 production. Recounting the haunting - real or imagined - of a young man by his dead lover, the song is one of the most noted of the 'death ditties' that...
" by John Leyton
John Leyton
John Leyton is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song, "Johnny Remember Me" , which reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1961.-Career:Leyton went to Highgate School and after completing his national service, he...
, "Just Like Eddie
Just Like Eddie
"Just Like Eddie" was a hit single in the UK in 1963. It was sung by Heinz - his first release after leaving The Tornados to launch his solo career. The record was produced by Joe Meek mentor to both Heinz and the Tornados...
" by Heinz
Heinz (singer)
Heinz was a bassist and singer.-Life:Heinz was born in Detmold, but from the age of seven was brought up in Eastleigh, Hampshire, England, where a road is named after him. His biggest solo hit was "Just Like Eddie", a tribute to Eddie Cochran...
, "Angela Jones" by Michael Cox, "Have I the Right?
Have I the Right?
Have I The Right? was The Honeycombs' debut single and biggest hit. It was composed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, who had made contact with the Honeycombs, a London-based group, then playing under the name of The Sheratons, in the Mildmay Tavern in the Balls Pond Road in Islington, where they...
" by The Honeycombs
The Honeycombs
The Honeycombs were an English beat/pop group, founded in 1963 in North London. The group had one chart-topping hit, the million selling "Have I the Right?", in 1964. After that song the interest in the group ebbed away, and they split up in late 1966...
, and "Tribute to Buddy Holly" by Mike Berry. Meek's concept album I Hear a New World
I Hear a New World
I Hear a New World - an Outer Space Music Fantasy is a concept album devised and composed by Joe Meek and performed by The Blue Men in 1959. It was partially released in 1960 and completely released in 1991 by RPM Records...
is regarded as a watershed in modern music for its innovative use of electronic sounds.
Joe Meek was also producing music for films, most notably Live It Up!
Live It Up! (film)
Live It Up! is a British music-film released in 1963. It was filmed at Pinewood Film Studios in London, England and featured Gene Vincent, Jenny Moss, The Outlaws, Patsy Ann Noble, The Saints and Heinz Burt among others...
(US title Sing and Swing), a 1963 pop music film starring Heinz Burt, David Hemmings
David Hemmings
David Edward Leslie Hemmings was an English film, theatre and television actor as well as a film and television director and producer....
and Steve Marriott
Steve Marriott
Stephen Peter Marriott , popularly known as Steve Marriott, was an English musician, songwriter, and frontman of several notable rock and roll bands, spanning over two decades...
, also featuring Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
, Jenny Moss, The Outlaws
The Outlaws (UK band)
The Outlaws were an English instrumental band that recorded in the early 1960s. One time members included Ritchie Blackmore, Chas Hodges, Bobby Graham, Ken Lundgren, Mick Underwood, Reg Hawkins , Billy Kuy and others....
, Kim Roberts, Kenny Ball
Kenny Ball
Kenny Ball is an English jazz musician, best known as the lead trumpet player in Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.-Career:...
, Patsy Ann Noble and others. Meek wrote most of the songs and incidental music, much of which was recorded by The Saints and produced by Meek.
His commercial success as a producer was short-lived and Meek gradually sank into debt and depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
. On 3 February 1967, using a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
owned by musician Heinz Burt, Meek murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed his landlady before turning the gun on himself
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Pre-London years
Meek developed an interest in electronics and performance art at a very early age, filling his parents' garden shed with begged and borrowed electronic components, building circuits, radios and what is believed to be the region's first working television. A stint in the Royal Air ForceRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
as a radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
operator escalated his life-long interest in electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
and outer space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
. From 1953 he worked for the Midlands Electricity Board. He used the resources of the company to develop his interest in electronics and music production, including acquiring a disc cutter and producing his first record.
London 1954–1959
He left the electricity board to work as an audio engineer for a leading independent radio production company that made programmes for Radio LuxembourgRadio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
, and made his breakthrough with his work on Ivy Benson
Ivy Benson
Ivy Benson was an English musician and bandleader, who led an all-female swing band. Benson and her band rose to fame in the 1940s, headlining variety theatres and topping the bill at the London Palladium, and became the BBC's resident house band.-Early years:Benson was born on 11 November 1913 in...
's Music for Lonely Lovers. His technical ingenuity was first shown on the Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
jazz single "Bad Penny Blues
Bad Penny Blues
"Bad Penny Blues" is a trad jazz piece written by Humphrey Lyttelton and recorded with his band in London on April 20, 1956.- Popular success :It was originally released as Parlophone ER 4184 and became a hit record in Britain at the time....
" (Parlophone Records, 1956) when, contrary to Lyttleton's wishes, he 'modified' the sound of the piano and compressed the sound to a greater than normal extent. The record became a hit. He then put enormous effort into Denis Preston
Denis Preston
Sydney Denis Preston was a British record producer and music critic. He has been described as "Europe's first independent record producer".- Biography :...
's Landsdowne Studio but tensions between Preston and Meek soon saw Meek forced out. During his time he recorded US actor George Chakiris
George Chakiris
George Chakiris is an American-Greek dancer, singer and actor.-Early life:Chakiris was born in Norwood, Ohio, to Steven and Zoe Chakiris, immigrants from Greece. Chakiris studied at the American School of Dance....
for SAGA Records and it was this that led him to Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and an independent career.
