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Revision as of 22:35, 19 July 2020

For the former badminton player, see Alan Parsons (badminton).

Alan Parsons
Parsons in 2017
Parsons in 2017
Background information
Born (1948-12-20) 20 December 1948 (age 76)
London, England, UK
GenresRock, progressive rock
Occupation(s)Audio engineer, composer, musician, record producer, director
Instrument(s)Keyboards, synthesizer, guitar, bass guitar, vocals, flute
Years active1967–present
LabelsLegacy, Arista, Fox, Mercury, Frontiers[citation needed]
WebsiteAlan Parsons Music

Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948)[1] is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician, and record producer, the son of the Parsons Code developer Denys Parsons. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including the Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, and the eponymous debut album by Ambrosia, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. 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 13 Grammy Awards, with his first win occurring in 2019 for Best Immersive Audio Album, Eye in the Sky (35th Anniversary Edition).[2]

Career

In October 1967, at the age of 18, Parsons went to work as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios, where he earned his first credit on the LP Abbey Road. He became a regular there, engineering such projects as Wings' Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway, five albums by the Hollies, and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, for which he received his first Grammy Award nomination. He was known for doing more than what would normally be considered the scope of a recording engineer's duties.[citation needed]

Parsons considered himself to be a recording director, likening his contribution to recordings to what Stanley Kubrick contributed to film.[citation needed] This is apparent in his work with Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat", where Parsons added the saxophone part and transformed the original folk concept into the jazz-influenced ballad that put Stewart onto the charts. It is also heard in Parsons's influence on the Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and "The Air That I Breathe".[citation needed]

Parsons also produced three albums by Pilot, a Scottish pop rock band, whose hits included "January" and "Magic". He also mixed the debut album by the American band Ambrosia and produced their second album Somewhere I've Never Travelled. Parsons was nominated for a Grammy Award for both albums.[3]

In 1975, he declined Pink Floyd's invitation to work on the follow-up for Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, and instead initiated the Alan Parsons Project with producer, songwriter, and occasional singer Eric 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's intended 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 and flautist, 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, guitarist Ian Bairnson worked with Parsons the longest, including Parsons' post-Project albums, Try Anything Once, On Air, and The Time Machine.

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 ten Grammy Award nominations for engineering and production. In 2007 he received a nomination for Best Surround Sound Album for A Valid Path.[from whom?]

Beginning in 2001 and extending for four years, Parsons conceived and led a Beatles tribute show called A Walk Down Abbey Road featuring a group of headlining performers such as Todd Rundgren, Ann Wilson of Heart, John Entwistle of the Who, and Jack Bruce of Cream. The show structure included a first set where all musicians assembled to perform each other's hits, and a second set featuring all Beatles songs.

Since 1999 he has toured under a revised name, the Alan Parsons Live Project (with Woolfson's permission). The band currently features lead singer P. J. Olsson, guitarist Jeff Kollman, drummer Danny Thompson, keyboardist Tom Brooks, bass guitarist Guy Erez, vocalist and saxophonist Todd Cooper, guitarist and vocalist Dan Tracey, along with Parsons on rhythm guitar, keyboards and vocals.[citation needed] This band performed live in Medellín, Colombia in 2013 as Alan 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 in Agoura Hills, California, to mix front-of-house sound for Southern California-based Pink Floyd tribute band Which One's Pink? and their performance of The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.[4]

In 2010, Parsons released his single "All Our Yesterdays" through Authentik Artists.[5] Parsons also launched a DVD educational series in 2010 titled The 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 of ASSR. The series, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton, gives detailed tutorials on virtually every aspect of the sound recording process.[6]

During 2010, several media reports,[7][8] one of which included a quote from a representative of Parsons,[9] alleged that the song "Need You Now" by country music group Lady Antebellum used the melody and arrangement of "Eye in the Sky".

Parsons produced Jake Shimabukuro's album, Grand 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 on The Prog Collective album by Billy Sherwood, singing lead on "The Technical Divide."

