Roy Thomas Baker, the English producer who worked with Queen and The Cars in the 1970s and 1980s, has died. He was 78.
No cause of death has been announced.
Baker began his career in the music industry in his teenage years and eventually worked alongside Elton John’s producer, Gus Dudgeon. Early on, he worked with Tony Visconti, one of David Bowie’s producers, Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones, The Who and many more artists.
In 1972, Baker met Queen, and they collaborated across five varying albums. While working with the rock band, he produced a number of their tracks, including their 1975 hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” from their fourth studio album A Night at the Opera.
The song was nominated for two Grammys and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004. Notably, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is the most-streamed song from the 20th century.
Baker was quite an influential producer in the 1970s and 1980s, serving as a producer for four of The Cars‘ albums, Mötley Crüe’s debut studio album Too Fast for Love and The Smashing Pumpkins’ 2007 and 2008 records, Zeitgeist and American Gothic.
“I think he brought a certain amount of discipline and a lot of cynicism [laughs], and a passion for fattening desserts. But no, he was very disciplined and very strict in the beginning,” Queen’s Roger Taylor previously said of Baker. “But he would always get it right. The take had to be right. We would do a lot of takes sometimes before it was right. Because things were very different then, you know, you had to get it all right, all at once.”
Baker’s additional collaborators include Guns N’ Roses, Foreigner, Pilot, Ozzy Osbourne and Journey, among others.
Survivors include his wife, Tere Livrano Baker, and his brother, Alan Baker.