Producer John French, a veteran of Australian music history has passed away.
Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs drummer Gil Matthews has paid tribute to John. In a Facebook post he said:
“It is with great sadness that I have to report that my old friend JOHN FRENCH has passed away. Jonh and I go back a long way…………… right to SUNBURY in 1972, when he recorded the album AZTECS LIVE AT SUNBURY. He also helped me with the mixing of that album at TCS where he worked. He was also a great help when we recorded “Most people I know think that I’m crazy”. He was a great guy to have around as nothing seemed to phase him and he always had a good laugh about things as well. He will be sadly missed and I’m glad I caught up with him recently after nearly 40 years of not hearing from him. If you really want to have a listen to how good he was as an audio engineer, have a listen to either of the 2 MADDER LAKE albums that John recorded at TCS.
R.I.P. John French”
French worked in the 70s on albums by Russell Morris, Blackfeater, The Dingoes, Skyhooks and Madder Lake.
John engineered the Skyhooks classic ‘Ego Is Not A Dirty Word’, he was the producer of ‘The Dingoes’ album and engineered Russell Morris’ ‘Bloodstone’.
One of his earliest recordings was Company Caine’s ‘A Product of Broken Reality’, recently re-issued by Gil Matthews’ Aztecs Records.
Little River Band founder Beeb Birtles said, “R.I.P. John French. John was a renowned recording engineer in Melbourne, Australia. He passed away suddenly yesterday. John recorded the very first songs I ever wrote and many other ones after that. You will be greatly missed”.