Triumph Records
In January 1960, together with Barrington-CoupeWilliam Barrington-Coupe
William H. Barrington-Coupe is a British record producer. He attained notoriety in 2007 when he confessed that a large number of piano CDs that he had sold on his Concert Artist/Fidelio Recordings label were not in fact performed by his wife Joyce Hatto but were copies, in some cases digitally...
, Meek founded Triumph Records
Triumph Records (UK)
Triumph Records was a UK record label set up in January 1960 by Joe Meek and William Barrington-Coupe with the financial backing of Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks. The label existed for less than a year and although most of the artistes are unknown, many of the records now sell for high prices in the...
. At the time Barrington-Coupe was working at SAGA records in Empire Yard, Holloway Road for Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and it was the Major who provided the finance. The label very nearly had a #1 hit with Meek's production of Angela Jones by Michael Cox
Michael Cox (singer)
Michael James Cox is a British-born former pop singer and actor. As Michael Cox, he had a top ten hit on the UK singles chart in 1960 with "Angela Jones", produced by Joe Meek. He later worked as an actor, and in TV in New Zealand, using both his full name and the name Michael James.-Life and...
. Cox was one of the featured singers on Jack Good's
Jack Good (producer)
Jack Good is a pioneering former TV television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons.-Career:...
TV music show Boy Meets Girl
Boy Meets Girls
Boy Meets Girls was a UK popular music TV show which was launched in September 1959 replacing the earlier show Oh Boy!.The show was presented and produced by Jack Good. Marty Wilde was the principal resident male artist and The Vernons Girls were the female residents. Joe Brown made regular...
and the song was given massive promotion. As an independent label,Triumph was at the mercy of small pressing plants, which could not -or would not – keep up with sales demand. The record made a respectable appearance in the Top Ten, but it proved Meek needed the major companies' distribution muscle to get his records into the shops when it mattered.
In spite an interesting catalogue of Meek productions, its indifferent business results and Joe proving difficult to work with eventually led to the label's demise. Meek later licensed many Triumph recordings to labels such as Top Rank
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....
and Pye
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
.
That year Meek conceived, wrote and produced an "Outer Space Music Fantasy"' concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
I Hear A New World
I Hear a New World
I Hear a New World - an Outer Space Music Fantasy is a concept album devised and composed by Joe Meek and performed by The Blue Men in 1959. It was partially released in 1960 and completely released in 1991 by RPM Records...
with a band called Rod Freeman & The Blue Men. The album was shelved for decades, apart from some EP tracks taken from it.
304 Holloway Road
Meek went on to set up his own production company known as RGM Sound Ltd (later Meeksville Sound Ltd) with toy importer, Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks as his financial backer. He operated from his now-legendary home studio which he constructed at 304 Holloway RoadHolloway Road
Holloway Road is a road in London. It is one of the main shopping streets in North London, and carries the A1 road as it passes through Holloway, in the London Borough of Islington...
, Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, a three-floor flat above a leather-goods store.
His first hit from Holloway Road was a UK #1 smash: John Leyton
John Leyton
John Leyton is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song, "Johnny Remember Me" , which reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1961.-Career:Leyton went to Highgate School and after completing his national service, he...
's Johnny Remember Me
Johnny Remember Me
"Johnny Remember Me" is a song which became a 1961 UK #1 hit single for John Leyton, backed by The Outlaws. It was producer Joe Meek's first #1 production. Recounting the haunting - real or imagined - of a young man by his dead lover, the song is one of the most noted of the 'death ditties' that...
(1961) written by active psychic Geoff Goddard
Geoff Goddard
Geoff Goddard was an English songwriter. Working for Joe Meek in the early 1960s, he wrote songs for Heinz, Mike Berry, Gerry Temple, The Tornados, Kenny Hollywood, The Outlaws, Freddie Starr, Screaming Lord Sutch, Gunilla Thorne, The Ramblers, Carter-Lewis and the Southerners and John...
. This memorable "death ditty" was cleverly promoted by Leyton's manager, expatriate Australian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood is an impresario and entertainment entrepreneur who relocated to England in 1954...
. Stigwood was able to get Leyton to perform the song several times in an episode of ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's short-lived department store-based TV soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Harpers West One in which he was making a guest appearance. Meek's third UK #1 and last major success was with The Honeycombs
The Honeycombs
The Honeycombs were an English beat/pop group, founded in 1963 in North London. The group had one chart-topping hit, the million selling "Have I the Right?", in 1964. After that song the interest in the group ebbed away, and they split up in late 1966...
' Have I The Right?
Have I the Right?
Have I The Right? was The Honeycombs' debut single and biggest hit. It was composed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, who had made contact with the Honeycombs, a London-based group, then playing under the name of The Sheratons, in the Mildmay Tavern in the Balls Pond Road in Islington, where they...
in 1964, which also became a number 4 hit on the American Billboard pop charts. The success of Leyton's recordings was instrumental in establishing Stigwood and Meek as two of Britain's first independent record producers.
When his landlords, who lived downstairs, felt that the noise was too much, they would indicate so with a broom on the ceiling. Joe would signal his contempt by placing loudspeakers in the stairwell and turning up the volume.
A privately manufactured "black plaque" (designed to ape the official blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
) has since been placed at the location of the studio to commemorate Meek's life and work.
Murder and suicide
Meek was obsessed with the occultOccult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
and the idea of "the other side". He would set up tape machines in graveyards in a vain attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he claimed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
(claiming the late American rocker had communicated with him in dreams) and other dead rock and roll musicians.
His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
(Meek was convinced that Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper in order to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
. Upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.
Meek's homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
– illegal in the UK at the time – put him under further pressure; he had been convicted of "importuning for immoral purposes" in 1963 and fined £15: he was consequently subject to blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
. In January 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver. According to some accounts, Meek became concerned that he would be implicated in the murder investigation when the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
said they would be interviewing all known homosexual men in the city.
The hits had dried up and Meek's depression deepened as his financial position became increasingly desperate. French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz
Austerlitz (film)
Austerlitz is a 1960 film directed by Abel Gance and starring Jean Marais, Rossano Brazzi, Jack Palance, Claudia Cardinale, Vittorio de Sica, Orson Welles, Leslie Caron and Elvire Popesco. Pierre Mondy portrays Napoleon in this film about one of his greatest victories at the Battle of Austerlitz...
. This lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
meant Meek never received royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
from the record during his lifetime.
On 3 February 1967, the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death
The Day the Music Died
On February 3, 1959, a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, killed three American rock and roll pioneers: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The day was later called The Day the Music Died by Don McLean, in his song...
, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself with a single barreled shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
that he had confiscated from his protegé, former Tornados
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...
bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the shotgun had been registered to Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries.
Meek was subsequently buried at Cemetery lodge Newent
Newent
Newent is a small market town about 8 miles north west of Gloucester City, on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean, and lying within the Forest of Dean Local Authority District. Its population at the 2001 census was 5,073...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. His black granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
tombstone can be found near the middle of the cemetery.
The lawsuit against Meek was eventually ruled in Meek's favour three weeks after his death in 1967. It is unlikely that Meek was aware of Austerlitz, as it had been released only in France at the time.
Meek's legacy
Despite not being able to play a musical instrument or write notationMusical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
, Meek displayed a remarkable facility for writing and producing successful commercial recordings. In writing songs he was reliant on musicians such as Dave Adams
Dave Adams
Dave Adams is a British singer, keyboard player and songwriter. He began working with Joe Meek in 1958, working with Meek until his death in 1967. In the early 1960s, he helped build up Meek's studio. He recorded singles with him under various pseudonyms and wrote songs for him...
, Geoff Goddard
Geoff Goddard
Geoff Goddard was an English songwriter. Working for Joe Meek in the early 1960s, he wrote songs for Heinz, Mike Berry, Gerry Temple, The Tornados, Kenny Hollywood, The Outlaws, Freddie Starr, Screaming Lord Sutch, Gunilla Thorne, The Ramblers, Carter-Lewis and the Southerners and John...
or Charles Blackwell to transcribe melodies from his vocal "demos". He worked on 245 singles, of which 45 were major hits (top fifty).
He pioneered studio tools such as multiple over-dubbing on one- and two-track machines, close miking, direct input of bass guitars, the compressor
Audio level compression
Dynamic range compression, also called DRC or simply compression reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds by narrowing or "compressing" an audio signal's dynamic range...
, and effects like echo and reverb
Reverberation
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...
, as well as sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
. Unlike other producers, his search was for the 'right' sound rather than for a catchy musical tune, and throughout his brief career he single-mindedly followed his quest to create a unique "sonic signature" for every record he produced.
At a time when many studio engineers were still wearing white coats and assiduously trying to maintain clarity and fidelity, Meek, the maverick, was producing everything on the three floors of his "home" studio and was never afraid to distort or manipulate the sound if it created the effect he was seeking.
Meek was one of the first producers to grasp and fully exploit the possibilities of the modern recording studio. His innovative techniques—physically separating instruments, treating instruments and voices with echo and reverb, processing the sound through his fabled home-made electronic devices, the combining of separately-recorded performances and segments into a painstakingly constructed composite recording—comprised a major breakthrough in sound production. Up to that time, the standard technique for pop, jazz and classical recordings alike was to record all the performers in one studio, playing together in real time, a legacy of the days before magnetic tape
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
, when performances were literally cut live, directly onto disc.
Meek's style was also substantially different from that of his contemporary Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
, who typically created his famous "Wall of sound"
Wall of Sound
The Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s...
productions by making live recordings of large ensembles that used multiples of major instruments like bass, guitar and piano to create the complex sonic backgrounds for his singers.
In 1993, ex-Joe Meek session singer Ted Fletcher introduced a line of audio equipment named after Joe Meek, due to his influence in the early stages of audio compression. The name and product line were sold to the American company PMI Audio Group in 2003. This product line includes a microphone series called "Telstar", named after Joe Meek’s most famous work.
