Geoff Emerick, Beatles engineer, died at age 72.

Kenneth Womack is the author of one Multivolume study dedicated to the life and work of George Martin. The second volume, Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin (The Later Years, 1966-2016), was published in September.

Geoff Emerick grew up as a working class boy in North London to make a name for himself among the most talented and innovative sound engineers of his time.

Born in the London area of ​​Crouch End on December 5, 1945, Emerick joined the staff of EMI Studios at the age of 16 after his father wrote to the majestic Abbey Road studio about his son's technical work. . Emerick, hired as an assistant engineer, began working at the studio on September 3, 1962.

On the second day of her work, Emerick worked during the evening when the Beatles appeared at EMI Studios to record "Love Me Do" and a cover version of "How Do You Do It" for the A & R Parlophone Leader, George Martin. The same evening, John Lennon had rejected "How Do You Do It" before presenting Martin "Please Please Me," which, after Martin challenged the band to speed up the tempo of the song, had seen the Fab Four to climb to the top of the charts. in the new year.

On the second day of his work, Emerick worked during the evening session when the Beatles appeared to record "Love Me Make."

Over the next few years, Emerick started out as a junior employee at EMI, who was promoted to assistant engineer, then lacquer cutter to general engineer and then balancing actor. During this time, he occasionally worked with the Beatles sessions, including the July 1963 session in which the group released "She Loves You" for Martin, as well as at historical recording sessions for classics. Beatles such as "I want to hold your hand" and "A Hard Day's Night." During this time, he made Judy Garland's and Hollies' recordings, as well as Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo" British record.

Emerick's big breakthrough came in 1966 when, at the tender age of 20, he was invited by Martin to play the role of Beatles sound engineer to replace the pillar of EMI, Norman Smith, who acted as producer for Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Emerick's career with The Beatles began well with his first recording as a Beatles sound engineer, in which he played the dreadfully experimental Tomorrow Never Knows for the band. Revolver LP. For the revolutionary song, he captured Lennon's voice through a rotating Leslie speaker to meet the Beatles' expectations of resembling the Dalai Lama singing on top of a distant mountain.

In 1967, Emerick proved himself in the studio when the band was recorded. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album, for which the engineer was celebrated at the annual Grammy Awards. In July 1968, Emerick notoriously resigned from the Beatles group during the production of The Beatles (popularized as The white album), claiming that the growing tensions inside the studio had become too difficult to bear. In April 1969, Lennon and Paul McCartney had called Emerick back to the Beatles production team when they recorded the single "The Ballad of John and Yoko", which paved the way for Emerick's next work on Abbey Road, the song of the Beatles on the swans.

After the breakup of the group, Emerick was employed by Apple Corps. At the invitation of The Beatles, he oversaw the construction of the Apple studio in the basement of the company's headquarters, Savile Row. Over the following years, Emerick worked on many recording projects for McCartney, including Wings' Strip on the run (1973) and the city of London (1973), as well as McCartney's Tug of war (1982) and Flaming Pie (1997) Solo albums. Over the years, he has been part of the production team for many prestigious roles including Elvis Costello, Badfinger, Cheap Trick, Jeff Beck, Supertramp, America and Kate Bush. In 2004, he was hailed by critics for his efforts on Nellie McKay's debut album S away from me. In 2007, he produced a 40^ehomage tribute to Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band for broadcast on BBC Radio, with contributions from artists such as Oasis and killers. In total, Emerick won four Grammy Awards for innovative engineering work.

From 1984, Emerick moved to Los Angeles. In 2006, he published his best-selling memoir titled Here, there and everywhere: my life records Beatles music, which he co-authored with music journalist Howard Massey.

In his memoirs, Emerick wrote that "[w]Orking with the Beatles was different from working with other artists. With them, everything and everything was possible; they had a zero tolerance for the words "no" or "can not". On the other hand, if something went wrong, they knew it right away and they had no problem changing direction and moving forward. There was no prevarication; no if, of and, or of; no maybes. It was good or it was not the case. "

In recent years, Emerick had become a regular at fan conferences and production workshops. He died Tuesday in Los Angeles, at the age of 72, after apparently suffering from a heart attack.