Phil Ramone is a
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
ist,
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
, recording engineer, and
record producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
born in 1941
http://www.philramone.com/Informational/Biography.htm.
As a young child in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
, Ramone was a musical
prodigyA child prodigy is someone who at an early age masters one or more skills at an adult level. One heuristic for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 15 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding field of endeavor...
, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Queen
Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
at age ten. In the late 1940s he trained as a classical violinist at The Juilliard School, where one of his classmates was
Phil WoodsPhilip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
.
In 1959 he established an independent recording studio A&R Recording.
Phil Ramone is a
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
ist,
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
, recording engineer, and
record producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
born in 1941
http://www.philramone.com/Informational/Biography.htm.
Biography
As a young child in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
, Ramone was a musical
prodigyA child prodigy is someone who at an early age masters one or more skills at an adult level. One heuristic for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 15 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding field of endeavor...
, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Queen
Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
at age ten. In the late 1940s he trained as a classical violinist at The Juilliard School, where one of his classmates was
Phil WoodsPhilip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
.
A&R Recording
In 1959 he established an independent recording studio A&R Recording. There he quickly gained a reputation as a sound engineer and music producer, in particular for his use of innovative technology. Among those whose music he has produced are
The Guess WhoThe Guess Who are a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Produced by Jack Richardson, C.M., they were the first Canadian rock group to have a No.1 hit in the United States ....
,
Burt BacharachBurt F. Bacharach is an American pianist and composer. He is known for his pop hits from the early 1960s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David, many of which were produced for and recorded by Dionne Warwick....
,
Laura BraniganLaura Branigan was a Grammy Award-nominated American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is arguably best known for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria"...
,
Karen CarpenterKaren Anne Carpenter was an American singer and drummer. She and her brother, Richard, formed the 1970s duo The Carpenters....
,
Ray CharlesRay Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of...
,
Peter CincottiPeter Cincotti is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He attended the Horace Mann School and Columbia University.-Biography:...
,
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
,
Natalie ColeNatalie Cole is an American singer, songwriter and performer. She achieved success in her early career as an R&B star, but smoothly changed her repertoire toward a more pop and jazz oriented musical style in the early 1990s...
,
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest...
,
Gloria EstefanGloria Estefan is a Grammy Award-winning Cuban-American singer and songwriter. She is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 90 million albums sold worldwide, 26.5 million of those in the United States alone...
,
Aretha FranklinAretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul". Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock, soul, blues, pop, R&B and Gospel music...
,
Billy JoelBilly Joel is an American rock musician, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States, according to the RIAA....
,
Elton JohnSir Elton Hercules John, CBE is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.In his four-decade career, John has sold more than 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single, Candle in the Wind 1997, has sold over 37 million copies, becoming the...
,
Sheena EastonSheena Easton is a Scottish singer who achieved worldwide fame in the 1980s. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television program The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract, and got her a deal with EMI Records...
,
Fito PáezRodolfo "Fito" Páez Ávalos is an Argentine popular rock and roll pianist, lyricist, Spanish language singer and film director.-First years:...
,
Quincy JonesQuincy Delight Jones, Jr. is an American music conductor, record producer, musical arranger, film composer and trumpeter. During five decades in the entertainment industry, Jones has earned a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991...
,
B. B. KingRiley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and guitar playing....
,
Diane SchuurDiane Schuur is an American jazz singer and pianist. Blinded at birth due to a hospital accident, Schuur, nicknamed "Deedles," has won Two Grammy awards. Schuur has headlined many of the world's most prestigious music venues, including Carnegie Hall and The White House and has toured the world...
,
Julian LennonJohn Charles Julian Lennon , known usually as Julian Lennon, is the first son of Beatle John Lennon and is a singer, songwriter and musician. He is the only child of Lennon's first marriage to Cynthia Powell, and his godfather was Beatles' manager Brian Epstein...
,
MadonnaMadonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance...
,
Richard MarxRichard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
,
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE , is an English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music...
,
George MichaelGeorgios Kyriacos Panayiotou , best known as George Michael, is a two-time Grammy Award winning, English singer-songwriter, who has had a career as frontman of the duo Wham! as well as a soul-influenced, solo pop musician...
,
Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter.-Early life:Sinéad O'Connor was born in Glenageary Dublin and was named after Sinéad de Valera, wife of Irish President Éamon de Valera and mother of the doctor presiding over the delivery, and Saint Bernadette of Lourdes...
,
Luciano PavarottiLuciano Pavarotti Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He was one of "The Three Tenors" and became well-known for his televised concerts and media...
,
Andre PrevinAndré George Previn KBE is a German-born American pianist, conductor, and composer...
