Steve Lillywhite

Steve Lillywhite

Steve Lillywhite (born 1955) is a Grammy Award-winning English music producer.

Early career

Lillywhite entered the music industry in 1972, when he worked as a tape operator for Polygram. He produced a demo recording for the band Ultravox, which led to them being offered a recording contract with Island Records. Lillywhite soon joined Island as a staff producer, where he worked with many of the leading New Wave artists. Its first massive commercial success was with Siouxsie & the Banshees in August 1978 after producing their first single, "Hong Kong Garden", featuring an original hook played by a metallophone.

1980s

In 1980, Lillywhite produced Peter Gabriel (III or Melt), notable for its aggressive sound, achieved in part by the absence of cymbals throughout the album. The same year, he produced The Psychedelic Furs debut as well as Boy, the debut album of the then practically unknown U2. Lillywhite went on to produce U2's October and War, of which the latter proved to be the band's major breakthrough. He moved on to produce work by Simple Minds, Big Country, XTC, The Chameleons, Toyah, Talking Heads, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Morrissey, The Rolling Stones and the Shine album by former ABBA vocalist Frida.

In 1987 Lillywhite worked with The Pogues, producing their breakthrough single "Fairytale of New York"; it was due to him that his then wife, Kirsty MacColl, provided the lead female vocal for their biggest hit. The single narrowly missed being the UK Christmas number one single but was still one of the biggest selling records that year.

1990s

During the '90s, he continued to produce Morrissey, but began to make his mark with albums by Travis, Phish and multi platinum albums, including Under the Table and Dreaming, Crash, and Before These Crowded Streets by the Dave Matthews Band. In 1990, he co-produced U2's Achtung Baby, along with Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Flood. In 1991 he returned to Dublin to produce debut album, A Sonic Holiday, with Kilkenny band, Engine Alley. He was brought in to produce the debut (and only album) by The La's, who were unhappy with the results (criticizing Lillywhite's production techniques and use of guide tracks on the final versions of songs). In 1996 he produced Phish's Billy Breathes, and he returned to produce Joy in 2009.

Lilywhite was featured as the subject for a BBC Radio 1 documentary series on record producers. In 1999, he produced Boston band Guster's Lost and Gone Forever.

2000s

In 2000, Lillywhite was fired from his fourth album by the Dave Matthews Band after band members cited creative differences. In 2001, a number of their recordings emerged on a bootleg album, known now as The Lillywhite Sessions; many of the songs from those recordings followed later, on the Dave Matthews Band's album Busted Stuff. The unfinished tracks appeared online, and most of the tracks were re-recorded, without Lillywhite, with Stephen Harris as the preferred choice by the band.

In 2002, Universal boss Lucian Grainge invited him to become a major-label Managing Director. Lillywhite signed singer-songwriter Darius Danesh and exec produced Darius' debut platinum-selling album Dive In, which spawned 3 top ten hits and Mercury Records' first number one in 18 years. He also signed Razorlight who have become one of the biggest bands in the UK. Following a staff role as managing director of Mercury Records in London, he produced Jason Mraz's Mr. A-Z.

In September 2005 Lillywhite joined Columbia Records as a Senior Vice President of A&R. During his tenure he signed MGMT, a Brooklyn-based band. He left the label at the end of 2006. Lillywhite collected consecutive Grammy Awards for Record of the Year with U2's "Beautiful Day" and "Walk On." In 2006, Lillywhite won three more Grammys: Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, Best Rock Album also with U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb; and a partial win for Album of the Year for U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

In late 2006 he began working with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave fame on Carry On, his second solo album, which was released in June 2007. He also produced two songs on Switchfoot's album, Oh! Gravity., which was released on December 26, 2006. In February 2007 Lillywhite began work with Crowded House on tracks for their first studio album in fourteen years, entitled Time On Earth. The majority of the album was produced by Ethan Johns, but Lillywhite produced four songs with the full touring lineup, including new drummer Matt Sherrod as well as studio guest guitarist Johnny Marr. Lillywhite's next project was working with US rock band Matchbox Twenty on a six song EP that comprised a portion of a greatest hits package entitled Exile on Mainstream. The two disc album entered the US charts at #3 and Australian charts at #1 and includes the radio single "How Far We've Come". 2008 found Lillywhite again in the studio with U2 working alongside longtime producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois on tracks for 2009's No Line on the Horizon. He is also at work in Austin, Texas with the notable act Blue October on that group's follow-up to Foiled, called Approaching Normal, which is slated for a March 24, 2009 release via Universal.

Steve Lillywhite's next project is to work on the return album from the band Phish during April. He also produced their 1996 release Billy Breathes. He also recently worked on the 30 Seconds to Mars CD "This Is War" and is currently producing Evanescence's new album,

Partial discography

• 30 Seconds to Mars - This Is War
• The Adventure Babies — Laugh
• Joan Armatrading — Walk Under Ladders
• Big Country — The Crossing, Wonderland, Steeltown
• Blue October — Approaching Normal
• Climie Fisher — some songs from Everything
• Chris Cornell — Carry On
• Counting Crows — Hard Candy
• Marshall Crenshaw — Field Day
• Crossfire Choir — Crossfire Choir
• Crowded House — Time on Earth
• Darius Danesh — Dive In
• Dark Star — Twenty Twenty Sound
• Dave Matthews Band — Under the Table and Dreaming, Crash, Before These Crowded Streets, The Lillywhite Sessions (unreleased)
• Elwood — The Parlance of Our Time
• Peter Gabriel — Peter Gabriel (aka Peter Gabriel III or Melt)
• Guster — Lost and Gone Forever
• The La's — The La's
• Annifrid Lyngstad (Frida) — Shine
• Kirsty MacColl — Kite, Electric Landlady, Galore
• Matchbox Twenty — Exile on Mainstream
• Morrissey — Vauxhall and I, Southpaw Grammar, Maladjusted
• Jason Mraz — Mr. A-Z
• Ours — Distorted Lullabies
• Penetration — Coming Up for Air
• Phish — Billy Breathes, Joy
• The Pogues — If I Should Fall From Grace with God, Peace and Love
• The Psychedelic Furs — The Psychedelic Furs, Talk Talk Talk
• Rearview Mirror — All Lights Off
• Tom Robinson — Sector 27
• The Members - At the Chelsea Nightclub
• The Rolling Stones — Dirty Work
• She & Him — Volume One (2008)
• Simple Minds — Sparkle in the Rain
• Siouxsie & The Banshees — The Scream
• The Smiths — mixed the "Ask" single (The World Won't Listen)
• Switchfoot — Oh! Gravity.
• Talking Heads — Naked
• Thompson Twins — Set
• Johnny Thunders — So Alone
• Toyah — The Changeling
• Travis — Good Feeling
• U2 — Boy, October, War, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, some songs on The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, All That You Can't Leave Behind, No Line on the Horizon
• Ultravox — Ultravox!, Ha!-Ha!-Ha!
• World Party — Bang!
• XTC — Drums and Wires, Black Sea

External links

• Allmusic article on Steve Lillywhite

Allmusic ID P 98524