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John Leckie

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For other uses, see John Leckie (disambiguation).

John Leckie
John Leckie, 2006
John Leckie, 2006
Background information
Birth nameJohn William Leckie
Born (1949-10-23) 23 October 1949 (age 74)
Paddington, London, England
GenresRock, pop
OccupationRecord producer
Years active1970–present

John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's Real Life (1978); XTC's White Music (1978); Dukes of Stratosphear's 25 O'Clock and the Fall's This Nation's Saving Grace (both 1985); the Stone Roses' The Stone Roses (1989); the Verve's A Storm in Heaven (1993); Radiohead's The Bends (1995); Cast's All Change (1995); Muse's Origin of Symmetry (2001); and the Levellers' We the Collective (2018).

Early life

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Born in Paddington, London,[1] Leckie was educated at the Quintin School, a grammar school in North West London, then Ravensbourne college of Art and Design in Bromley.[2][3] After leaving school, he worked for United Motion Pictures as an audio assistant.[4]

Career

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Leckie began work at Abbey Road Studios on 15 February 1970 as a tape operator, later graduating to balance engineer and record producer.[5] During his early career he worked as a tape operator with artists such as George Harrison (All Things Must Pass), John Lennon (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)[6] and Syd Barrett (Barrett). He moved up to the desk to be balance engineer for Pink Floyd (Meddle and Wish You Were Here),[7][8] for Mott the Hoople's album Mott and Paul McCartney and Wings' Red Rose Speedway and the single "Hi, Hi, Hi". Other engineering sessions at Abbey Road at this time were with Roy Harper, Soft Machine, Sammy Hagar, Jack Rieley's Western Justice album and the last recordings with Syd Barrett.[9]

His first jobs as producer, in 1976, were Be-Bop Deluxe's third album, Sunburst Finish, and Doctors of Madness' Figments of Emancipation. His collaboration with Be-Bop Deluxe continued with Modern Music, Live! In the Air Age and Drastic Plastic.[10] In 1977 Leckie produced the Adverts' Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts, Magazine's Real Life,.[11]

Leckie left Abbey Road in 1978 and produced albums for Simple Minds (Life in a Day, Real to Real Cacophony and Empires and Dance).[12] For Be-Bop Deluxe founder Bill Nelson, he produced the Red Noise album Sound on Sound and Nelson's subsequent solo album Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam (the latter unreleased until 1981).[13] Leckie recorded the début single, Public Image for Public Image Ltd[14] and produced the Human League's Holiday 80 EP. Leckie's work with XTC included producing their debut 3D single and EP, and first two studio albums, White Music and Go 2.[15] In 1981 he worked with the legendary Irish band the Atrix on their single "Procession". Later he went on to produce 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot, which XTC issued under the pseudonym the Dukes of Stratosphear[16] in the mid-1980s.

In 1989 Leckie produced the Stone Roses' debut album, The Stone Roses.[17] The album was voted the best record of all time on a music poll taken by BBC Radio 6 Music and features as Number 1 on Observer's June 2004 "100 Greatest British Albums". Some months later he produced and mixed their single "Fools Gold", which charted at No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart,[18] and in early 1990 he produced and mixed the single "One Love" which also charted at no. 4 in UK.[19] Leckie also worked on much of the recording the Stone Roses' album Second Coming.[20] In 1995, Leckie produced All Change by the Liverpool band Cast, which became Polydor Records' highest-selling debut album.[21]

Leckie produced and engineered Radiohead's second album, The Bends (1995), which drew significant critical attention.[22] Radiohead praised Leckie for demystifying the studio environment.[23] The guitarist Jonny Greenwood said: "He didn't treat us like he had some kind of witchcraft that only he understands. There's no mystery to it, which is so refreshing."[24] Radiohead's future producer, Nigel Godrich, worked on The Bends as an engineer. He named Leckie as one of the producers who had taught him his craft, whom he had "watched directly and emulated".[25]

Leckie's next projects were the first two albums by Muse, Showbiz (1999) and Origin of Symmetry (2001).[26] The albums drew comparisons to Radiohead, which Leckie dismissed, saying: "In the late 90s, any British band that sang passionately and played guitar was going to get compared to Radiohead."[26] He said he had been invited to produce several "Radiohead copycats" after The Bends, and chose to produce Muse because he had "intentionally looked for something different".[26] When Muse won UK Single of the Year at the 2010 Music Producers Guild Awards, the songwriter, Matt Bellamy, thanked Leckie for "teaching us how to produce".[27]

Awards

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Albums produced

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Main article: Albums produced by John Leckie