,
Carly SimonCarlene Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work.She is the former wife of another...
,
Paul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter. He entered the public consciousness in 1965 as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, along with longtime artistic partner Art Garfunkel. Simon solely wrote most of duo's songs, including such memorable songs as "The Sound of Silence", "The Boxer",...
,
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers." His professional career had stalled by the...
,
Rod StewartRoderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer and songwriter born and raised in London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English lineage....
,
James TaylorJames Vernon Taylor is an American singer–songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina...
,
Olivia Newton-JohnOlivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a British-born, Australian-raised singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 albums...
,
Liza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American singer and actress of film, stage and television. She is the daughter of entertainer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
,
Barry ManilowBarry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, entertainer, and performer, best known for such recordings as "I Write the Songs", "Mandy", "Weekend in New England" and "Copacabana"....
,
Clay AikenClay Aiken is an American pop singer who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man was released in October 2003...
,
Patricia KaasPatricia Kaas is a French singer and actress.Kaas is one of the most successful French-speaking singers in the world...
, Peter Paul and Mary, and
Melissa ErricoMelissa Errico is an American actress, songwriter, and singer.- Biography :Born in Manhattan, Errico moved to Manhasset on Long Island at an early age. As a child, she studied ballet and gymnastics but was sidelined by a knee injury...
. He is also credited with recording
Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe , born Norma Jeane Mortenson, but baptized Norma Jeane Baker, was an American actress, singer and model....
's rendition of "
Happy Birthday to You"Happy Birthday to You", also known more simply as "Happy Birthday", is a traditional song that is sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth. According to the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most recognized song in the English language, followed by...
" to President
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
http://www.philramone.com/Informational/Biography.htm.
Among the technical innovations he introduced; optical
surround soundSurround sound encompases a range of techniques for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. The three-dimensional sphere of human hearing can be virtually achieved with audio channels above and below the listener...
for movies, and digital recording techniques. His studio was the first to release music commercially on
compact discA Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it also allowed the preservation of other types of data. Audio CDs have been commercially available since October 1982...
; Billy Joel's
52nd Street52nd Street is the sixth studio album by Billy Joel, released in 1978. It was also the first of many Joel albums to top the Billboard charts, along with his third and fourth Grammy win. . 52nd Street also became, in 1982, the first album to be released on compact disc by Sony Music Entertainment...
was the first album to be broadly released on the medium.
His book,
Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music, written with Chuck Granata, was released on October 9 2007.
On July 8, 2008 Columbia records released
The Stranger 30th Anniversary which features interviews with Ramone. This box set includes a remastered version of the 1977
Billy JoelBilly Joel is an American rock musician, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States, according to the RIAA....
album,
The StrangerThe Stranger is the fifth studio album by musician Billy Joel, released in 1977 . While his four previous albums had been moderate chart successes, this was his breakthrough album, spending 6 weeks at #2 in the U.S. album charts...
by Ramone.
Among the many albums Ramone has produced is
Shelby LynneShelby Lynne is an American singer, songwriter and actress.-Early life:Shelby Lynne grew up in Frankville, Alabama, near Chatom, Alabama, where she attended Washington County High School...
's 2008 tribute to
Dusty SpringfieldMary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE , known as Dusty Springfield, was a pop singer and entertainer. Of all the female British pop artists of the 1960s, she made one of the biggest impressions on the American market...
,
Just a Little Lovin'Just a Little Lovin' is the tenth studio album by Shelby Lynne, released in the United States and Canada on January 29, 2008. The album is a tribute to British singer Dusty Springfield, and features covers of nine songs popularized by her, in addition to "Pretend", an original song...
. In March 2008, Ramone produced the first full-album release by Montreal teen jazz artist
Nikki YanofskyNikki Yanofsky , is a young jazz-pop singer from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She has performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, at various events alongside well-known artists such as Oliver Jones, Wyclef Jean, Celine Dion, James Birch and performing the national anthems for the Montreal...
.
Phil Ramone is currently (summer 2009) producing Gershwin Across America a tribute album to music of the George and Ira Gershwin. The album features
Jason MrazJason Mraz is an American singer-songwriter, born and raised in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Mraz's stylistic influences include reggae, pop, rock, folk, jazz, and hip hop....
,
JewelJewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress, and poet. She has received three Grammy Award nominations and has sold twenty-seven million albums worldwide, and almost twenty million in the United States alone.Kilcher debuted on February 28,...
,
Darius RuckerDarius Rucker is an American musician. He is known for his role as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, of which he has been a member since the band's inception in 1986 and his work as a solo artist.Along with his work in Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker has...
