Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Robert John " Mutt" Lange ( born November 16, 1948 in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia ) is a British music producer.
Biography
Education and early years
The mother of Robert Lange came from a wealthy German family; his father, a South African, worked in the center of the Copperbelts as a mining engineer. Long grew up with two brothers, (puppy ) from whom he got the nickname Puppy, who later Mutt (mutt ) was. He enjoyed a comfortable colonial education; although there were house staff, but no running water. Contact with international music he had exclusively on records, there was no radio stations in the mining towns. After attending a boarding school in Southern Rhodesia, he moved to the state-funded Belfast High School. Despite strict rules at the school, the dancing prohibited, among other things, the formation of a band was supported, in the long rhythm played guitar and sang. The group was allowed to use school premises for rehearsals and occur on school events. A large part of the repertoire consisted of cover versions of songs by the Beatles, the Hollies and Manfred Mann. Initial experience in the field of music production he collected in the late 1960s as a sound engineer for radio jingles. 1970 to 1971 he played in a group called Hocus, the similar lack of success had granted as his school band. Long the former Hocus singer Stevie Vann married ( civil Stevie van Kerken ) and moved to the UK with her.
1970s and 1980s
The mid-1970s began long to make a name for himself as a producer. The first album he produced his own responsibility was Graham Parker Heat treatment. This was followed by orders from City Boy, The motor and other groups. His breakthrough came with the Australians AC / DC. Under his aegis, Highway to Hell, one of the most successful rock albums of its time came. He also produced the late 1970s Shades in bed home of the Broken Records and 1980 of an eponymous band. After the death of AC / DC singer Bon Scott Lange took over the task of the new front man of the group, Brian Johnson to coach for studio recording of his first album with the group. Back in Black as a tribute to the first few months before Bon Scott died conceived, was a commercial success, drew substantially responsible for the Lange.
A year later, he was nominated because of his production work on the album Foreigner 4, Producer of the Year Grammy. Still in 1981, he produced the AC / DC LP For Those About to Rock ( We Salute You), which was not included as usual in a studio, but in a hall in France. In the same year he began his collaboration with Def Leppard, whose albums High'n'Dry (1981 ), Pyromania (1983) and Hysteria (1987 ) he produced. In 1985, he sat last for AC / DC on the mixer when the album Who Made Who was recorded. The band split from Lange on the grounds that he had seen to much of it restricted in the implementation of their options: "Many people believed Mutt Lange is what makes AC / DC, and went forward to the alarm clock. Mutt had never worked before with a proper rock and roll band. Although he has very clear ideas about the sound he wants to manage, and he gives clear instructions, and for that he also deserves recognition, but we had other ideas as he, and let's not tell him much. If we had done what he wanted, he would have given us a lot more polished. [ ... ] With some of these people to work together for years, patiently listens to what they have to say one, and suddenly you realize that you have pretty much always known what really matters. "
1987 ended the collaboration with Def Leppard, who said, Long was not suitable for they seek " new sound " of the 1990s. Nevertheless, this contributed to the album, published in 1992 Adrenalize with two titles and worked as " Executive Producer".
1990 to today
Already in the 1980s, Long worked for musicians outside the hard rock like Billy Ocean, Michael Bolton and Bryan Adams. In December 1993, were placed in the top ten on the Billboard charts for three titles, where Mutt Lange was involved: Bryan Adams ' Please forgive me, Michael Bolton Said I loved you ... but I lied and All for love, a cooperation of Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting for the soundtrack of the film the Three Musketeers.
At this time there, the Canadian country singer Shania Twain her musical debut; her song was on the radio What made you say did played. With country music Lange had previously had little luck. Albums with Clover, which later Huey Lewis & the News was, and the Outlaws have received little attention. At the same time proved the success of Garth Brooks ', that Nashville was able to produce million-seller. There meant Long name almost nothing, although he was one of the top producers with more than 100 million albums sold and the only established players could afford to employ him for prepayment six-figure sum and royalty payments of 5 %. He decided to try again with Country. When he first heard Shania Twain's single, he was so excited that he called her manager, Mary Bailey, but a crazed fan, not a professional producers imagined at the other end of the line. He managed to make contact with Twain; The two became friends and got married - to the surprise of many - the end of 1993, even though they just knew each other for half a year.
1995 saw the most expensive country album that was ever produced in Nashville: For the CD The Woman In Me, the couple received the 1996 RPM Big Country Music Award for Songwriter of the Year. To reach audiences outside the United States, the country influences were reduced on the following album. The plan worked, Come on over (1997) was 36 million times over the counters and gave Shania Twain 's international breakthrough. The subsequent tour was a great success. After work, the couple first moved back to Switzerland, where Twain in 2001 their first child brought into the world. A year later the album Up!, Which was put on the market in three different versions (pop, world music, country ) and was able to hold more than a year in the charts appeared. Alongside the work with his wife produced Lange In Blue by the Corrs, wrote songs for the Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion and others.
In May 2008, announced his separation the couple Twain / Lange.