Meek's reputation for experiments in recording music was acknowledged by The Music Producers Guild
The Music Producers Guild
The Music Producers Guild promotes and represents all individuals in the music production and recording professions. It is a professional organisation that embodies collective and individual creative contributions to the production and recording of all genres of music and media related...
who created The Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production in 2009. MPG chairman Mike Howlett
Mike Howlett
Mike Howlett is a Fijian-born musician, Grammy Award winning producer and teacher based in the United Kingdom and Australia....
said the award was "paying homage to this remarkable producer’s pioneering spirit". The winner of the inaugural award in 2009 was producer and musician Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
.
Artists Meek recorded
He passed up the chance to work with the then unknown David BowieDavid Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, the Beatles (the latter he once described as "just another bunch of noise, copying other people's music") and Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
. John Repsch, in The Legendary Joe Meek recounts that upon hearing Stewart sing, Meek rushed into the studio, put his fingers in his ears and screamed until Stewart had left. He preferred to record instrumentals with the band he sang with – The Moontrekkers.
In 1963 Meek worked with a then-little-known singer Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, then the lead vocalist of Tommy Scott & The Senators. Meek recorded seven tracks with Jones and took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal, with no success. Two years later after Jones gained popularity with the worldwide hit It's Not Unusual
It's Not Unusual
"It's Not Unusual" is a song written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, first recorded by a then-unknown Tom Jones after having first been offered to Sandie Shaw. Jones recorded what was intended to be a demo for Shaw, but when she heard it she was so impressed with Jones' delivery that she declined the...
in 1965, Meek was able to sell the tapes he'd recorded with Jones to Tower (USA) and Columbia (UK). Meek also recorded the following artists:
Robb Shenton, Screaming Lord Sutch
Screaming Lord Sutch
David Edward Sutch , also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Screaming Lord Sutch", was a musician from the United Kingdom...
and The Savages, The Tornados
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...
, The Honeycombs
The Honeycombs
The Honeycombs were an English beat/pop group, founded in 1963 in North London. The group had one chart-topping hit, the million selling "Have I the Right?", in 1964. After that song the interest in the group ebbed away, and they split up in late 1966...
, The Syndicats
The Syndicats
The Syndicats were an English group, who were Steve Howe's first band. Their three singles on Columbia were produced by Joe Meek. When lead guitarist Howe left for Tomorrow in 1965, he was replaced by Ray Fenwick. Fenwick played lead guitar on the band's most famous song "Crawdaddy Simone"...
, The Buzz, Mike Berry, The Outlaws
The Outlaws (UK band)
The Outlaws were an English instrumental band that recorded in the early 1960s. One time members included Ritchie Blackmore, Chas Hodges, Bobby Graham, Ken Lundgren, Mick Underwood, Reg Hawkins , Billy Kuy and others....
, The Moontrekkers
The Moontrekkers
The Moontrekkers were a British instrumental rock and roll band in the early 1960s, who are best known for their minor chart hit "Night of the Vampire", arranged and produced by Joe Meek, and for their peripheral involvement in the early career of singer Rod Stewart.-Career:The origins of the group...
, Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
, Billy Fury
Billy Fury
Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
, Deke Arlon
Deke Arlon
Deke Arlon is a British music publisher and music manager whose clients included Kenny Young, Sheena Easton, Ron Grainer, Elaine Paige, Dennis Waterman, Helen Watson, and Marti Pellow.-Early career:...
and The Offbeats, David John and the Mood, John Leyton
John Leyton
John Leyton is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song, "Johnny Remember Me" , which reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1961.-Career:Leyton went to Highgate School and after completing his national service, he...
, Geoff Goddard
Geoff Goddard
Geoff Goddard was an English songwriter. Working for Joe Meek in the early 1960s, he wrote songs for Heinz, Mike Berry, Gerry Temple, The Tornados, Kenny Hollywood, The Outlaws, Freddie Starr, Screaming Lord Sutch, Gunilla Thorne, The Ramblers, Carter-Lewis and the Southerners and John...
, Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
, Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
, Diana Dors
Diana Dors
Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in Swindon,...
, The Blue Men, Tom Jones, Tony Dangerfield and the Thrills, Heinz
Heinz (singer)
Heinz was a bassist and singer.-Life:Heinz was born in Detmold, but from the age of seven was brought up in Eastleigh, Hampshire, England, where a road is named after him. His biggest solo hit was "Just Like Eddie", a tribute to Eddie Cochran...
and The Wild Boys, Dave Adams
Dave Adams
Dave Adams is a British singer, keyboard player and songwriter. He began working with Joe Meek in 1958, working with Meek until his death in 1967. In the early 1960s, he helped build up Meek's studio. He recorded singles with him under various pseudonyms and wrote songs for him...
, Joy and Dave, Chico Arnez, Jimmy Miller and the Barbecues, Mike Preston, Emile Ford
Emile Ford
Emile Ford is a musician and singer, who was popular in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Life and career:...
and the Checkmates, Chris Williams and the Monsters, Lance Fortune
Lance Fortune
Chris Morris, better known by the stage name Lance Fortune was an English pop singer.Morris was classically trained on piano...
, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers
Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers
Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers were a British instrumental beat group in the early 1960s. Their biggest hit, "Can Can 62", was produced by Joe Meek and reached the British singles chart in 1962. The group toured with both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones before disbanding in 1966.-Origins and...