Parsons engineered the third solo album by Steven 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 title LiveSpan was released, accompanied by a single called "Fragile" with Simon Philips on drums.

Legacy Recordings, the catalogue division of Sony Music Entertainment, celebrated the 35th anniversary of Eye in the Sky, with the worldwide release of a definitive deluxe collector's box set, featuring rare and unreleased material, on 17 November 2017.

In August 2018, Parsons announced that he will be releasing a studio album in 2019. The Secret was his first album in 15 years.[10]

Personal life

Parsons was born in London. He resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife Lisa and her two daughters, Tabitha and Brittni, as well as numerous pets.[1] He has two sons, Jeremy (Jerry) and Daniel, from his previous marriage.

Discography

Full discography

Date Title Label Charted Country Catalog Number
as part of The Alan Parsons Project
May 1976 Tales of Mystery and Imagination Mercury 38 US
June 1977 I Robot Arista 9 US SPARTY 1012
June 1978 Pyramid Arista 26 US
August 1979 Eve Arista 13 US
November 1980 The Turn of a Friendly Card Arista 13 US AL 9518 (US LP) ARCD 8226 (US CD)
June 1982 Eye in the Sky Arista 7 US
1983 The Best of the Alan Parsons Project Arista 53 US
December 1983 Ammonia Avenue Arista 15 US
February 1985 Vulture Culture Arista 46 US
November 1985 Stereotomy Arista 43 US
January 1987 Gaudi Arista 57 US
1988 The Best of the Alan Parsons Project, Vol. 2 Arista – –
1988 The Instrumental Works Arista – –
1990 Freudiana EMI – –
9 October 1989 Pop Classics Arista – –
1995 (6/2004) Extended Versions: The Encore Collection Live – –
15 July 1997 The Definitive Collection – –
27 July 1999 Master Hits - The Alan Parsons Project – –
2 August 1999 Alan Parsons Project - Greatest Hits Live = Best of Live – –
3 August 1999 Eye in the Sky – Encore Collection – –
9 May 2000 Alan Parsons Project - Gold Collection BMG International – –
22 August 2002 Works Audiophile Legends – –
23 March 2004 Ultimate – –
2006 Days Are Numbers Arista – – 88697016972
2007 The Essential (2 CD Compilation) Arista / Legacy[11] – – 88697043372
2010 The Collection Sony / Camden[12] 88697808482
23 March 2014 The Sicilian Defence (part of The Complete Albums Collection) Arista / Sony[13] – – 88697890552-11
as Solo Artist – STUDIO ALBUMS
6 October 1993 Try Anything Once Arista 122 US
24 September 1996 On Air A&M/Digital Sound 78 US
28 September 1999 The Time Machine Miramar 71 US
24 August 2004 A Valid Path Artemis 34 US
26 April 2019 The Secret Frontiers US
as Solo Artist – LIVE ALBUMS
27 June 1995 The Very Best Live RCA – –
6 April 2010 Eye 2 Eye: Live in Madrid Frontiers e
Sept 2013 Alan Parsons LiveSpan MFP
June 2016 Alan Parsons Symphonic Project, Live in Colombia[14] earMusic
as Solo Artist – SINGLES
15 June 2010 All Our Yesterdays / Alpha Centauri (2010)[15] Authentik Artists, Inc.
3 April 2014 Fragile / Luciferama[16] Mfp Music Productions
10 April 2015 Do You Live at All[17]
as Engineer
1969 Abbey Road (The Beatles) Apple 1 UK
US
1970 Let It Be (The Beatles) Apple 1 UK
US
1970 Atom Heart Mother (Pink Floyd) Harvest 1
55 		UK
US
1971 Stormcock (Roy Harper) Harvest
1971 Wild Life (Wings) Apple 10
11 		US
UK
1973 The Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd) Harvest 2
1 		UK
US
1973 Red Rose Speedway (Paul McCartney and Wings) Apple 1
5 		US
UK
1974 Hollies (The Hollies) Polydor (UK), Epic (US) 28 US
1975 Another Night (The Hollies) 132 US
1975 Ambrosia (Ambrosia) 20th Century 22 US
1976 Year of the Cat (Al Stewart) 5 US
1978 Time Passages (Al Stewart) 10 US
2013 The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) (Steven Wilson) Kscope 28 UK
as Producer
1974 From the Album of the Same Name (Pilot) EMI
1974 The Psychomodo (Cockney Rebel) EMI
1975 The Best Years of Our Lives (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel) – –
1975 Second Flight (Pilot)
1975 Modern Times (Al Stewart)
1976 Rebel (John Miles) 171 US
1976 Year of the Cat (Al Stewart) 5 US
1976 Somewhere I've Never Travelled (Ambrosia) 20th Century 79 US
1978 Time Passages (Al Stewart) 10 US
1979 Lenny Zakatek (Lenny Zakatek) A&M US
March 1984 Keats EMI
1985 Ladyhawke (OST by Andrew Powell) Atlantic Records
1993 Symphonic Music of Yes RCA
2012 Grand Ukulele (Jake Shimabukuro) Mailboat Records
2017 Blackfield V (Blackfield) Kscope UK, Israel
2019 Jonathan Cilia Faro (Grown up Christmas List) NewArias Production USA, Italy
as Executive Producer / Mentor
1999 Turning the Tide (Iconic Phare) Carrera Records – –

