Lillywhite, Steve (15th March 1955-Present)

He is a record producer born in Egham, England, who began his career in music when he got a job with Polygram Records as a tape operator.

He moved on to work with the group Ultravox when he produced a demo for them that landed them a contract with Island Records. This also saw him being offered the position of staff producer there.

While still in his early twenties he achieved his first chart single when he produced “Hong Kong Garden”, which reached No. 7 in the UK, for Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1978. That same year he worked with the British reggae band Steel Pulse on their single “Ku Klux Klan”.

When the ‘80s arrived he found himself producing the successful Peter Gabriel III in 1980, where he was also given whistling credits, as well as the debut albums of The Psychedelic Furs an U2. During the rest of the ‘80s he remained extremely in demand and produced many other artists and groups. He married the singer Kirsty MacColl in 1984 and she sang backing on many of his recordings. His work with The Pogues on the single he was producing, “Fairytale of New York”, saw Kirsty as the female lead and became a massive hit in 1987.

Moving into the 1990s he continued as a successful producer and several albums that achieved platinum stats. He and Kirsty MacColl went their own separate ways in 1994 after being married for ten years and having two children. At the end of the decade he was included in the documentary series abut producers that was aired on BBC Radio 1.

When the new millennium arrived he started out by being fired by the Dave Matthews for “creative differences” although several of the recordings appeared in 2001 on The Lillywhite Sessions bootleg album. The next year he received an invitation to become managing director of the Universal Music Group.

He went on to sign up Darius Danesh and produce his Dive In which brought three chart hits that entered the Top 10 in the UK. It was also the first number one hit that had been issued in Mercury Records in eighteen years,

He became Senior Vice-President of A&R at Columbia Records in 2005 but left them just over year later. At the same time he won two Grammy Awards for his work with U2 and the following year got a further three Grammy Awards for further work with U2. Later in 2006 he worked with Chris Cornell and Switchfoot.

In 2007 he produced four tracks for Time on Earth which was Crowded House’s first studio album in fourteen years and then moved to working on an EP by Matchbox Twenty. The next year he went back to do further work with U2 and the group Thirty Seconds to Mars as well as producing for NPR’s World Café radio show. Continuing his work for radio in 2009 he became the presenter of The Lillywhite Sessions on East Village Radio that was broadcast on a weekly basis.

In 2010 he worked with Liam Gallagher and his band Beady Eye and the next year he produced the cast recording of “Spiderman Turn Off the Dark” for Bono and The Edge.

In 2012 his services to music were officially recognised when he received the honour of being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Later that year he produced albums for Oberhofer, The Killers, Dave Matthews Band and Thirty Seconds to Mars.

In 2013 he was named No. 40 in the NME list of 50 Greatest Producers and in 2015 he was awarded his sixth Grammy Award.

During his career he has worked with countless top artists and groups with just a few of them being Big Country, David Byrne, The Chameleons, Counting Crows, Marshall Crenshaw, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Climie Fisher, Bruce Foxton, Aretha Franklin, Golden Earring, Happy Mondays, The La’s, The Lurkers, Anna-Frid Lyngstad, The Dave Matthews Band, The Members, Morrissey, Phish, Iggy Pop, The Pretenders, Sly & Robbie, The Smiths, Talking Heads, Thompson Twins, Johnny Thunders, Toyah, Travis, World Party and XTC.

As you’ll appreciate, the number of recordings he is credited on are more then 500 with far too many to mention here but a selection of them include Devils Got a New Disguise: The Very Best Of… by Aerosmith, Walk Under Ladders by Joan Armatrading, Live at Barrowland 1983/84, Steeltown, The Seer and Wonderland by Big Country, Don’t Stop Now by Crowded House, Captive by The Edge, Big Time by Peter Gabriel, Well, Did You Evah! By Debbie Harry, Piano Man: The Very Best Of… by Billy Joel, