Mutt Lange

Robert John "Mutt" Lange ( ; born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer. He is known for his work in rock music as well as co-writing and producing various songs for Shania Twain, his ex-wife. Her 1997 album Come On Over, which Lange produced, is the best-selling country music album, the best-selling studio album by a female act, the best-selling album of the 1990s, and the ninth best-selling album from the United States. He has either been a producer for or worked for artists including AC/DC, Def Leppard, City Boy, the Michael Stanley Band, the Boomtown Rats, Foreigner, Outlaws, Michael Bolton, Heart, the Cars, Bryan Adams, Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Ocean, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, the Corrs, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, Now United, Nickelback, and Muse.

Early life Robert John Lange was born in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia), and grew up in Durban, South Africa. His parents are German. His mother came from a prosperous family, and his father was a mining engineer. Nicknamed "Mutt" at an early age, he grew up a fan of country music, in particular the singer Slim Whitman. While studying at Belfast High School in what is now Mpumalanga province, he started a band in which he played rhythm guitar and sang harmonies.

Career After his national service (1966–1967), Lange formed the band Sound Reason in 1969, together with James Borthwick, a South African TV, stage, and film actor. In 1971, Lange began the group Hocus, recording one album and releasing five singles.

In 1978, Lange wrote and produced Ipswich Town's FA Cup Final single "Ipswich Get That Goal", his connection with the club due to their South Africa-born player Colin Viljoen. The song is derived from a previous recording, "Give That Thang to Me" by Paul Jones (1977), with some parts rearranged and new lyrics. Beginning production work in 1976, his first major hits came in October 1978 with the UK No. 1 single "Rat Trap" for the Boomtown Rats, followed in July 1979 with AC/DC's hard rock album Highway to Hell (No. 8 UK, No. 17 US). He produced a total of five albums for UK band City Boy from 1976 to 1979.

He produced two more albums with AC/DC, including Back in Black (1980), which is, , the second-best-selling album of all time. He also worked with rock group Foreigner on 4, and with Def Leppard on their hit albums, High 'n' Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize, co-writing most of the songs. After Hysteria, Lange bowed out of working with Def Leppard. In 1999, he returned to working with them in a more limited role, co-writing three tracks for their album Euphoria, which spawned the single "Promises", a Number 1 hit on the mainstream rock charts.

In 1991, he produced Bryan Adams's Waking Up the Neighbours, including co-writing "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" for the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves which – with 16 consecutive weeks at the top from 7 July to 26 October 1991 – holds the record for the longest number of consecutive weeks at Number 1 in the UK singles chart. Lange produced the single "Make You" from the album Great Escape by Irish singer Tara Blaise which was released in May 2008. In the 2001 television film Hysteria – The Def Leppard Story, actor Anthony Michael Hall portrayed Lange.

Personal life Lange is a strict vegetarian and a follower of the egalitarian teachings of Sant Mat. He has not given an interview for decades and prefers to live a secluded life, primarily in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland.

Lange met Stevie Vann when the two attended the same school in Northern Rhodesia in the early 1960s, and the two reconnected a few years later while attending Belfast High School in South Africa. They played together in a short-lived band named Hocus, and later married and emigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1970s. The marriage broke down in the 1970s. While married, Lange started a five-year relationship with Oonagh O'Reilly, an Irish-born co-worker. In 1979, he married actress Olga Anthony.

After hearing Shania Twain's music, he got in touch with her, and they spent many hours on the phone. They finally met six months after the initial contact and were married on 28 December 1993. Lange is a teetotaler and, as a result, they had non-alcoholic champagne at their wedding. Lange had the song "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" performed as a sign of his dedication to Twain. In August 2001, their son was born.

On 15 May 2008, a spokesman for his employer Mercury Nashville announced that Twain and Lange were separating, after Lange had an affair with Twain's then-best friend and secretary Marie-Anne Thiébaud, with whom he reportedly continued the relationship and moved to Switzerland. Lange and Twain divorced in June 2010. On 1 January 2011, Twain married Frédéric Thiébaud, the former husband of Marie-Anne.

In 2011, Lange purchased Coronet Peak Station located on the mountain and ski field of the same name in Queenstown, New Zealand on South Island. In 2014, he protected of his land as Queen Elizabeth II National Trust covenant; this is the largest private conservation covenant in New Zealand.

Discography Produced albums Albums on which Lange produced a majority of the tracks: Hocus – "The Swan"/"He", 1972 Richard Jon Smith – Superstar Smith, 1974 Spider – Spider, 1975 City Boy – City Boy, 1976 City Boy – Dinner at the Ritz, 1976 Kevin Coyne – In Living Black and White, 1976 Mallard – In a Different Climate, 1976 Graham Parker – Heat Treatment, 1976 Supercharge – Local Lads Make Good, 1976 The Motors – 1, 1977 City Boy – Young Men Gone West, 1977 Clover – Love on the Wire, 1977 Clover – Unavailable, 1977 Supercharge – Horizontal Refreshment, 1977 The Boomtown Rats – The Boomtown Rats, 1977 The Rumour – Max, 1977 Savoy Brown – Savage Return, 1978 Roman Holliday – Fire Me Up (executive producer), 1984 Billy Ocean – Suddenly (executive producer), 1984 Billy Ocean – Love Zone (executive producer), 1986 Billy Ocean – Greatest Hits, 1989 Bryan Adams – So Far So Good, 1993 Tina Turner – What's Love Got to Do with It, 1993 Michael Bolton – Greatest Hits, 1995 Celine Dion – All the Way... A Decade of Song, 1999 Backstreet Boys – Backstreet's Back, 1997 Backstreet Boys – Millennium, 1999 Bryan Adams – The Best of Me, 1999 Britney Spears – Oops!... I Did It Again, 2000 Celine Dion – A New Day Has Come, 2002 Bryan Adams – Room Service, 2004 Various artists – Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives, 2005 Anne Murray – Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends, 2007 Bryan Adams – 11, 2008 Tara Blaise – Great Escape, 2008 Lady Gaga – Born This Way, 2011 Zander Bleck – Bring It On, 2012 Bryan Adams – So Happy It Hurts, 2022 Crossbone Skully - Evil World Machine, 2024