Billboard Top 40 hit singles (US)

  • 1976: "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" – No. 37
  • 1977: "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" – No. 36
  • 1979: "Damned If I Do" – No. 27
  • 1980: "Games People Play" – No. 16
  • 1981: "Time" – No. 15
  • 1982: "Eye in the Sky" – No. 3
  • 1984: "Don't Answer Me" – No. 15
  • 1984: "Prime Time" – No. 34

Canadian singles

  • 1976: "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" – No. 62
  • 1977: "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" – No. 22
  • 1980: "Damned If I Do" – No. 16
  • 1981: "Games People Play" – No. 9
  • 1981: "Time" – No. 30
  • 1982: "Eye in the Sky" – No. 1
  • 1983: "You Don't Believe" – No. 43
  • 1984: "Don't Answer Me" – No. 20
  • 1985: "Let's Talk About Me" – No. 89

Award nominations

Nominations

[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Alan Parsons – Bio FAQ Discography". 12 December 2009. Archived from the original on 12 December 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Alan Parsons". Grammy.com. 15 February 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  3. ^ the Trades article Interview: Alan Parsons: The Artist and Scientist of Sound Recording
  4. ^ Parsons and Which One's Pink Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "iTunes – Music – All Our Yesterdays – Single by Alan Parsons". Itunes.apple.com. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  6. ^ "Alan Parsons' Art & Science of Sound Recording". Artandscienceofsound.com. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  7. ^ "Lady Antebellum vs. The Alan Parsons Project". Freshmilc.com. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  8. ^ "People accusing Lady Antebellum of stealing Alan Parson song". Tampabay.com. 18 November 2010. Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  9. ^ Rodgers, D. Patrick (11 November 2010). "Alan Parsons' Camp Alleges Lady Antebellum Rip-Off". Nashvillescene.com. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  10. ^ "Alan Parsons Announces First New Album in 15 Years". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  11. ^ [1] [dead link‍]
  12. ^ "The Alan Parsons Project – The Collection". Discogs.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  13. ^ "The Alan Parsons Project : The Complete Albums Collection". Discogs.com. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Live in Colombia". Smile.amazon.com. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  15. ^ "All Our Yesterdays". Smile.amazon.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  16. ^ "Alan Parsons – Fragile". Smile.amazon.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  17. ^ "Do You Live at All?". Smile.amazon.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  18. ^ "THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT – 'EYE IN THE SKY' 35TH ANNIVERSARY BOX SET EDITION – OUT NOW". We Are Sony Music Legacy. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
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