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Stewart Levine (born 1946) is an Americanrecord producer.
The artists he has worked with includeThe Crusaders,Minnie Riperton,Lionel Richie,Simply Red,[1]Hugh Masekela,Huey Lewis and the News,Patti LaBelle,Sly Stone,Boy George,[1]Oleta Adams,Killing Joke,Jon Anderson andCuriosity Killed the Cat.
Levine left the Manhattan School of Music after one year to pursue a career as a horn player and arranger.[citation needed] He developed his skills as an arranger on pop and R&B recordings. This experience led Levine into forming a production company with Hugh Masekela. They produced records that were a hybrid of South African township grooves crossed with rhythm and blues and jazz. They left New York and moved to Los Angeles to form Chisa Records, an independent label. Levine produced Masekela's "Grazing in the Grass".[citation needed]
While in California, Levine met members of The Jazz Crusaders. Levine signed them to Chisa Records with the idea of combining the funk of their native Texas alongside the jazz for which they were known. This was the beginning of a style that would become known as jazz-funk and, later, "Rare Groove". Levine produced over a dozen albums withThe Crusaders.[citation needed]
In 1974, Levine put together a music festivalZaire 74 inKinshasa, set aroundThe Rumble in the Jungle boxing match, the Ali/Foreman fight inZaire. He produced the festival. The event was filmed and eventually released in 1996 as the documentaryWhen We Were Kings.
Levine returned to recording, producingMinnie Riperton's third album,Adventures in Paradise.[2] This led to a productive period in which he produced albums byVan Morrison,Lamont Dozier'sPeddlin' Music on the Side, which featured the song "Goin' Back to My Roots" and the début album ofRandy Crawford. Levine developed a close relationship with Phil Walden andCapricorn Records, producing a series of albums with southern rock artistsThe Marshall Tucker Band, as well as The Allman Bros.
Levine produced the first of six albums withB.B. King.Midnight Believer was a hit, putting B.B. King back on the charts with a gold album after a long absence. This was followed by King's Grammy winningThere Must Be a Better World Somewhere.
In 1982 Levine produced "Up Where We Belong" withJoe Cocker andJennifer Warnes.[3] Used as the end title song to the filmAn Officer and a Gentleman, "Up Where We Belong" became a #1 pop hit, Grammy winner and Academy Award winner. He then produced Sly and the Family Stone's second album for Warner Bros. Records. Next came Womack & Womack's debutLove Wars. In the United Kingdom it became a #1 album. Due to the success of this album, Levine moved to London and began working with a wide range of acts including the bandsBlancmange andKilling Joke.
Levine was invited by an A&R man to see a new band from Manchester namedSimply Red play their first gig in London. He describes the moment: "The lead singer was magical but the music sounded like a retro American soul revue. I met withMick Hucknall and told him that we needed to come up with something fresh, not just revisit the past."
The result was Simply Red's début albumPicture Book, which became a huge hit in both the UK and the United States. Propelled by the international #1 single, "Holding Back the Years", it sold over seven million copies worldwide. Levine produced six tracks on Curiosity Killed the Cat'sKeep Your Distance in a similar "soul" style. It contained two top ten singles and became a #1 album in the UK and Europe. He followed this withBoy George's first solo album,Sold, containing the reggae influenced #1 hit single "Everything I Own".
Next came Simply Red'sA New Flame, which included the international #1 version of "If You Don't Know Me by Now". In 1991 Levine produced Simply Red'sStars, which became one of the largest selling albums in British history.Stars contained four UK hit singles, sold 3.5 million copies in the UK and over eleven million copies worldwide.
Levine produced three new songs forLionel Richie's greatest hits albumBack to Front. He then producedDr. John's albumGoin' Back to New Orleans, as well as albums for Huey Lewis and The News, Oleta Adams and Ireland's Hot House Flowers. Levine returned to England to produce Simply Red's next album,Life, which included the group's only UK #1 single, "Fairground".
After this album, Levine decided to take a break from the studio to concentrate on composing and playing the saxophone. He returned in 2002, producing a reunion album with The Crusaders. This was followed by another reunion with Simply Red. Levine produced their hit version of "You Make Me Feel Brand New", as well as their single "Sunrise". Next cameDavid Sanborn's first new album in many years,Time Again.
In the summer of 2003 Levine was asked to work with young British jazz artistJamie Cullum. Levine produced Cullum's debut albumTwenty Something. Levine followed this by producing the Dr. John'sN'Awlinz: Dis, Dat or D'udda, which featuredNew Orleans musicians alongside guests such as B.B. King and Randy Newman. Levine returned to the UK to produce Jamie Cullum's second albumCatching Tales.
In 2024, Levine producedAaron Neville's début for Sony-BMG,The Soul Classics, a collection of R&B songs.