- Guy Stevens
Infobox musical artist
Name = Guy Stevens
Img_capt =
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Background = non_performing_personnel
Birth_name = Guy Stevens
Born = birth date|1943|4|13East Dulwich ,London ,UK
Died = death date and age|1981|8|29|1943|4|13
England
Occupation = Producer, manager
Years_active = 1967 – 1981
Associated_acts =Procol Harum Mott the Hoople
FreeSpooky Tooth The Clash
URL =Guy Stevens (
13 April 1943 –29 August 1981 ) worked in a number of different roles in the Britishmusic industry including producer and manager. He gave therock band sProcol Harum [ [http://www.procolharum.com/guystevens2.htm Procol Harum.com biography of Guy Stevens] ] andMott the Hoople their distinctive names.Stevens was born in
East Dulwich ,London and is probably best known as the producer of The Clash's acclaimed 1979album , "London Calling ". The band themselves have always held up Stevens' input as a major factor in the album's popularity and quality. However it was not the first time Stevens had worked with the Clash. In 1976 Stevens was present, although not clearly as a producer on a demo session the band undertook before they were signed.Mick Jones recalled that:
The Clash involved Stevens because they recognized the influential role he had played in the British beat and
blues booms of the 1960s.The Who ,The Small Faces ,The Rolling Stones and many others used Stevens' knowledge of the American R&B and soul scene, as a source for their own repertoire, having heard of him through his deejaying at the influential New Scene Club in Ham Yard, London W.1, where he exercised his obsessive love ofrock and roll , R&B,ska ,jazz and soul for an audience that countedThe Beatles andEric Clapton amongst them.Stevens was involved in the early history of
Island Records and also ran the UK division of the Sue record label forChris Blackwell , and used it to put out obscure American singles not only from the U.S. Sue group of labels, but from any number of tiny independent record companies, and some of the bigger ones. It became widely influential. Stevens was also president of theChuck Berry Appreciation Society, and had a say in the UK releases that Pye International put out by Chuck Berry,Bo Diddley and others on the Chess and Checker labels. It was Guy Stevens who brought Berry to the UK for his first tour.Stevens also produced several albums for
glam rock outfit,Mott the Hoople , naming the band after a book he read while inprison , as well as albums for Free andSpooky Tooth .In 1981, The Clash wrote a song for, or about Stevens, who had died the same year: "Midnight to Stevens". A lush sweeping song that sounds almost unlike anything the Clash recorded despite the range of styles on "
Sandinista! " and "Combat Rock ". It was not released until 1991, where it appeared on disc three of "Clash on Broadway ".Stevens died on 29 August 1981, at the age of 38 years old, having overdosed on the
prescription drug s he was taking to reduce his alcohol dependency.cite web
url=http://www.theclash.org.uk/London.htm
title=London Calling
accessdate=2008-01-11
publisher=theclash.org.uk ]References
External links
* [http://www.procolharum.com/guystevens2.htm Procol Harum.com biography of Guy Stevens]
Persondata
NAME=Stevens, Guy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English record producer and music manager
DATE OF BIRTH=April 13 ,1943
PLACE OF BIRTH=East Dulwich ,London ,England
DATE OF DEATH=August 8 ,1981
PLACE OF DEATH=England
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