Brooks Arthur, the a number of Grammy Award-winning report producer and engineer who labored on hits by Leiber and Stoller, The Grateful Lifeless, Burt Bacharach, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison and plenty of extra, died Sunday (Oct. 9).
Born Arnold Brodsky in New York Metropolis again in 1936, the music man lower his tooth within the business whereas nonetheless in highschool, scoring a part-time job within the Decca Data mailroom. From there, he may see how your complete enterprise in motion.
A number of years later, he was tapped by Aldon Music as a songwriter and demo singer, together with the likes of Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. There, he wrote “On the Fringe of Tears,” recorded by a younger Tony Orlando, who would introduce Arthur to his engineering mentor.
The hits would roll on at Related Studios, the place Arthur engineered cuts for Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the Raindrops’ “What A Man,” the Angels’ “My Boyfriend’s Again” and extra.
As his status grew, so too did his resume. At Mirasound, he engineered recordings for Leiber and Stoller, and was behind the boards for a lot of traditional songs of the period, from Dixie Cups’ “Chapel of Love”, the Shangri-Las’ “Chief of the Pack”, “Cling On Sloopy” by The McCoys, and Janis Ian’s “Society’s Little one.” He’s develop into often called the chief architect of New York’s “woman group” sound.
Arthur caught the eye of Phil Ramone, who introduced the engineer over to his A&R Studios to work on recordings by Lovin’ Spoonful, and a number of other Van Morrison requirements, together with “Brown Eyed Woman” on which he sang backup vocals. He additionally engineered greater than a dozen Neil Diamond songs together with “Cherry Cherry,” “Kentucky Girl” and the enduring “Candy Caroline.”
When Ramone acquired his man, he took out full-page adverts in Billboard and Money Field magazines asserting, “Brooks Arthur has a brand new dwelling: A & R.”
The primary of his three Grammys got here within the Nineteen Seventies, for Arthur’s manufacturing and engineering work on Janis Ian’s “Between the Traces” LP.
He was music supervisor on all three Karate Child movies, which have loved a renaissance following the Cobra Kai collection on Netflix. Arthur acquired an Oscar nomination for “Glory of Love” from The Karate Child II, certainly one of his 20 profession Grammy nods.
Arthur took the plunge and based his personal recording studios, first Century Sound (Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Evie Sands), and lead his personal band, Brooks Arthur Ensemble. Later, Arthur would function 914 Studios in Rockland County, an area the place Bruce Springsteen recorded his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, The Wild, The Harmless & the E Road Shuffle and far of Born to Run.
Throughout his decades-long music profession, Arthur labored with a who’s who of recorded music, from Ashford & Simpson to Artwork Garfunkel, Bette Midler, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Deborah Harry, Debbie Boone, Dusty Springfield, Gordon Lightfoot, Jerry Lee Lewis, Liza Minnelli and plenty of others.
A transfer to Los Angeles was a fruitful one, as Arthur pivoted to Tinseltown and movie productions, working with the likes of comedy stars Robin Williams and Adam Sandler, and serving as music supervisor for a lot of of Sandler’s movies together with The Marriage ceremony Singer, Large Daddy, Click on, Fifty First Dates and Blended.
Arthur discovered the time to recount his life and journey in music for an autobiography, which is presently being edited, reps say.
In a tribute posted to social media, Sandler describes the late studio skilled as “a real mensch.”
He tweeted, “No one like that man on the planet. Pure kindness. Loving. Giving. Inventive. Affected person. Soulful. Tremendous human being. A real mensch. Engineered and produced a few of the best songs of our time. Beloved him like household. Past a buddy to me and so many.”
Arthur “was a particular, beautiful man,” tweeted comedy actor Rob Schneider. “No extra wandering, you’re dwelling.”
Recording artist Carole Bayer Sager added, “Brooks Arthur, nice loss, nice report producer for many-helped me discover my voice.”
Arthur is survived by his spouse Marilyn, their daughters Jill Arthur Posner and Jacki Arthur Eisenberg, their husbands, Ari and Jerry, respectively, and 4 grandchildren, Maxwell Abish, Benjamin Posner, Natalie Posner and Jade Eisenberg, and a sister Rochelle Kaplan.
The funeral is ready for noon on Sunday (Oct. 16) at Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in Simi Valley. Arthur’s household asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Chabad.org or the American Jewish World Service.
