Godfrey Diamond is an American record producer, mixer, musician, and writer.

Early career

Diamond was born in Philadelphia and moved with his family (including his brother

Gregg Diamond Gregory Oliver Diamond (May 4, 1949 – March 14, 1999) was an American pianist, drummer, songwriter, and producer who was active in the jazz and disco music scenes of the 1970s. Career Diamond was a member of the backing band for Jobriath, the ...

) to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1968, the height of the psychedelic era. While in college he began working at Mediasound Studios in Manhattan. While at Mediasound, Diamond worked with a wide range of artists including

Gloria Gaynor Gloria Gaynor ( née Fowles; born September 7, 1943) is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), " Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), " I Am What I Am" (1983), and her version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" ( ...

Martha Reeves Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941) is an American R&B and pop singer. She is the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas which scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Come and Get These Memories", " Nowhere to R ...

(

Martha & the Vandellas Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind ...

Kool and the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/ funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, sh ...

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

, and

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

, as well as recording some of the top studio musicians of the era, such as

Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the ''Modern D ...

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 198 ...

Bernard Purdie Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American drummer, and an influential R&B, soul and funk musician. He is known for his precise musical time keeping and his signature use of triplets against a half-time backbeat: the "Purdie ...

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session music ...

and

Paul Shaffer Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both '' Late ...

. At the age of 21, Diamond produced

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

's ''

Coney Island Baby ''Coney Island Baby'' is the sixth solo studio album by American musician Lou Reed, released December 1975 in the US, and in January 1976 in the UK, by RCA Records. Music and lyrics The album has been described by Anthony DeCurtis as "perhaps ...

'' for

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

, the same year he and brother

hit number one with "

More, More, More "More, More, More" is a song written by Gregg Diamond and recorded by American artist Andrea True (credited to her recording project Andrea True Connection). It was released in February 1976 as the first single from her debut album by same name ...

" for The Andrea True Connection, with Godfrey's drum parts later appearing on

Len Len or LEN may refer to: People and fictional characters * Len (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lén, a character from Irish mythology * Alex Len (born 1993), Ukrainian basketball player * Mr. Len, American hip hop DJ *Le ...

's hit "

Steal My Sunshine "Steal My Sunshine" is a song by Canadian alternative rock band Len from their third studio album, ''You Can't Stop the Bum Rush'' (1999). The song was initially released on the soundtrack to the 1999 crime comedy film '' Go'', which resulted in ...

". The success of "More, More, More" led to the formation of the creative nucleus known as the World Radio Band consisting of Gregg, Godfrey, Steve Love and Jim Gregory. This team wrote, produced and arranged many dance/pop artists including Bionic Boogie, Hot Butterfly/Luther Vandross, Gloria Gaynor, Star Cruiser and George McCrae who were instrumental in creating the disco sound. Returning to his rock roots during the 1980s, Diamond worked with many bands including

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

and

Billy Squier William Haislip Squier (, born May 12, 1950) is an American rock musician and singer who had a string of arena rock and crossover hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include "The Stroke", "Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover", "In t ...

. His collaboration with Rob Hardin led to the band Dance in Reverse, signed by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, which brought together many acclaimed players of the era including Sammy Merendino on drums,

Mars Williams Mars Williams (born May 29, 1955) is an American jazz and rock saxophonist. Exposed to big band and dixieland jazz by his trumpet-playing father, Williams played classical clarinet for ten years, then migrated to saxophone in his last year of hig ...

on saxophone and

Steve Stevens Steve Stevens (born Steven Bruce Schneider; May 5, 1959) is an American guitarist. He is best known as Billy Idol's guitarist and songwriting collaborator, and for his lead guitar work on the theme to ''Top Gun'' – "Top Gun Anthem" – for w ...

on guitar. During this time Diamond also produced Los Angeles-area bands I Napoleon (

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

) and The Lostboys (Atlantic Records). In the 1990s, Diamond concentrated on developing, producing, and signing bands which formed New York’s alternative scene, including Speedway (Lava Records), The Bogmen (Arista Records), Piss Factory (Columbia Records) and indie bands Princess Superstar, Cottonhead, The Dragsters, and Pillbox, among others.

Recent career

In 2003, he opened Perfect Mixes Recording Studio in Williamsburg,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, which has now relocated near the Brooklyn Museum. This private studio is where Diamond currently works to produce, mix, and write for local and international artists and singer-songwriters. In 2015, Diamond co-produced David Bronson's album ''Questions'' with guest singers

Robin Clark Robin Clark is an American vocalist known for her work as a vocalist on David Bowie's 1975 album ''Young Americans'' and Simple Minds' 1985 album ''Once Upon a Time''. Clark was born in New York. In 1966, when Clark was 16, she and future s ...

, Gordon Grody and Carlos Alomar. He has recently produced new albums for Brooklyn band Foxy and renowned European jazz artist Lena Kovacevic."Music subtlest understands and feels"
''Chiwelook''. Retrieved 2016-09-29.

Select discography

* Lou Reed - ''Coney Island Baby'' (Producer/Engineer/Mixer) * Aerosmith - ''Rock in a Hard Place'' (Chief Engineer) * Andrea True Connection - ''More, More, More'' (Producer/Engineer/Drums) * Billy Squier - ''Here & Now'', ''Creatures of Habit'' (Producer) * Frank Sinatra - ''All or Nothing at All'' (Engineer) * Bionic Boogie featuring Luther Vandross (Producer/Engineer/Mixer)

References

External links

Perfect Mixes
Official site
Godfrey Diamond
on AllMusic
Godfrey Diamond
on Discogs {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Godfrey Record producers from Pennsylvania American audio engineers American rock drummers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)