Award for Musical Excellence

Glyn Johns (producer, engineer; born February 15, 1942)

The name Glyn Johns is synonymous with the sound of classic rock. As a producer and engineer, he’s had a hand in many of the most celebrated recordings of the Sixties and Seventies. He engineered sessions for every Rolling Stones album from Their Satanic Majesties Request through Exile on Main St. and coproduced the live Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out with the band. He was integrally involved with several Who albums, including Who’s Next (which he coproduced, engineered and mixed), The Who by Numbers, Who Are You and It’s Hard. The Beatles enlisted him to work as an engineer on Let It Be, and during those 1969 sessions he recorded their final live performance, on the rooftop of Apple Records. He engineered Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album.

Johns was born and raised in Surrey, England. He began as a singer but turned to the technical side of recording, landing an engineering job at IBC Studios. Working on his own time with the Presidents, a group of former schoolmates, he learned production. Johns worked with noted producer Shel Talmy and went on to become an in-demand engineer and producer in his own right. He often worked at London’s Olympic Studios. Among other things, he devised an innovative drum-miking technique using four microphones that became an industry standard.

The list of acts with whom Johns has worked makes him one of the most prolific recordists of the rock and roll era. In addition to his work with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who and Led Zeppelin, Johns produced and engineered the first two Eagles albums, Eagles and Desperado, at Olympic Studios. (He started work on the third Eagles album, On the Border, which was subsequently finished in America by Bill Szymczyk.) Johns produced and engineered the first four albums by the Steve Miller Band, including the classics Children of the Future and Sailor.

Other notable productions include Slowhand by Eric Clapton, A Nod Is as Good as a Wink... To a Blind Horse by the Faces; and the Pete Townshend-Ronnie Lane collaboration Rough Mix. In addition, he mixed Combat Rock, the Clash’s best-selling album. He produced Bob Dylan’s Real Live, a concert album from 1984. He’s also produced Joan Armatrading, Humble Pie, Spooky Tooth, Boz Scaggs, John Hiatt, Linda Ronstadt, Midnight Oil and Belly. In recent years, the still-active Johns has worked with the likes of Ryan Adams and Band of Horses.