Alan Parsons | |
|---|---|
 Parsons in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1948-12-20)20 December 1948 (age 76) |
| Genres | Rock,progressive rock |
| Occupation(s) | Audio engineer, composer, musician, record producer, director |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, keyboards, bass, vocals, flute |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Labels | Legacy,Arista,Fox,Mercury,Frontiers[1] |
| Formerly of | The Alan Parsons Project |
Spouse | Lisa Parsons |
| Website | alanparsons |
Alan ParsonsOBE (born 20 December 1948)[2] is an Englishaudio engineer, songwriter, musician, singer and record producer.
Parsons was the sound engineer on albums includingthe Beatles'Abbey Road (1969) andLet It Be (1970),Pink Floyd'sDark Side of the Moon (1973), and the eponymousdebut album byAmbrosia in 1975. Parsons's own group,the Alan Parsons Project, as well as his subsequent solo recordings, have also been commercially successful. He has been nominated for 13Grammy Awards, with his first win occurring in 2019 for Best Immersive Audio Album forEye in the Sky (35th Anniversary Edition).[3]
After getting a job working in the tape duplication department atEMI, Parsons heard the master tape forthe Beatles'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and decided to try talking his way into a job atAbbey Road Studios. In October 1967, at the age of 18, Parsons went to work as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road. He was a tape operator duringthe Beatles'Get Back sessions,[4] and he earned his first credit on the LPAbbey Road. He became a regular there, engineering projects such asWings'Wild Life andRed Rose Speedway, five albums bythe Hollies andPink Floyd'sThe Dark Side of the Moon (1973), for which he received his firstGrammy Awards nomination.
"It was a bit of a frustration for me that I didn't get all the engineering credit", Parsons said ofDark Side of the Moon, "becauseChris [Thomas] came in as mixing supervisor … I had been working on the album for a year and I obviously knew it inside-out by the mixing stage … There were times when I thought Chris was wrong, particularly about the use oflimiting andcompression on the mix, which I've never been a fan of … Although, later, I got the opportunity to mix the album the way I wanted when I did thequadraphonic version."[5]
In his work withAl Stewart's "Year of the Cat", Parsons added the saxophone part and transformed the original folk concept into the jazz-influenced ballad that put Stewart onto the charts.[6]
Parsons also produced three albums byPilot, a Scottishpop rock band, whose hits included "January" and "Magic". He also mixed thedebut album by the American bandAmbrosia and produced their second album,Somewhere I've Never Travelled. Parsons was nominated for a Grammy Award for both albums.[7]
In 1975, he declined Pink Floyd's invitation to work onWish You Were Here – the follow-up toDark Side – and instead initiatedthe Alan Parsons Project with producer, songwriter, and occasional singerEric Woolfson, whom he had met at Abbey Road. The Project consisted of a revolving group of studio musicians and vocalists, most notably the members of Pilot and (on the first album) the members of Ambrosia. Unlike most rock groups, the Alan Parsons Project never performed live during its heyday, although it did release several music videos. Its only live performance during its original incarnation was in 1990. It released ten albums, the last in 1987. The Project terminated in 1990 after Parsons and Woolfson split, with the Project'sintended 11th album released that year as a Woolfson solo album. Parsons continued to release work in his own name and in collaboration with other musicians. Parsons and his band regularly toured many parts of the world.
Although an accomplished vocalist, keyboardist, bassist, guitarist andflautist, Parsons only sang infrequent and incidental parts on his albums, such as the background vocals on "Time". While his keyboard playing was very audible on the Alan Parsons Project albums, very few recordings feature his flute. He briefly returned to run Abbey Road Studios in its entirety. Parsons also continued with his selective production work for other bands.
Of all his collaborators, guitaristIan Bairnson worked with Parsons the longest, including Parsons' post-Project albums:Try Anything Once,On Air,The Time Machine andThe Secret.