,
Paul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter. He entered the public consciousness in 1965 as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, along with longtime artistic partner Art Garfunkel. Simon solely wrote most of duo's songs, including such memorable songs as "The Sound of Silence", "The Boxer",...
and many others.
Awards
Ramone has won 15
Grammy awardThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
s
- 1965
The 7th Grammy Awards were held in 1965. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1964.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz for "The Girl from Ipanema"*Album of the Year...
- Best Engineered Recording (non classical)The Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Engineered Record - Non-Classical...
, for Getz/GilbertoGetz/Gilberto, is a jazz bossa nova album released in 1964 by the American saxophonist Stan Getz and the Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto, and featuring composer and musician Antonio Carlos Jobim....
- 1970
The 12th Grammy Awards were held in 1970. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1969.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Bones Howe & The 5th Dimension for "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"*Album of the Year...
- Best Musical Show AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album has been awarded since 1959. The award has had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Original Cast Album *In 1960 it was awarded as Best Broadway Show Album...
for producing Promises, PromisesPromises, Promises is a musical based on the 1960 film The Apartment written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. The music is by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and book by Neil Simon. Musical numbers for the original Broadway production were choreographed by Michael Bennett; Robert Moore...
- 1976
The 18th Grammy Awards were held February 28, 1976, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1975.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- Album of the YearThe Grammy Award for Album of the Year is one of the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
for producing Still Crazy After All These YearsStill Crazy After All These Years is a studio album by Paul Simon.Recorded in 1975, the album produced four US Top 40 hits, "Gone at Last" , "My Little Town" , "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" and the title track . It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1976...
- 1979
The 21st Grammy Awards were held in 1979, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1978.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Phil Ramone & Billy Joel for "Just the Way You Are"...
- Record of the YearThe Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959. The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
for producing "Just the Way You Are"Just the Way You Are" is a love song from Billy Joel's 1977 pop rock album, The Stranger. It was written as a birthday gift to Joel's first wife Elizabeth Weber...
"
- 1980
The 22nd Grammy Awards were held February 27, 1980, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1979.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- Album of the Year for producing 52nd Street52nd Street is the sixth studio album by Billy Joel, released in 1978. It was also the first of many Joel albums to top the Billboard charts, along with his third and fourth Grammy win. . 52nd Street also became, in 1982, the first album to be released on compact disc by Sony Music Entertainment...
- 1981
The 23rd Grammy Awards were held February 25, 1981, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1980.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- Producer of the Year (non classical)The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical has been awarded since 1975. The award had several minor name changes:*From 1975 to 1977 the award was known as Best Producer of the Year...
- 1984
The 26th Grammy Awards were held on February 28 1984, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1983. Michael Jackson won a record 8 awards during the show...
- Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television SpecialThe Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media has been awarded since 1960. Until 2001 the award was presented to the composer of the music alone. From 2001 to 2006, the producer and engineers shared in this award...
, for FlashdanceFlashdance is a musical/romance film released in April . The film was the first collaboration of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and its presentation of some sequences in the style of music videos was an influence on other 1980s films including Top Gun , Simpson and Bruckheimer's most...
- 1995
The 37th Grammy Awards were presented March 1, 1995. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Bill Bottrell & Sheryl Crow for "All I Wanna Do"*Album of the Year...
- Best Musical Show Album for producing PassionPassion is a musical adapted from Ettore Scola's film Passione d'Amore . The book is by James Lapine, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Central subjects include obsession, beauty, power, manipulation, passion, illness, and love...
- 2003
The 45th Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2003. Musicians accomplishments from the previous year were recognized. Norah Jones was the night's big winner winning five awards including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal...
- Best Traditional Pop Vocal AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album has been awarded since 1992. The award has had two minor name changes:*In 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Pop Performance...
, for producing "Playin' With My Friends: BennettTony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
Sings The Blues"
He also won an
Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
in 1973 as
sound mixerAudio mixing is a process during the post-production stage of a film or a television program by which a multitude of recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels...
for "Duke Ellington...We Love You Madly", a tribute to
Duke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader.Duke Ellington became one of the most influential artists in the history of recorded music, and is largely recognized as one of the greatest figures in the history of jazz, though his music stretched into...
broadcast on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
.
Ramone has been awarded honorary degrees by
Five Towns CollegeFive Towns College is a for-profit institution of higher learning located in Dix Hills, Long Island, New York . Founded as a business school in 1972 by Stanley G. Cohen, Ed.D...
and
Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music, founded in 1945, is a private, degree-granting four year college in Boston, Massachusetts. It has a 2009 fall enrollment of approximately 4,100 students and a 2009 faculty of approximately 500...
. He is also on the Berklee's Board of Trustees.
Ramone is not related to the punk group The Ramones.
External links