, Yolanda
Yolanda
Yolanda is a given name, of Greek origin but existing in many languages, meaning Violet. The form of the name in Greek is Iolanthe. In Czech and Slovak the name is spelled Jolantha...
, Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan is an English musician, whose career started in 1959. He is best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan was one of the most "in-demand" studio musicians in the UK, and performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career...
, Ricky Wayne
Rick Wayne
Rick Wayne is a writer, editor, and former professional bodybuilder and pop singer.-Biography:Wayne was born Learie Carasco in St. Lucia. In the 1950s he emigrated to England, and served two years in the Royal Signals, most of the time in Yorkshire...
and The Offbeats, George Chakiris
George Chakiris
George Chakiris is an American-Greek dancer, singer and actor.-Early life:Chakiris was born in Norwood, Ohio, to Steven and Zoe Chakiris, immigrants from Greece. Chakiris studied at the American School of Dance....
, Michael Cox
Michael Cox (singer)
Michael James Cox is a British-born former pop singer and actor. As Michael Cox, he had a top ten hit on the UK singles chart in 1960 with "Angela Jones", produced by Joe Meek. He later worked as an actor, and in TV in New Zealand, using both his full name and the name Michael James.-Life and...
, Frankie Vaughan
Frankie Vaughan
Frankie Vaughan, CBE, DL was an English singer of traditional pop music, who issued more than 80 recordings in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after one of his early hits.-Life and career:...
, Iain Gregory, Danny Rivers, Gerry Temple, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers were a 1960s British rhythm and blues, soul and beat group who had two Top 10 hits with "One Way Love" and "Got to Get You into My Life" ....
, The Charles Blackwell Orchestra, Don Charles
Don Charles
Don Charles was a popular English ballad singer, and record producer, and later in his life, a writer of a self-help book. He is best known for his recordings of "Walk With Me My Angel" and "Bring Your Love to Me". He also produced several of The Tornados' tracks including "Space Walk" and...
, The Stonehenge Men, Andy Cavell, The Dowlands, Houston Wells and the Marksmen, The Packabeats, Jenny Moss, Burr Bailey and the Six Shooters, The Checkmates, The Saints
The Saints (1960s band)
The Saints were an instrumental band that worked for record producer Joe Meek.-Career:The band were made up of Tab Martin , Roy Phillips , and drummer Ricky Winter...
, The Cameos, Sounds Incorporated
Sounds Incorporated
Sounds Incorporated, later known as Sounds Inc., were a British instrumental pop group who recorded extensively in the 1960s.-Career:The group formed in 1961, in Dartford, Kent, and gained a local reputation in nearby South London for the fullness of their saxophone-led instrumental sound...
, The Puppets
The Puppets
The Puppets were an English pop/beat group from Preston, Lancashire, that were managed and recorded by Joe Meek. They backed artists such as Brenda Lee, The Ronettes, Dee Dee Sharp, Gene Vincent, Vince Eager,Marty Wilde,Michael Cox,Duffy Power,Jess Conrad Crispian St. Peters, Billy Fury and...
, The Beat Boys, Mike Sarne
Mike Sarne
Mike Sarne is a British actor, director and former pop singer.Sarne was born Michael Scheuer at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. Active in the 1960s as singer, he is best known for his 1962 UK comedy number one hit, "Come Outside"...
, The Ambassadors, Pamela Blue, Glenda Collins
Glenda Collins
Glenda Collins was a British pop music singer active in the 1960s. Collins was discovered by Carroll Levis, whose promotion landed her a contract with Decca Records...
, The Sharades, Roger LaVern and the Microns, Gunilla Thorne, Kim Roberts, Billie Davis
Billie Davis
Billie Davis is an English female singer who had hits in the 1960s, and is best remembered for the UK hit version of the song, "Tell Him" and "I Want You to Be My Baby" ....
, Freddie Starr
Freddie Starr
Freddie Starr is an English comedian who became famous in the early 1970s. He is also an impressionist and singer, with a chart album After the Laughter and UK Top 10 single, "It's You", in March 1974 to his credit.-Early career:Under his real name, he appeared as a teenager in the film Violent...
and the Midnighters, Shade Joey and the Night Owls, Flip and the Dateliners, Valerie Masters, Alan Dean and his Problems, The Blue Rondos, Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
, Jess Conrad
Jess Conrad
Jess Conrad OBE is an actor and singer from England.-Career:Having started his career as a repertory actor and film extra, Jess Conrad was cast in a television play "Bye, Bye Barney" as a pop singer...
, The Saxons, The Shakeouts, Bobby Rio and the Revelles, Peter London, The Four Matadors, The Cryin' Shames
The Cryin' Shames
The Cryin' Shames were a mid 1960s pop/beat group, produced by Joe Meek. They had one UK hit single in 1966 with a cover of The Drifters' 1961 "Please Stay", written by Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard.-Career:...
, The Riot Squad
The Riot Squad
The Riot Squad were a pop group from London, initially managed and produced by Larry Page and later, for their reunion, by Joe Meek.Members included Graham Bonney , Ron Ryan , Len Tuckey , Mark Stevens , brian davies , Mitch Mitchell , Roger Crisp, Terry Clifford, Butch Davis, Derek "Del" Roll...
