Geoff Emerick

Geoffrey Ernest Emerick (5 December 1945 – 2 October 2018) was an English sound engineer and record producer who worked with the Beatles on their albums Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and Abbey Road (1969). The Beatles producer George Martin credited him with bringing "a new kind of mind to the recordings, always suggesting sonic ideas, different kinds of reverb, what we could do with the voices".

Emerick also engineered the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle (1968), Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run (1973) and produced Elvis Costello's Imperial Bedroom (1982), among many others. During that time, he helped record other artists for the label, including Judy Garland, After working his way up to the recording engineer's position, Emerick engineered the 1966 Manfred Mann single "Pretty Flamingo", which became a number 1 hit in the UK.

In April 1966, at the age of 20, Emerick took over as the Beatles' recording engineer, at the request of producer George Martin, when Smith became a producer. Later in 1967, he engineered the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle and Tomorrow's self-titled debut album. Emerick also objected to Chris Thomas, Martin's inexperienced assistant, being elevated to the role of producer in Martin's absence, with the band's acceptance. He returned to work with the Beatles on Abbey Road. Emerick received Grammy Awards for the engineering of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road.

After the Beatles

Following the Beatles' break-up in 1970, Emerick continued to work with McCartney. when made available on bootleg compilations, his mixes and editing of some of the tracks were widely criticised by collectors. In the mid-1990s, these recordings were used for the Beatles Anthology CD releases.

Emerick also worked on albums by Elvis Costello (for whom he produced Imperial Bedroom and All This Useless Beauty), Badfinger, Art Garfunkel, America, Jeff Beck, Gino Vannelli, Supertramp, UFO, Cheap Trick, and Nellie McKay's critically acclaimed 2004 debut CD Get Away from Me.

In 2007, Emerick produced a re-recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in honour of the album's 40th anniversary. and the results were broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 2 June that year.

From 1984, Emerick resided in Los Angeles.

Here, There and Everywhere In 2006, Emerick released his memoir, Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles, co-authored by music journalist Howard Massey. The book caused controversy for its factual errors, its allegedly unfavourable portrayal of Harrison, bias towards McCartney, and belittling and dismissal of Harrison and Starr's contributions. His manager, William Zabaleta, recalled talking to Emerick for the last time: "While on the phone, he had complications and dropped the phone. I called 911, but by the time they got there, it was too late. Geoff suffered from heart problems for a long time and had a pacemaker. When it's your time, it's your time. We lost a legend and a best friend to me and a mentor."

Paul McCartney commented on social media: "He was smart, fun-loving, and the genius behind many of the great sounds on our records. I'm shocked and saddened to have lost such a special friend."