Mike Hurst (producer)
Encyclopedia
Mike Hurst is an English
musician
and record producer
.
after auditioning for Jack Good
's television show Oh Boy!
. but in 1960, after failing to secure a recording contract
, Hurst moved away from music and began to work in insurance. Later, though, after his mother answered an advertisement in The Stage
, on his behalf, for a singer for a pop/folk group, Hurst won an audition. He joined Dusty
and Tom Springfield
in The Springfields
in February 1962.
After entering the British charts with the hit "Breakaway" they scored a hit single
in the US
with "Silver Threads and Golden Needles
", becoming the first UK
vocal group to make the US Top 20. UK chart success continued in 1963 with "Island of Dreams" and "Say I Won't Be There". They were voted the top British group by readers of the NME
in 1962. The Springfields' final performance was in Sunday Night at the London Palladium
, the biggest television program
me of the day, where they were presented with a trophy by compere Bruce Forsyth
.
The group disbanded in October 1963. In 1964, Hurst formed a band
called the Methods, featuring Jimmy Page
and then Albert Lee
on guitar
as well as Tony Ashton
on keyboards
. After leaving the band Hurst began producing for Andrew Oldham (Tony Rivers and the Castaways) and Mickie Most
. In September 1965 he oversaw Marc Bolan
's first recording session, at Decca when he recorded "The Wizard".
In 1965 he discovered singer-songwriter
Cat Stevens
performing at Hammersmith College, had him signed to the new Deram
record label
(an imprint of Decca
) and produced his first five hit singles including "Matthew and Son
" and "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun". During this time he also produced hit singles for P. P. Arnold
("The First Cut Is the Deepest
"), The Move
("Curly"), Manfred Mann
("Mighty Quinn"), Spencer Davis Group
("Time Seller") and Colin Blunstone
.
In 1970 and 1971 he recorded two album
s for Capitol Records
, utilising sidesmen such as Tony Ashton
, B. J. Cole
, Clem Cattini
, Ian Paice
, Jon Lord
, Rod Argent
and Nicky Hopkins
. In 1973 he formed his own production company, Solid Gold, and wrote and produced for the band Fancy
, achieving US chart success with the singles "Touch Me" and a cover of The Troggs
"Wild Thing". The same year he signed Showaddywaddy
to Bell Records and produced a string of UK hit singles for them. These included "Under the Moon of Love
", "Three Steps to Heaven
" and "When".
Following his success with Showaddywaddy, he produced Modern Priscilla
, a disco album for Cilla Black
, started managing Shakin' Stevens
in 1978, and produced his first hit "Hot Dog" in 1978. he formed a vocal group with Mary Hopkin
called Sundance and toured with Dr Hook. In 1984 he became head of Lamborghini Records, famous for discovering Samantha Fox
.
Recent work includes production for Belle & Sebastian
(2002), and his son's band, Jonas and Plunkett (2007). He also runs rock schools for youngsters through his Rockmaster company, and also lectures at schools throughout the country.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and 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...
.
Biography
A singer, songwriter and guitarist from the age of 13, Mike Hurst was encouraged by rock singer Eddie CochranEddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
after auditioning for Jack Good
Jack Good (producer)
Jack Good is a pioneering former TV television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons.-Career:...
's television show Oh Boy!
Oh, Boy! (TV series)
Oh Boy! was the first teenage all-music show on British TV airing in 1958 and 1959. It was produced by Jack Good for ITV.Good had previously produced 6.5 Special for the BBC Television, but wanted to drop the sport and public-service content from this show, and concentrate on the music...
. but in 1960, after failing to secure a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
, Hurst moved away from music and began to work in insurance. Later, though, after his mother answered an advertisement in The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
, on his behalf, for a singer for a pop/folk group, Hurst won an audition. He joined Dusty
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
and Tom Springfield
Tom Springfield
Tom Springfield is the brother of Dusty Springfield and an important figure in the 1960s folk and pop music scene...
in The Springfields
The Springfields
The Springfields were a British pop-folk vocal trio who had success in the early 1960s in the UK, US and Ireland and included singer Dusty Springfield and her brother, record producer Tom Springfield, along with Tim Feild, later a noted Sufi writer, who was latterly replaced by Mike Hurst, who...
in February 1962.
After entering the British charts with the hit "Breakaway" they scored a hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with "Silver Threads and Golden Needles
Silver Threads and Golden Needles
"Silver Threads and Golden Needles", a song written by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds, was first recorded by Wanda Jackson in 1956. The original lyrics, as performed by Jackson, contain a verse not usually included in later versions, which also often differed in other minor details.-Other versions:*...
", becoming the first UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
vocal group to make the US Top 20. UK chart success continued in 1963 with "Island of Dreams" and "Say I Won't Be There". They were voted the top British group by readers of the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
in 1962. The Springfields' final performance was in Sunday Night at the London Palladium
Sunday Night at the London Palladium
Sunday Night at the London Palladium is a British television variety show produced by ATV for the ITV network, originally running from 1955 to 1967, with a brief revival in 1973 and 1974...
, the biggest television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
me of the day, where they were presented with a trophy by compere Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
.
