Nigel Gray (1947 – 30 July 2016) was an English

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. His album credits include '' Outlandos d'Amour'' (1978), '' Reggatta de Blanc'' (1979), and '' Zenyatta Mondatta'' (1980) for

the Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

, '' Kaleidoscope'' (1980) and '' Juju'' (1981) for

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine ...

, as well as five albums for Godley & Creme. Gray was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best Engineered Album for '' Zenyatta Mondatta'' (1981) and also won two Grammys for producer of

Best Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is designed for s ...

(" Don't Stand So Close to Me") and Best Rock Instrumental ("

Behind My Camel "Behind My Camel" is the eighth track from the 1980 album ''Zenyatta Mondatta'' by the British rock band The Police. The song was written by guitarist Andy Summers and was the first one to be composed solely by him during his career in The Polic ...

"). Gray was revered by

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass ...

's producer

Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since '' OK Computer'' (1997) ...

for his work on the Police's ''Reggatta de Blanc''. Gray's production on Siouxsie and the Banshees' records with guitarist John McGeoch was also a reference for Godrich during the recording of Radiohead's "

There There "There There" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released as the lead single from their sixth album, ''Hail to the Thief'' (2003), on 26 May 2003. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Canada and Portug ...

Surrey Sound Studios (1975–1987)

In 1975, Gray converted a co-operative hall building on Kingston Road,

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leathe ...

, in southern England, into a four-track recording studio named Surrey Sound Studios, on a budget of £1,200, with his brother Chris Gray as

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

. Initially it was used as a rehearsal space and a demoing facility. In 1977, the studio became 16-track, housing an Ampex MM1000 16-track tape machine and an Alice desk. Amongst others The Police recorded their first album '' Outlandos d'Amour'' there using this setup. In 1978, during the recording of Godley & Creme's '' L'' album (the first in a string of five albums that the duo made there), the studio had upgraded again to 24-track with an all-MCI setup (which also included a fully-automated JH-400B console). Other artists such as the Police and Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded albums there. Singles from the Lotus Eaters and Latin Quarter made the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Other albums included '' Slow Crimes'' by the Work, and those by The Professionals,

Girlschool Girlschool are a British rock band that formed in the new wave of British heavy metal scene in 1978. Frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead, they are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 ye ...

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

Hazel O'Connor Hazel Thereasa O'Connor (born 16 May 1954) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles " Eighth Day", " D-Days" and " Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film '' Breaking Glass''. Caree ...

and Eurogliders. In 1983, the studio underwent further refurbishment for two months, reopening with a newly-installed Harrison MR4 console, Otari MTR-90 tape machines (24-track and 2-track) and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

tape decks and digital recorders. In 1987, Gray sold his studio and retired to Cornwall. His last project was the production of the album ''Universal Sky'', the third by local band the Viewers. His younger son Tom is a well-known British luthier, under the name Gray Guitars.

Surrey Sound Records (1980–1981)

In 1980, thanks to the developing Surrey Sound empire, Gray began running his own record label, Surrey Sound Records, from the Leatherhead base. Despite having no hit records on the label, the label managed to get lots of good deals. However, finances eventually ran out and the record company closed at the end of 1981.

Death

On 31 July 2016, the members of the Police,

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-earth ...

, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, reacted on a social network to Gray's death, writing: "Nigel Gray recorded the first three Police albums, the first two in his converted studio above a dairy in Leatherhead in Surrey. Nigel was a qualified medical doctor who followed his passion into music and was able to use his kindly bedside manner to coax three extraordinarily successful records from a band operating at the time on the tiniest of shoestring budgets. We simply couldn't have done it without him, that's the truth".

Collaborators

Artists for whom Nigel Gray produced or engineered include: *Simon Ådahl *

Alternative TV Alternative TV (sometimes known as ATV) are an English band formed in London in 1977. Author Steve Taylor writes: "Alternative TV pioneered reggae rhythms in punk and then moved on to redefine the musical rules". History Alternative TV were fo ...

*Code Blue * Paul Brady *The Escape * Eurogliders *

* Godley & Creme *Klark Kent, a pseudonym of Stewart Copeland * Sonja Kristina *

Lotus Eaters In Greek mythology, the lotus-eaters ( grc-gre, λωτοφάγοι, lōtophágoi) were a race of people living on an island dominated by the lotus tree, a plant whose botanical identity is uncertain. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primar ...

*Craig McNeil *

* The Passions *

Charlie Peacock Charles William Ashworth (born August 10, 1956), known professionally as Charlie Peacock, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer, and author. His albums include ''Love Press Ex-Curio'', ''Arc of the Circle'' and ''No Man's L ...

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

Polyphonic Size Polyphonic Size is a Belgian new wave band founded in 1979 in Brussels by Roger-Marc Vande Voorde. Mixing electric guitars and synthesizers with French and English lyrics (and sometimes German or Japanese lyrics), most of Polyphonic Size records ...

* The Professionals *

* Glacier Georges *

*The Viewers *

Wishbone Ash Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included '' Wishbone Ash'' (1970), ''Pilgrimage'' (1971), '' Argus'' (1972), '' Wishbone Four'' (1973), ''There's the Rub'' (1974), and ...

* The Work * Two People

References

External Links