Tony Visconti
The producer who passed on "Space Oddity" but helmed the rest of Bowie's second album.
Tony Visconti produced the rest of the album David Bowie (commonly known as Space Oddity) after passing on production of the lead single "Space Oddity", which he saw as a "novelty record". He was hired by Bowie's manager Kenneth Pitt to produce the new album, having previously produced Bowie's later Deram sessions. Visconti had little production experience at the time but remained enthusiastic during recording.
Quick Facts
- Background
- non_vocal_instrumentalist
- Birth Name
- Anthony Edward Visconti
- Birth Date
- 1944-04-24
- Death Date
- YYYY · MM · DD · YYYY · MM · DD
- Birth Place
- New York City, U.S.
- Instrument
- Vocals · bass guitar · guitar · piano · flute · recorder · mandolin
- Genre
- Rock · glam rock
- Occupation
- Producer · arranger · singer · musician
- Years Active
- 1967–present
- Current Member Of
- Holy Holy
- Past Member Of
- Hype
- Partner
- Kristeen Young
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Visconti was brought in by Kenneth Pitt to produce David Bowie's second studio album after the failure of his 1967 debut. He saw "Space Oddity" as a "novelty record" and handed production of that song to Gus Dudgeon, Bowie's former engineer. Dudgeon recalled: "I listened to the demo and thought it was incredible. I couldn't believe that Tony didn't want to do it." Bowie contrasted the two producers in a 1969 interview, saying of Visconti: "With Tony Visconti, who's producing my LP, it's part of his life. He lives with music all day long, it's going on in his room, he writes it, arranges it, produces it, plays it, thinks it, and believes very much in its spiritual source – his whole life is like this." Visconti recruited Junior's Eyes – Mick Wayne, Tim Renwick, John 'Honk' Lodge and John Cambridge – as the main backing band, and Beatles' engineer Ken Scott also joined the sessions. According to Renwick, Bowie was "kind of nervous and unsure of himself" and gave little direction during the sessions, which author Paul Trynka attributed to events in Bowie's personal life at the time.
Reader's Guide
Visconti's role on David Bowie was as producer of the entire album except for the single "Space Oddity", which was produced by Gus Dudgeon. He recruited the backing band Junior's Eyes (guitarists Mick Wayne and Tim Renwick, bassist John 'Honk' Lodge, drummer John Cambridge) and additional guitarist Keith Christmas. The album was a commercial failure due to a lack of promotion, despite some positive reviews. Visconti later produced a 2019 remix of the album, which was titled Space Oddity.
Did You Know?
- Visconti passed on producing "Space Oddity" because he saw it as a "novelty record", handing the job to Gus Dudgeon.
- He had little production experience at the time of recording David Bowie but remained enthusiastic throughout the sessions.
- Visconti recruited the band Junior's Eyes (minus their vocalist) as the main backing band for the album.
- The album was recorded at Trident Studios in London from June to October 1969.
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