Joe Meek

Joe Meek was Britain's first independent pop record producer and one of the most important figures in music during the early 1960s.

Born Robert George Meek on April 5 in 1929, Joe grew up in Newent in the Forest of Dean.  As a boy he began experimenting with old radios and record players by taking them apart and seeing how they worked.

Joe began taking his mobile record decks to dances in the local area as a budding DJ, and later he would join the RAF as a technician and as a radar operator, a job that allowed him to satisfy another fascination of his, outer space. In 1953 Joe moved to the capital and found a job at IBC Studios where he would learn the basics of being a recording engineer. Regardless of whether he was asked or not, Joe would try and stamp his sonic style- the result of all those Newent bedroom experiments-on the artists he worked with. He recorded Frankie Laine’s ‘Green Door’, notching up the echo effects while nobody was watching. On trad jazz dad Humphrey Lyttleton’s ‘Bad Penny Blues’, he messed with the microphones so the bass line, played with the left hand, was distorted while the brushed drums sizzled like frying bacon. Lyttleton was away while Meek mixed the track. He returned to find it finished and had to admit that, while he would never have approved it, it was quite a result

Having lined up his own recordings during unused ‘down time’ at Lansdowne, Joe formed his own Triumph label in 1960 and released a few records with no impression on the charts apart from the Buddy Holly-inspired ‘Angela Jones’ by Michael Cox which made the top ten. Meek nevertheless developed idiosyncratic production techniques that usually consisted of super-compressed sound, wavering sped-up vocals, ghostly backing violins and choruses, spooky echo and reverb, ticky-tack variable-speed piano, and all manners of Halloween and outer-space sound effects. The recordings were all the more remarkable for being produced not in a state-of-the-art studio, but in Meek's own bedroom-sized facility,  in his flat in London's busy Holloway Road. Working from two bedrooms he created incredible sounds.  His most famous song "Telstar" which was recorded with The Tornados earned him both an Ivor Novello Award and the title of becoming the first ever single recorded by a British group to hit #1 in the US Billboard chart. The single also spent five weeks at the top of the UK charts. In addition Meek was notable for signing many acts himself before leasing the subsequent recordings to major labels for release.

Other hits included John Leyton's classic "Johnny Remember Me" and The Honeycombs' "Have I the Right?" which was another #1 in the UK charts and entered the US charts at #5.  His unique production techniques  led to accusations that it was not musicians who were making records, but engineers.  Meek reacted angrily to such criticism: ' Utter rubbish.  Certainly I try to inject punch and drive into my productions with John.  But he is basically talented.  He would have made headway with whoever put him on record'.

"Have I the Right?" would be Joe's last big hit. Joe had gained a reputation as being difficult to work with, he would often become angry and violent with uncooperative musicians.  Joe's fascination with the unknown would take a darker turn when he would experiment with the occult. He would engage in séances and leave recording equipment in graveyards to try and contact his hero Buddy Holly.  As the hits dried up his financial position became precarious and he became increasingly depressed.

On February 3rd 1967,  Joe got into one of his regular arguments with his long suffering landlady Violet Shenton, concerning the noise levels coming from upstairs. They also argued about the amount of back rent Joe still owed. His anger getting the better of him Joe picked up his shotgun and killed Mrs Shenton before turning the gun on himself.

Joe Meek is remembered now as a pioneering producer and songwriter and as one of the world's first and most imaginative independent record producers.