NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Shel Talmy, a Chicago-born music producer and arranger who worked on such British punk classics as The Who's 鈥淢y Generation鈥� and The Kinks' 鈥淵ou Really Got Me,鈥� helped oversee hits by Manfred Mann and the duo Chad & Jeremy and was an early backer of David Bowie, has died. He was 87.
Talmy's publicist announced that he died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. The cause was complications from a stroke.
Talmy was a recording engineer in his mid-20s when he visited London for a planned vacation and ended up in the midst of the emerging 1960s British rock music scene. As one of the rare independent producers of the time, he signed up The Kinks and oversaw many of their biggest hits during the mid-'60s, from the raw breakthrough single 鈥淵ou Really Got Me鈥� to the polished satire of 鈥淎 Well Respected Man鈥� and 鈥淒edicated Follower of Fashion.鈥�
Talmy would then oversee the rise of another British act, The Who, producing such landmarks as 鈥淢y Generation,鈥� featuring Keith Moon's explosive drumming and Roger Daltrey's stuttering vocals, and 鈥淎nyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,鈥� an early experiment in guitar feedback.
Talmy's other British hits included Chad & Jeremy's 鈥淎 Summer Song,鈥� The Easybeats' 鈥淔riday on My Mind鈥� and Manfred Mann's cover of Bob Dylan's 鈥淛ust Like a Woman." He also worked on some of the first recordings featuring Bowie, who was known as Davy Jones at the time, and used a teen-aged Jimmy Page as a session guitarist for The Kinks.
His post-1960s credits include projects with Vicki Brown, Band of Joy and The Damned.
Talmy is survived by his wife, Jan Talmy, brother Leonard Talmy, daughter Jonna Sargeant and granddaughter Shay Berg.
The Associated Press