References

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  1. ^ Gregory, Andy (12 January 2018). The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002. Psychology Press. p. 297. ISBN 9781857431612. Retrieved 12 January 2018 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002, edited by Andy Gregory, p297 "Education. The Quintin School, Ravensbourne College of Art"
  3. ^ "XpoNorth: John Leckie interview "after a course in film and TV at Ravensbourne College in Bromley"". Whatson-north.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  4. ^ ""But though working as a runner for film companies in the West End, John couldn't get into the ACTT union where he could have progressed."". Whatson-north.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  5. ^ "John Leckie: Life after Abbey Road and Radiohead". Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  6. ^ Cunningham, Mark (1998). Good Vibrations: A History of Record Production. London: Sanctuary. pp. 66–68. ISBN 978-1860742422.
  7. ^ "John Leckie - Producer — MusicTank". Musictank.co.uk. 15 February 1970. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  8. ^ Cromer, Ben (3 June 1995). "Abbey Road was the Beginning for British Producer John Leckie". Billboard. p. 95.
  9. ^ Rob Chapman (2010). Syd Barratt – A Very Irregular Head. Faber & Faber. p. 291. ISBN 978-0571238545. "On Monday 12 August 1974 Jenner, along with engineers John Leckie and Pat Stapley, returned to Abbey Road studios to produce what would turn out to be his last-ever recording dates."
  10. ^ ""Also during his time at Abbey Road he produced and mixed albums for Be Bop Deluxe"". Musictank.co.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  11. ^ ""I did a record with Magazine (Real Life)"". Tapeop.com. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  12. ^ ""produced albums for SIMPLE MINDS ("Life in A Day" "Real To Real Cacophony" and "Empires & Dance""". Sjpdodgy.co.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  13. ^ ""Bill Nelson was in BeBop Deluxe in '70s and we did seven albums together for which I'm forever grateful 'cos he was the first guy to let me produce."". Thequietus.com. 9 July 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  14. ^ ""Public Image Limited, (the debut single, Public Image)"". Musictank.co.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  15. ^ "True brit: John Leckie". Sound on Sound. May 1997. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  16. ^ "Andy Partridge's Ape House Label » Andy Partridge Chats With John Leckie – Part One". Ape.uk.net. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  17. ^ Devlin, Louise (19 May 2009). "John Leckie: Producing the Goods". The Skinny. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  18. ^ ""Production was handled by John Leckie and the recording took a little over a fortnight in the late summer of 1989."". Independent.co.uk. 5 November 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  19. ^ "John Leckie: Music Head - "We did go in to record the follow-up album, but the band only had one song called "One Love." We spent a lot of time on this, then I went off and did The Posies while they mixed "One Love.""". Mixonline.com. August 2001. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  20. ^ ""I worked on the second album (The Second Coming) for over a year and for various reasons I didn't finish it with them."". Thequietus.com. 25 August 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  21. ^ Gittins, Ian (6 December 2010). "Cast — review". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  22. ^ Reed, Bill (22 August 2003). "Tune in, tune on to Radiohead". The Gazette. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  23. ^ "Q&A: Radiohead's Philip Selway remembers The Bends". Stereogum. 9 March 2015. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  24. ^ Garcia, Sandra (July 1995). "Decompression". B-Side (51).
  25. ^ Snapes, Laura (25 February 2020). "Nigel Godrich: your questions answered on Radiohead, Macca and Marmite". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  26. ^ a b c Marchese, David (September 2009). "Pomp and Circumstance". Spin. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  27. ^ Paul Stokes (11 February 2010). "Muse thank Rick Rubin for teaching them 'how not to produce' at Music Producers Guild Awards". NME. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  28. ^ a b ""Winning awards for Best Producer numerous times- in 2001 for UK Music Managers Forum, a Brit Award in 1997, a Q Award in 1996 and a Music Week Award in 1995, seems to have in no way blown up an ego bubble."". Theskiiny.co.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  29. ^ "1996. Best Producer – John Leckie". Everyhit.co.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  30. ^ "Best British Producer – John Leckie". Brits.co.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  31. ^ "UK Album of The Year – sponsored by Focusrite: The Coral – Butterfly House, awarded to producer, John Leckie, and engineer, Guy Massey". Mpg.org.uk. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  32. ^ "John Leckie. John Leckie is best known as the Producer of records such The Stone Roses debut album 'The Stone Roses' and 'The Second Coming', Radiohead's 'The Bends' along with albums by Cast, The Coral and The Verve. He has won a Music Week Award (1995), Q Award (1996) and Brit Award (1997) all for "Best Producer" as well as "Producer of the Year" award at the Music Managers Forum in 2001."". Goldbadgeawards.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
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