Denny Cordell
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Denny Cordell (born Dennis Cordell-Laverack, 1 August 1943, Buenos Aires, Argentina — died 18 February 1995, Dublin, Ireland [1]) was a British record producer and horseracer.
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[edit] Career
Cordell grew up in England. He met Chris Blackwell when he was aged twenty one, and started to work for Blackwell's label, Island Records, as a producer. When Cordell started to work more closely with The Moody Blues, he decided to leave Island and become an independent producer.
The first record he recorded with the Moody Blues, entitled "Go Now", resulted in a #1 hit on the UK Singles Chart. This was followed up with hits for Cordell producing The Move, Georgie Fame, Procol Harum and Joe Cocker. On the back of his success of iconic 1960s anthems such as Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My Friends", Cordell moved his operation to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and started up Shelter Records, with session piano player, Leon Russell.
He enjoyed huge success with Shelter, signing such acts as J. J. Cale, Phoebe Snow, Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, amongst others. He is also known as an early mentor of the soon to be famous producer, Tony Visconti.
In the late 1970s he started up the infamous Flippers roller skating boogie palace in Los Angeles, California. In the 1980s he turned to his other interest, horseracing, but in the 1990 he took up producing records again, and once more worked for Island. Among others he helped produce The Cranberries, and Melissa Etheridge's album, Yes I Am. [2]
He died in February 1995 from lymphoma, at the age of 51. He was the father of musician Tarka Cordell.
[edit] Controversy
- Little of Cordell's UK productions have been mixed into stereo; indeed Procol Harum's first album (1967) was one of the last important albums to be issued only in mono (and rechanneled stereo)
- One of Cordell's biggest mistakes at Shelter Records was the difficult time they imposed on Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour. First, after signing them, he refused to allow them to use their collective name "Oister", instead imposing the name "Dwlight Twilley Band", which was fine for Twilley but not good for Seymour. Second, after the surprise hit of "I'm On Fire", they recorded extensively only to have most of the songs rejected by Cordell, including their follow-up single, "Shark (In The Dark)", which contributed to serious lost momentum. The Twilley band never really got back on track.
