John Leckie, producer, was already on his way to legendary status
when Simple Minds contacted him to produce their debut album. Starting as a
studio engineer at Abbey Road, he worked with The Beatles and Pink Floyd before
leaving EMI and becoming a freelance producer. It was his work with
Doctors Of Madness and Be-Bop Deluxe which initially attracted
the Minds, but they were certainly aware of his other credentials.
(Leckie had just finished producing Magazine for instance).
He first met the band when he travelled up to Scotland, along with
Arista's A&R Ben Edmunds to see the group at the
Technical College in Dundee on the 15th December 1978.
Although originally pleased with the result,
Simple Minds quickly disowned
Life In A Day. They felt it was drowned in influence and didn't capture their
real sound.
The band blamed themselves, putting the whole matter down to inexperience. Leckie was behind the controls
again, when they embarked on their second album. But it wasn't until Empires And Dance
that both Leckie and the band felt they'd finally committed to vinyl what they set out to do.
He worked with the band so often, that he was dubbed the 'sixth member'. But Empires And Dance
was the last time they worked together, as Simple Minds wanted to work with other producers to see how it
would change their sound.
Leckie's production credits continued to appear on great albums, and his name
could be found on material by The Fall, The Stone Roses,
The Verve, Radiohead, Cast and Kula Shaker.
Numerous awards included Best Producer (Music Week 1995),
Best Producer (Q 1996) and a Brit (1997).
discography: mainstream singles
discography: mainstream albums
family tree
Simple Minds #6
website
www.sjpdodgy.co.uk
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