Album tracks written or co-written Britney Spears – "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" from Oops!...I Did It Again, 2000 Bryan Adams – "I Will Always Return", "You Can't Take Me" and "This Is Where I Belong" from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, 2002 Bryan Adams – "So Far So Good" from Anthology, 2005 Bryan Adams and Sarah McLachlan – "Don't Let Go" from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, 2002 Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting – "All for Love" from The Three Musketeers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1993 Bryan Adams – "So Happy it Hurts" from So Happy It Hurts, 2021 Bryan Adams – "On the Road" from So Happy It Hurts, 2021 Bryan Adams – "Kick Ass" from So Happy It Hurts, 2021 Jessica Andrews – "I'll Take Your Heart" from Heart Shaped World, 1999 Backstreet Boys – "If You Want It to Be Good Girl (Get Yourself a Bad Boy)" from Backstreet's Back, 1997 Backstreet Boys – "It's Gotta Be You" from Millennium, 1999 Blackhawk – "I'm Not Strong Enough to Say No" from Strong Enough, 1995 Michael Bolton – "Only a Woman Like You" from Only a Woman Like You, 2002 Michael Bolton – "Said I Loved You...But I Lied" from The One Thing, 1993 Claude François – "Stop, Stop, Stop" and "Without Your Love I Can't Live" from Bordeaux Rosé, 1978 Clout – "Don't Stop" from Substitute, 1978 Billy Ray Cyrus – "Only God (Could Stop Me Loving You)" from Storm in the Heartland, 1994 Celine Dion – "If Walls Could Talk", from: "All the Way... A Decade of Song", 1999 Dana – "Without Your Love (I Can't Live)" – track produced by Barry Blue from The Girl Is Back, 1979 Def Leppard – All songs on Pyromania, 1983 Def Leppard – All songs on Hysteria, 1987 Def Leppard – "Ring of Fire" and "I Wanna Be Your Hero" from Retro Active, 1993 Def Leppard – "Promises", "All Night" and "It's Only Love" from Euphoria, 1999 Dionne Warwick – "Without Your Love" – track produced by Richard Landis from Finder of Lost Loves, 1985 Claude François – "Without Your Love I Can't Live" and "Stop, Stop, Stop" from Chante En Anglais - Bordeaux Rosé, 1978 Dobie Gray – "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" from Dobie's self-titled album, 1979 Girls Next Door – "Without Your Love" from What a Girl Next Door Could Do, 1987 Heart – "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" and "Wild Child" from Brigade, 1990 Heart – "Will You Be There (In the Morning)" from Desire Walks On, 1993 Huey Lewis and the News – "Do You Believe in Love" from Picture This, 1982 Huey Lewis and the News – "It Hit Me Like a Hammer" from Hard at Play, 1991 Lonestar – "You Walked In" from Crazy Nights, 1997 Loverboy – "Lovin' Every Minute of It" from Lovin' Every Minute of It, 1985 Reba McEntire – "I'll Take Your Heart" from Moments and Memories: The Best of Reba, 1998 Miss Willie Brown – "You're All That Matters to Me", 2012 PJ Powers – "(Let That) River Roll" from Thandeka Talk to Me, 2001 Starship – "I Didn't Mean to Stay All Night" from Love Among the Cannibals, 1989 Carrie Underwood – "Who Are You" from Blown Away, 2012 Celtic Woman – "Walk Beside Me", 2015 Romeos Daughter – "Don't Break My Heart", "I Cry Myself to Sleep at Night", "Wild Child", "Heaven in the Backseat", 1988 Eddie Money – "Heaven in the Backseat", 1991 The Corrs – "Breathless", 2000 Shania Twain – All songs on The Woman in Me (except "Leaving Is the Only Way Out"), Come on Over, and Up! Zander Bleck – "Bring It On", 2012 Radioactive – "Move It", 2022 Radioactive – "Reset" and "Open Spaces", 2024 Leah Martin-Brown - "Boys", 2024 Crossbone Skully - "I'm Unbreakable" from Evil World Machine, 2024 Crossbone Skully - "The Last Night On Earth" from Evil World Machine, 2024

Grammy Awards 1991 – (Everything I Do) I Do It for You by Bryan Adams – Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television 1995 – The Woman in Me by Shania Twain – Best Country Album 1998 – You're Still the One by Shania Twain – Best Country Song 1999 – Come on Over by Shania Twain – Best Country Song 2016 – Drones by Muse – Best Rock Album