Chris Thompson joined Alan Parsons' band for his first solo album after the split of The Alan Parsons Project and was also one of the two frontmen on the ensuing tour, which was captured on the albumAlan Parsons Live. For the U.S. release of this album in 1995 (retitledThe Very Best Live), the band added three new studio recordings, recorded in February 1995. One of these was "You're the Voice", which marked the first time a version featuring the original songwriter (Thompson) had been released. "You're the Voice" was then performed at theWorld Liberty Concert in May 1995 by The Alan Parsons Band, Chris Thompson, andMetropole Orkest. The only official release associated with that concert was a single, featuring a radio edit of the live version of "You're the Voice" (faded out after four minutes). The B-side was a live recording of "White Dawn", which was performed by theMetropole Orkest and Gelders Opera and Operetta Gezelschap (GOOG) choir. The song was arranged byAndrew Powell and conducted by Dick Bakker.[citation needed]
In 1998, Parsons became vice-president of EMI Studios Group, including the Abbey Road Studios. He soon left the post, deciding to return to more creative endeavours. Parsons remained as a creative consultant and associate producer for the group.
As well as receiving gold and platinum awards from many nations, Parsons has received thirteen Grammy Award nominations. In 2006, he was nominated for BestSurround Sound Album forA Valid Path. In 2019, he won his firstGrammy Award for Best immersive Audio Album for his remastered 35th anniversary edition ofEye in the Sky.[8]
Beginning in 2001 and extending for four years, Parsons led a Beatles tribute show calledA Walk Down Abbey Road featuring performers such asTodd Rundgren,Ann Wilson ofHeart,John Entwistle ofthe Who andJack Bruce ofCream. The show structure included a first set where all the musicians assembled to perform each other's hits, and a second set featuring all Beatles songs.
Since 1999, he has toured as the Alan ParsonsLive Project (with Woolfson's permission). The band currently features lead singerP. J. Olsson, guitaristJeff Kollman, drummer Danny Thompson, keyboardistTom Brooks, bass guitaristGuy Erez, vocalist and saxophonist Todd Cooper, guitarist and vocalist Dan Tracey, along with Parsons on rhythm guitar, keyboards and vocals.[9] This band performed live inMedellín, Colombia, in 2013 asAlan Parsons Symphonic Project in a performance recorded for Colombian television and also released on CD (live 2-CD) and DVD (May 2016).
In May 2005, Parsons appeared at the Canyon Club inAgoura Hills, California, to mix front-of-house sound for Southern California-based Pink Floydtribute band Which One's Pink? as they performedThe Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.[10]
In 2010, Parsons released his single "All Our Yesterdays" through Authentik Artists.[11] Parsons also launched a DVD educational series in 2010, titledThe Art and Science of Sound Recording (ASSR) on music production and the complete audio recording process. The single "All Our Yesterdays" was written and recorded during the making ofASSR. The series, narrated byBilly Bob Thornton, gives detailed tutorials on virtually every aspect of the sound recording process.[12]
During 2010, several media reports[13][14] (one of which included a quote from a representative of Parsons),[15] alleged that the song "Need You Now" bycountry music groupLady Antebellum used the melody and arrangement of "Eye in the Sky".
Parsons producedJake Shimabukuro's albumGrand Ukulele, which was released on 2 October 2012. Also in 2012, he contributed lead vocals and performed keyboards and guitar on the track "Precious Life" by German electronic music duo Lichtmond, and appeared with many other noted progressive-rock musicians onThe Prog Collective album byBilly Sherwood, singing lead on "The Technical Divide".
Parsons engineered the third solo album bySteven Wilson,The Raven that Refused to Sing (And Other Stories), released on 25 February 2013.
In late 2013, a live album recorded on tour in Germany and Austria with the titleLiveSpan was released, accompanied by a single called "Fragile" withSimon Philips on drums.
Legacy Recordings, the catalogue division of Sony Music Entertainment, celebrated the 35th anniversary ofEye in the Sky with the worldwide release of a definitive deluxe collector's box set, featuring rare and unreleased material, on 17 November 2017.
On 19 July 2018, Parsons and engineer Noah Bruskin opened a new recording studio, ParSonics. ParSonics was used in the recording of Alan Parsons’ album,The Secret.[16][17]
On 26 April 2019, Parsons released a new studio album,The Secret, his first album in 15 years.[18]
On 15 July 2022, Parsons released a new studio album,From the New World.[19]
His father was Denys Parsons, the grandson of the actorSir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Denys Parsons was a scientist, a filmmaker, and the press officer for theBritish Library, as well as a talented pianist and flautist. He developed theParsons Code as a means of classifying musical melody and was the author ofThe Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes (1975, revised 2008).[33][34][35]
Parsons resides inSanta Barbara, California, US. He has two sons from his first marriage. He is married to Lisa Griffiths; they have two daughters.[2][36]
Parsons was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2021 Birthday Honours for services to music and music production.[37]
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