Roy Cicala

Roy Cicala (born Roy Joel Cicala in New Haven, CT) is an American producer, engineer, song-writer and musician. His body of work includes over 10 Platinum Records for producing, writing, engineering and management for legendary talent from the 70’s through today. Roy’s talent and uncompromising commitment to quality work has garnered industry praise from legendary talents, colleagues and protégés such as Jimmy Iovine, Shelly Yakus, Jay Messina and Ed Germano

Roy is known as one of the best producers and sound engineers of the world. For almost 20 years at Record Plant Studios in New York (1968-1987), he recorded and produced some of the greatest artists of modern music like John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Elvis Presley, Elton John, Sting, Frank Sinatra, Dire Straits, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Ray Charles, Queen, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Liza Minnelli, Roberta Flack, Patti La Belle, Van Morrison, Don McLean, The Who, Johnny Winter, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Frank Zappa, Lou Reed, Prince, Santana, Sarah Vaughn, Charles Mingus and so many others.

Roy began working freelance engineering jobs in New York when he took over Record Plant Studios piloting mega-albums hits as chief engineer. Roy was an engineer on the first album ever recorded at Record Plant Studios, Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in 1968. Through the years, he worked on hundreds of albums. During the 1970's, house engineers Shelley Yakus and Roy Cicala gave many local bands their start by donating session time and materials to upcoming artists, engineering and producing their demo tapes. While at Record Plant, Roy Cicala was involved with a wide range of projects including doing the remote work for the "Live Aid" concert in 1985. Record Plant closed in 1989.

Roy worked with John Lennon just before The Beatles broke up in 1970. Roy engineered John and Yoko's first solo compilation Plastic Ono Band and went on to work with John on many other of his solo projects including Imagine, Mind Games and Double Fantasy. He also is credited with writing the song Incantation. Mutual respect for each others talents led to a strong friendship evidenced by gifts from John such as the jukebox that sat in the lobby of Record Plant which John Lennon gave to Roy for his 40th birthday in 1980 and on the 10th floor there was a custom acoustic guitar created by John for one of his solo albums which was given to Roy to display on the 10th floor of the Record Plant in New York. Ex-wife Lori Burton co-wrote songs with Roy for John and Yoko.

elect Engineering, Production and Record Plant NYC Credits

• The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland – 1967-68

• John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Plastic Ono Band - 1968

• Frank Sinatra: Watertown - 1969

• John Lennon: Imagine – 1971

• John Lennon: Walls and Bridges

• Aerosmith: Get Your Wings – 1973-74

• John Lennon: Sometime in New York City - 1972

• John Lennon: Mind Games - 1973

• Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run – 1974-75

• Aerosmith: Toys in the Attic – 1975

• John Lennon: Rock and Roll - 1975

• Bruce Springsteen: Darkness on the Edge of Town – 1977-78

• Patti Smith Group: Easter – 1978

• David Bowie: Lodger – 1979

• John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Double Fantasy - 1980

• Patti Smith: Peace and Noise - 1997

elect Live Engineering, Production and Record Plant Remote Credits

• George Harrison's Concert for Bangledesh featuring Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and Ringo Starr, Madison Square Garden - August 1st, 1971

• Elton John Concert on The Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City - September 13th, 1980

• Live Aid - a multi-venue rock music concert. July 13th, 1985.

elect Songwriting Credits

• John Lennon: Incantation - 1974

Other Credits

• John Lennon: Walls and Bridges : Strings and Remixing

• Johnny Rivers Secret Agent Man (song) - Theme to the American Broadcast of the British Series Danger Man

Roy has been working in Brazil since the 70s in various engineering and production capacities. He is currently producing and managing major label artists like Charlie Brown Jr. in Brazil at the newly launched Record Plant South.

References

Lennon and McCartney - Together Alone: A Critical Discography of Their Solo Work (Paperback)by John Blaney (Author), John Lennon (Author), Paul McCartney (Author) - Jawbone Press (March 28, 2007) ISBN 1906002029, ISBN 978-1906002022

The Art Of Music Production 3rd Edition (Paperback) by Richard, Burgess (Author) Omnibus Press; 3 edition (May 1, 2005) ISBN 1844494314, ISBN 978-1844494316

Mix Masters: Platinum Engineers Reveal Their Secrets for Success (Paperback)by Maureen Droney (Author) Berklee Press; Pap/Com edition (January 1, 2003) ISBN 087639019X, ISBN 978-0876390191

Good Vibrations: A History of Record Production (Sanctuary Music Library) (Paperback)by Mark Cunningham (Author), Alan Parson (Introduction), Brian Eno (Introduction) Sanctuary Publishing, Ltd.; 2 edition (September 1, 1999) ISBN 1860742424, ISBN 978-1860742422

Studio Stories: How the Great New York Records Were Made: From Miles to Madonna, Sinatra to the Ramones (Paperback) by David Simons (Author) Backbeat Books (November 19, 2004) ISBN 0879308176, ISBN 978-0879308179

The Lives of John Lennon (Paperback)by Albert Goldman (Author) Chicago Review Press; New Ed edition (September 1, 2001) # Language: English # ISBN 1556523998, ISBN 978-1556523991

A Dream Goes on Forever: The Continuing Story of Todd Rundgren (Paperback)by Billy James (Author)Golden Treasures Pub (December 2002) ISBN 0971049335, ISBN 978-0971049338

The Beatles Solo on Apple Records (Hardcover) by Bruce Spizer (Author), Allan Steckler (Foreword) Four Ninety-Eight Productions (April 30, 2005) ISBN 0966264959, ISBN 978-0966264951

Phil Spector: Out Of His Head (Paperback) by Richard Williams (Author)Omnibus Press; Revised edition (August 1, 2003) ISBN 0711998647, ISBN 978-0711998643

The Ultimate Beatles Quiz Book II (Paperback)by Michael J. Hockinson (Author)St. Martin's Griffin (November 13, 2000) ISBN 0312264062, ISBN 978-0312264062

Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer, Trower: Their Lives and Music by Dan Muise, Rory Gallagher, Steve Marriott, and Rick Derringer (Paperback - April 2002) Hal Leonard; 1 edition (April 2002) ISBN 0634029568, ISBN 978-0634029561

Memories of John Lennon (Hardcover) by Yoko Ono(Author) Harper Entertainment (November 29, 2005) ISBN 0060594551, ISBN 978-0060594558

External links

* [http://www.prosoundweb.com/recording/bruce_borgeson/shelly/2/shelly.shtml Shelly Yakus Interview on Pro Sound's Website]
* [http://mixfoundation.org/tec/hall_of_fame06.html]
* [http://www.michaelallsup.com/17ch_7.htm Michael Allsup's Website]
* [http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Roy%20Cicala:1927049527?sort=popular Yahoo Shopping Music and Books]
* [http://www.geocities.com/lyrics_archive/john_lennon/index.htm Incantation Lyrics]
* [http://pipl.com/directory/people/Roy/Cicala]
* [http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/johnlennon/page3.html]
* [http://www.spectropop.com/LoriBurton/index.htm Bio on Lori Burton]
* [http://mc01.equinox.net/users/r/rod/Randi2%20.html]
* [http://members.lycos.co.uk/beatleart/lennontributes.htm]