Ralph Jezzard

Ralph Jezzard (16 January 1966 – 24 February 2025) was an English musician and producer based in London.

Life and career Jezzard started playing in bands at the age of 14 including Case. At 16 he started working at Wickham Studios in South London as a tape operator, and the first record he engineered was a band called Blood and Roses' EP, which reached number 4 in the UK indie charts in 1983. From there he began engineering full-time in the studio working with various punk bands including Angelic Upstarts, Cock Sparrer, The Business, The Damned, Chiefs of Relief and The Sid Presley Experience.

He then moved to the Beat Farm Studios in London Bridge as the Acid House scene was emerging in Britain and worked with Rhythm King acts such as Bomb The Bass and Merlin. The combination of electronica and punk/rock music led to his first production job with EMF's worldwide hit "Unbelievable" which reached No. 1 in the US.

Ralph continued working with rock/alternative bands throughout the 1990s including The Wildhearts, Senseless Things, Claytown Troupe and Chapterhouse.

A friendship with Wildhearts drummer Ritch Battersby led to the formation of Grand Theft Audio along with Chris McCormack from 3 Colours Red and Jay Butler from Real TV. The band were soon signed to London Sire and toured extensively in Europe and the US. Their only album was called Blame Everyone and had some success with the songs "Stoopid Ass" and "We Luv U" getting inclusion on soundtracks for Dude, Where's My Car?, Hole, Driven, American Pie 2 and many more. The songs were also featured on computer games including Gran Turismo 3.

In 2003 Grand Theft Audio split up. All band members went their own way and Jezzard moved to the US where he continued production and engineering at Willie Nelson's studio in Austin. In 2005 Jezzard returned to the UK after recording Valor Del Corazon with Ginger from The Wildhearts. During this time he met his wife, Sammy Andrews.

Shortly after returning to the UK he co-produced Amy Studt's album My Paper Made Men in Eden Studios for 19 Entertainment and mixed live tracks for Simple Kid.

Ralph later wrote and produced songs with Cass Browne (Gorillaz), as well as mixing a record for UK band Fearless (Mercury Records UK).

Jezzard died on 24 February 2025, at the age of 59. In a statement released on X by EMF, he was described as "a talented musician, engineer and producer" that "played a massive part in the bands success".

Film and television soundtracks/composing Driven The Hole Tomcats Dude, Where's My Car Joe Somebody Point Break

Game soundtracks/composing Gran Turismo 3 FIFA 2001 Urban Chaos Sammy Sosa Baseball Shaun Palmers Pro Snowboarding The Hulk

Artist Single/Album Label Year Chart Position UK Chart Position US EMF Unbelievable Parlophone EMF Schubert Dip Parlophone EMF Children Parlophone EMF Lies Parlophone EMF Stigma Parlophone Simple Kid Live At The Scala Country GentlemanBushwick Bill Play Pussy Get Fucked CKFB Grand Theft Audio Blame Everyone London/Sire The Wildhearts Endless Nameless Mushroom Senseless Things 1st Of Too Many Epic Senseless Things Empire Of The Senseless Epic Amy Studt TBC 19 Entertainment 3 Colours Red Live 2006 Creation Ginger Valor Del Corazon Round Records Fatima Mansions Viva Dead Ponies Radioactive Chapterhouse Whirlpool Dedicated Chapterhouse Blood Music Dedicated The Godfathers The Godfathers Epic Terrorvision Blackbird EMI Blaggers ITA Bad Karma Parlophone Westworld Movers and Shakers Savage Back To The Planet Teenage Turtles London Claytown Troupe Hey Lord Island Powder MCMXV Mercury Sid Presley ExperienceCold Turkey ID Keith Flint Rock N Roll Nigger XL Cock Sparrer Shock Troupes Link