, The Millionaires, The Impac, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, Anne Shelton, Kenny Graham and the Satellites, Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele OBE , is an English entertainer. Steele is widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.-Singer:...
, Chris Barber
Chris Barber
Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...
, The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers, Carter-Lewis and the Southerners
Carter-Lewis And The Southerners
Carter-Lewis and the Southerners were an early-1960s rock band formed by the Birmingham-born musicians Ken Lewis and John Carter .Carter and Lewis were initially songwriters...
, Brian White & The Magna Jazz Band, The Ferridays (Scorpions)
The Scorpions (London band)
The Scorpions were formed in 1959 in Battersea, South West London, and released two singles in 1961. Founder members were brothers Ted Barber - lead guitar; John Barber - bass guitar; Mick LeDieu - drums; Ivor Knight The Scorpions were formed in 1959 in Battersea, South West London, and released...
, Ray Dexter and The Layabouts, Neil Christian
Neil Christian
Neil Christian, born Christopher Tidmarsh had a solo hit single in 1966, when "That's Nice" , reached Number 16 in the UK Singles Chart. He remains, however, a one-hit wonder. Follow-up singles "Oops" and "Two at a Time" never reached the charts...
, Kenny Hollywood, Jamie Lee and The Atlantics, Toby Ventura, Wes Sands
Clive Sarstedt
Clive Sarstedt is a British pop music singer.He made his recording debut as Wes Sands , and later continued as Clive Sands. He joined The Deejays in Sweden in 1966/1967...
, The Thunderbolts, Silas Dooley Jr., Bobby Cristo and The Rebels, Malcolm and The Countdowns, The Diamond Twins, The Hotrods, Charles Kingsley Creation, Danny's Passion, The Classics, The Manish Boys, Pete, Chris and The Outcasts, Simplicity Pattern, and Joe Meek himself.
Unreleased recordings aka the Tea Chest Tapes
After the death of Joe Meek the thousands of recordings Meek hid at his studio remained unreleased and preserved by Cliff Cooper of The Millionaires. At the time of Joe's death in 1967, Mr. Cooper is said to have purchased all of Joe's recordings for £300. These recordings were called the "Tea Chest Tapes" among fans, as they were stored in a tea chest when Cooper took them out of his apartment. Alan Blackburn, former president of the Joe Meek Appreciation Society, is the only person known to the public who has listened to all these tapes, as he catalogued all of them in the mid-1980s.On 4 September 2008 these unreleased recordings went up for auction in Fame Bureau's 'It's More Than Rock 'N' Roll' auction. The auction website states they fetched £200,000, but others have said considerably more was taken. The auction site says that there are over 5000 recordings on 1850 tapes containing recordings by David Bowie as singer and sax player with the Konrads, Gene Vincent, Denny Laine, Billy Fury, Tom Jones, Jimmy Page, Mike Berry, John Leyton, Ritchie Blackmore, Jess Conrad, Mitch Mitchell and Screaming Lord Sutch. The tapes also contain many examples of Joe Meek composing songs and experimental sound techniques. Tape 418 has Meek composing songs for the film Live It Up!
Live It Up! (film)
Live It Up! is a British music-film released in 1963. It was filmed at Pinewood Film Studios in London, England and featured Gene Vincent, Jenny Moss, The Outlaws, Patsy Ann Noble, The Saints and Heinz Burt among others...
.
The future of these unreleased Joe Meek "Tea Chest Tapes" recordings remains unknown.
Songs
- Franco-English pop singer-songwriter MeeKMeeK (musician)MeeK , is a Franco-English Alternative pop singer-songwriter, musician and producer...
chose his stage name as a homage to the British producer. - British punk Wreckless EricWreckless EricWreckless Eric is an English rock and roll/new wave singer-songwriter, best known for his 1977 single " Whole Wide World" on Stiff Records. More than two decades after its release, the song was included in Mojo magazine’s list of the best punk rock singles of all time...
recounts Meek's biographyBiographyA biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
and recreates some of his studio effects in his song "Joe Meek" from the album Donovan of Trash. - According to some, the song "Green DoorGreen Door" Green Door" is a 1956 popular song with music composed by Bob Davie and lyrics written by Marvin Moore. The lyrics describe a nondescript establishment, with a green door, behind which "a happy crowd" play piano, smoke and "laugh a lot", and inside which the singer is not allowed.-Possible...
" alludes to Meek. "When I said, 'Joe sent me,' someone laughed out loud behind the green door". - The Marked MenThe Marked MenThe Marked Men are a punk rock band from Denton, Texas composed of guitarists/vocalists Mark Ryan and Jeff Burke, bassist Joe Ayoub, and drummer Mike Throneberry. They have released four albums through Rip Off Records, Dirtnap Records, and Swami Records...
, a Texas punk band, have a song titled "Someday" with lyric: "Joe Meek wanted all the world to know about the news he found." - The Frank BlackFrank BlackBlack Francis is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black...
song "White Noise Maker" deals with Meek's suicide by shotgun, the white noise maker of the title. "It's been so long since my Telstar." - The Bleeder Group, a Danish alternative rock group recorded a song on their second album Sunrise, called "Joe Meek Shall Inherit The Earth"
- MatmosMatmosMatmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore signed to the Matador Records label. M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances, including...
