Died On This Date (June 4, 2011) Martin Rushent / Prominent English Record Producer
themusicsover Martin Rushent
January 3, 1948 – June 4, 2011
Martin Rushent was a successful record producer who could count records by Shirley Bassey, the Buzzcocks, Pete Shelley, the Human League, XTC, Joy Division, Generation X, and the Stranglers among his best work. Picking up the production bug while still in high school, Rushent found work soon after graduation, working as a tape operator alongside Tony Visconti on records by T-Rex, Jerry Lee Lewis, Yes, and Petula Clark. Eventually advancing to the ranks of recording engineer, Rushent went to work for United Artists where he was instrumental in getting the Stranglers signed and subsequently recording their UA releases. By the early ’80s, Rushent grew tired of producing guitar bands, so he opened his own studio and began working with synth-driven groups, helping launch the synth-pop movement of the ’80s. By the late ’80s, he was all but retired from the music business to raise his family, but resurfaced to run his own dance club, Gush in the mid ’90s. He went back to producing during the mid 2000s, working with the likes of Hazel O’Connor, the Pipettes, and Does It Offend You, Yeah? which is fronted by his son, James Rushent. Martin Rushent was 63 when he passed away on June 4, 2011. Cause of death was not immediately released.
Thanks to Craig Rosen at number1albums for the assist.
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Kevin Kavanaugh was a New Jersey keyboardist who is perhaps best remembered for his many years playing alongside John Lyon in his legendary band, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes. Kavanaugh can be heard on the Jukes’ outstanding This Time It’s For Real, Hearts Of Stone, and I Don’t Want To Go Home albums. In Kavanaugh’s early days as a musician, it was Bruce Springsteen who inspired him to look for a band that would command the same adulation from its audience. It wasn’t long before he was actually playing with Springsteen, in his Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom, and eventually in the Jukes. In 1982, Kavanaugh played on Little Steven’s first album away from Springsteen, Men Without Women. After leaving Southside Johnny in the early ’90s, Kavanaugh continued to play with numerous Jersey Shore bands like the Bobby Bandiera Band, High Voltage Brothers and Cats On A Smooth Surface, the so-called house band of Asbury Park’s storied Stone Pony club. Kevin Kavanaugh passed away on June 4, 2011 following a long illness.