The group disbanded in October 1963. In 1964, Hurst formed a band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
called the Methods, featuring Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
and then Albert Lee
Albert Lee
Albert William Lee, born 21 December 1943 in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked both in the studio and on tour with some of the most famous musicians which stretch through a very wide of genres...
on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
as well as Tony Ashton
Tony Ashton
Tony Ashton was an English rock pianist, keyboardist, singer, composer, producer and artist.-Biography:...
on keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
. After leaving the band Hurst began producing for Andrew Oldham (Tony Rivers and the Castaways) and Mickie Most
Mickie Most
Mickie Most was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with acts such as The Animals, Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group often issued on his own RAK Records label....
. In September 1965 he oversaw Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
's first recording session, at Decca when he recorded "The Wizard".
In 1965 he discovered singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
performing at Hammersmith College, had him signed to the new Deram
Deram Records
Deram Records was a subsidiary record label established in 1966 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. At this time U.K. Decca was a completely different company than the Decca label in the United States, which was then owned by MCA Inc. Deram recordings were also distributed in the U.S. through...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
(an imprint of Decca
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....
) and produced his first five hit singles including "Matthew and Son
Matthew and Son
- American LP release :- Personnel :* Cat Stevens: guitars, Piano, Hammond organ, vocals.* John Paul Jones, Bass guitar * All instruments arranged by Alan Tew.* Mike Hurst: Producer, engineer, liner notes....
" and "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun". During this time he also produced hit singles for P. P. Arnold
P. P. Arnold
P. P. Arnold is an American-born soul singer who enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and beyond.-Early life:...
("The First Cut Is the Deepest
The First Cut Is the Deepest
"The First Cut Is the Deepest" is a 1967 song written by Cat Stevens, originally released by P. P. Arnold in the spring of 1967. Stevens' own version of the song is technically a cover, and originally appeared on his album New Masters in December 1967....
"), The Move
The Move
The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States....
("Curly"), Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
("Mighty Quinn"), Spencer Davis Group
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
("Time Seller") and Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone is an English pop singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the pop group The Zombies, and for his participation on various albums with The Alan Parsons Project.-Biography:...
.
In 1970 and 1971 he recorded two album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s for Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, utilising sidesmen such as Tony Ashton
Tony Ashton
Tony Ashton was an English rock pianist, keyboardist, singer, composer, producer and artist.-Biography:...
, B. J. Cole
B. J. Cole
Brian John Cole is an English pedal steel guitarist. Coming to prominence in the early 1970s with the band Cochise, Cole has played in many styles of music, ranging from mainstream pop and rock, to jazz and eclectic experimental music.He played and is heavily featured with Deke Leonard's Help...
, Clem Cattini
Clem Cattini
Clem Cattini , is an English rock and roll drummer who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician...
, Ian Paice
Ian Paice
Ian Anderson Paice is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the English rock band Deep Purple. As of Jon Lord's departure in 2002, he is the only founding member of the band who never stopped performing with the group, and the only member to appear on every album the band has...
, Jon Lord
Jon Lord
Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
, Rod Argent
Rod Argent
Rod Argent is an English rock musician and a founding member of the 1960s English pop group The Zombies and the 1970s band Argent....
and Nicky Hopkins
Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
. In 1973 he formed his own production company, Solid Gold, and wrote and produced for the band Fancy
Fancy (band)
Fancy were an early-mid 1970s pop group. The band was made up of session musicians produced by Mike Hurst. They had a surprise U.S. hit single in 1974 with a version of the classic "Wild Thing" and a second U.S. hit with "Touch Me" . They were initially fronted by Penthouse Pet Helen Caunt and...
, achieving US chart success with the singles "Touch Me" and a cover of The Troggs
The Troggs
The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...
"Wild Thing". The same year he signed Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy are a 1970s pop group from Leicester, England. They specialised in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, and dressed as Teddy Boys.-History:...
to Bell Records and produced a string of UK hit singles for them. These included "Under the Moon of Love
Under the Moon of Love
"Under the Moon of Love" was a popular hit single by Showaddywaddy.Written by Tommy Boyce and Curtis Lee and produced by Phil Spector in 1961 for Curtis Lee, "Under the Moon of Love" was a minor hit in the U.S. reaching #46 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.Fifteen years later the song was...
", "Three Steps to Heaven
Three Steps to Heaven (song)
"Three Steps to Heaven" is a 1960 single by Eddie Cochran. It became a posthumous UK number-one hit for Cochran following his death in a car crash. In the US it didn't reach the Billboard Hot 100...
" and "When".
Following his success with Showaddywaddy, he produced Modern Priscilla
Modern Priscilla
Modern Priscilla is the title of Cilla Black's tenth solo studio album and her last to be completed before the end of her 15-year contract with the EMI group...
, a disco album for Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
, started managing Shakin' Stevens
Shakin' Stevens
Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s . His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw...
in 1978, and produced his first hit "Hot Dog" in 1978. he formed a vocal group with Mary Hopkin
Mary Hopkin
Mary Hopkin , credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti, is a Welsh folk singer best known for her 1968 UK number one single "Those Were The Days". She was one of the first musicians to sign to The Beatles' Apple label....
called Sundance and toured with Dr Hook. In 1984 he became head of Lamborghini Records, famous for discovering Samantha Fox
Samantha Fox
Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox is an English dance-pop singer, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at the age of 16, she began her topless modeling career on Page Three of The Sun, and went on to become a popular pin-up girl...
.
Recent work includes production for Belle & Sebastian
Belle & Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965...
(2002), and his son's band, Jonas and Plunkett (2007). He also runs rock schools for youngsters through his Rockmaster company, and also lectures at schools throughout the country.