, an Electronic duo, have a song on their 2006 album The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast called "Solo Buttons for Joe Meek". - Pluto Monkey, British left field artist, released a three track CD single on Shifty Disco featuring the tracks "Joe Meek" and "Meeksville Sound Is Dead"
- Swing Out SisterSwing Out SisterSwing Out Sister are a British "sophisti-pop" group best known worldwide for their 1986 song "Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", "Twilight World", "Waiting Game" and a remake of "Am I the Same Girl?" Though album sales in the U.S. and Europe have levelled off since the early 1990s, the...
include a short instrumental named "Joe Meek's Cat" on their 1994 album Shapes and Patterns, inspired by Joe's 1966 ghost-hunting expeditions to Warley Lea Farm during which he allegedly captured recordings of a talking cat channeling the spirit of a former landowner who committed suicide at the farm - Graham ParkerGraham ParkerGraham Parker is a British rock singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.-Early career :...
's 1992 album Burning Questions includes the cryptic "Just Like Joe Meek's Blues" - Sheryl CrowSheryl CrowSheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
claimed that her song "A Change Would Do You GoodA Change Would Do You Good"A Change Would Do You Good" is the fourth single from Sheryl Crow's 1996 self-titled second album. It was preceded by "If It Makes You Happy", "Everyday Is a Winding Road", and "Hard to Make a Stand"...
" was inspired by an article she read about Joe Meek - Jonathan KingJonathan KingJonathan King is an English singer, songwriter, impresario and record producer. He is also the author of three novels, Bible Two and The Booker Prize Winner , and Beware the Monkey Man , and an autobiography, 65 My Life So Far .King first came to prominence as an...
recorded a song about Meek called "He Stood In The Bath He Stamped On The Floor". - Johnny Stage, Danish producer and guitarist released an album in tribute of Meek, entitled The Lady with the Crying Eyes featuring various Danish artists, on 3 February 2007(www.myspace.com/joemeektribute
- Dave Stewart (the keyboardist) and Barbara GaskinBarbara GaskinBarbara Gaskin is a British singer who, with her musical partner, the keyboardist Dave Stewart, formed a duo in 1981. In September of that year they had a number one single in the UK with a cover version of the song "It's My Party"...
recorded the song "Your Lucky Star" dealing with the life and death of Joe Meek, released on the 1991 album "Spin". - Dave Stewart also recorded a version of Joe Meek’s "Telstar" hit on the occasion of its 40th anniversary in 2002. This was later released on the Dave Stewart and Barbara GaskinBarbara GaskinBarbara Gaskin is a British singer who, with her musical partner, the keyboardist Dave Stewart, formed a duo in 1981. In September of that year they had a number one single in the UK with a cover version of the song "It's My Party"...
2009 mini-album “Hour Moon”. The album also features the duo’s previously released Meek tribute "Your Lucky Star" from their 1991 album "Spin". - The Spanish label Spicnic released in 2001 a tribute CD, "Oigo un nuevo no mundo. Homenaje a Joe Meek", featuring various Spanish bands.
- Trey SpruanceTrey SpruancePreston Lea Spruance III or "Trey Spruance" is an American composer, producer, and musician, perhaps best known as the leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3 and for his work as guitarist and keyboardist with Mr. Bungle...
from the band Mr. BungleMr. BungleMr. Bungle was an experimental band from Northern California. The band was formed in 1985 while the members were still in high school and was named after a children's educational film. Mr. Bungle released four demo tapes in the mid to late 1980s before being signed to Warner Bros. Records and...
has stated that the 10 part song/instrumental "The Bends" from their album Disco VolanteDisco VolanteDisco Volante is a 1995 album by the band Mr. Bungle. It is by far the most experimental of all their productions, as it picks up inspirations from a wide variety of musical styles, including death metal, techno, '50s space age pop, musique concrète and Italian avant-garde...
is inspired by Joe Meek's music. Specifically "I Hear a New WorldI Hear a New WorldI Hear a New World - an Outer Space Music Fantasy is a concept album devised and composed by Joe Meek and performed by The Blue Men in 1959. It was partially released in 1960 and completely released in 1991 by RPM Records...
". - Thomas TruaxThomas TruaxThomas Truax is an American songwriter, performer, and inventor of experimental musical instruments currently residing in London, England.-Biography:...
regularly performed his Meek tribute "Joe Meek Warns Buddy Holly" on his 2008 tours, a song apparently about Meek's supposed warning via spirit-writing predicting Buddy Holly's death. A single and accompanying video was scheduled for release on 3 February 2009, the 50th anniversary of Holly's demise, also the date of Meek's suicide.
- Robb Shenton released /*Lonely Joe*/ as a tribute to the legendary producer on 28 October 2008. Robb was one of Joe's artists and was with five Meek bands between 1963 and early 1966: The Bobcats, David John and the Mood, The Prestons, The Nashpool and Flip and the Dateliners. He also sang backing vocals with many others.
