Shel Talmy, the producer who oversaw seminal early recordings by The Who and The Kinks, has died. According to his rep, Talmy died in his sleep on Nov. 13 due to complications from a stroke. He was 87.
Born in Chicago, Talmy moved to the U.K. in 1962 and landed a job at Decca Records. After setting up his own company, he signed The Kinks in 1964 and produced all their records from that point through 1967, including “You Really Got Me,” “Tired of Waiting for You,” “Sunny Afternoon” and “Waterloo Sunset.”
Talmy signed The Who to his production company after hearing the song “I Can’t Explain” and got the band a record contract. He produced “I Can’t Explain,” “My Generation” and “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,” as well as The Who’s first album, also called My Generation.
After of The Who’s manager Kit Lambert fired Talmy, he sued for breach of contract and won, though never worked with The Who again. The ongoing legal dispute held up a rerelease of My Generation until 2002.
Talmy also signed David Bowie to his first song publishing contract and produced hits for Chad & Jeremy, Manfred Mann and The Easybeats. He also worked with The Small Faces and The Damned and continued to work in production and A&R until his death.
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