- 'Meet Joe Meek' sometimes known as 'Just like Joe Meek' by the Babysitars sampled the BBC2 ArenaArena (TV series)Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. It has run since 1 October 1975, and over five hundred episodes have been made. Arena covers all manner of subjects, from profiles of notable people such as Bob Dylan to the Ford Cortina car...
documentary on Joe Meek and their composition 'Crazyhead' said to be inspired by Joe Meek himself.
"Telstar – The Joe Meek Story" – play and film
TelstarTelstar (film)
Telstar is a film adaptation of James Hicks' play of the same name. It stars Con O'Neill as Joe Meek and Kevin Spacey as Meek's business advisor, Major Banks...
, a stage play by Nick Moran
Nick Moran
Nicholas James "Nick" Moran is an English actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Eddy the card shark in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels...
and James Hicks which premiered in 2005, is a dramatisation of Joe Meek's life and starred Con O'Neill
Con O'Neill (actor)
Robert "Con" O'Neill is a British actor. He began his acting career at Liverpool's Everyman Youth Theatre....
as Meek and Linda Robson
Linda Robson
Linda Patricia Mary Robson is an English actress. She played Tracey in the BBC comedy, Birds of a Feather from 1989 to 1998.-Personal life and education:...
as his landlady. It was also made into a film, released in the UK in June 2009, directed by Nick Moran
Nick Moran
Nicholas James "Nick" Moran is an English actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Eddy the card shark in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels...
starring Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
, Ralf Little
Ralf Little
Ralf Alistair J. B. Little is an English actor, writer and semi-professional footballer, working mainly in television comedy. He is best known for playing Antony Royle in The Royle Family and Jonny Keogh in the first six series of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.-Early life and work...
and Pam Ferris
Pam Ferris
Pamela Ann "Pam" Ferris is a German-born Welsh actress. She is best known for her starring roles on television as Ma Larkin in The Darling Buds of May, as Laura Thyme in Rosemary & Thyme, and for playing Miss Trunchbull in the movie Matilda...
with O'Neill reprising his stage role.
Documentary film
- A Life in the Death of Joe MeekA Life in the Death of Joe MeekA Life in the Death of Joe Meek, an independent American documentary about Joe Meek, by Howard S. Berger and Susan Stahmann. Joe Meek was one of Britain's premier independent record producers of the late fifties and early sixties...
, an independent American documentary, by Howard S. BergerHoward S. BergerHoward S. Berger is an avant garde filmmaker, co-winner of the "Best Screenplay" award for Love & Support , and winner of a Fantafestival film award for his film Original Sins....
and Susan Stahmann premiered on 24 January 2008 on the Reel Music Film Festival (Portland, OregonPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
). The production, which began shooting in 2003, includes over 60 interviews with Meek's family, close friends, associates, musicians and pop culture movers and shakers such as Alex KapranosAlex KapranosAlexander Paul Kapranos Huntley , commonly known as Alex Kapranos, is a United Kingdom-based musician who is the lead singer and the guitarist of the Glasgow band Franz Ferdinand.-Early life:...
, Keith StricklandKeith StricklandJulian Keith Strickland is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and one of the founding members of the The B-52s. Originally the band's drummer, Strickland switched to guitar after the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson in 1985...
, Edwyn CollinsEdwyn CollinsEdwyn Stephen Collins is an Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish musician, playing mostly electric guitar-driven pop. Collins formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which later became Orange Juice...
, Liam WatsonLiam WatsonLiam Watson is a Grammy Award-winning British record producer and owner of Toe Rag Studios. Watson is perhaps best known for his work engineering and mixing the White Stripes' Elephant, receiving the 2004 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album...
, Huw BunfordHuw BunfordHuw "Bunf" Bunford is the guitarist in the rock band, Super Furry Animals.-Biography:...
and Simon Napier-BellSimon Napier-BellSimon Napier-Bell has undertaken many jobs in the music industry, including bandboy, manager, producer, songwriter, journalist and author and gourmet...
.
- The Very Strange Story of the Legendary Joe Meek A 1991 UK TV documentary from BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV's Arena series.
Radio play
In March 1994, BBC Radio 4 broadcast Lonely Joe, a radio play based on the life of Joe Meek, written by Janey Praeger and Peter Kavanagh.Literature
- John Repsch: The Legendary Joe Meek (UK; 1989, Jul 2003) ISBN 1-901447-20-0
- Barry Cleveland: Creative Music Production – Joe Meek's BOLD Techniques (USA; Jul 2001) ISBN 1-931140-08-1
- Nick Moran with James Hicks: "Telstar – The Joe Meek Story", (UK, Oberon BooksOberon BooksOberon Books is an independent publisher which specialises in drama and the performing arts. Whilst the majority of Oberon's catalogue is made up of play texts, in recent years it has begun to publish theatrical biographies as well as books on ballet, opera, illustration, photography and...
1/2007) ISBN 978-1-84002-588-0 - The penultimate chapter of Alan MooreAlan MooreAlan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
's spoken word piece "The Highbury WorkingThe Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of MarvelsThe Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels is the name of a group of occultists and performers including writer and magician Alan Moore, Bauhaus member David J, and musician Tim Perkins, who perform occult "workings" consisting of prose poetry set to music. Several of these "workings"...
" concerns Joe Meek's last moments.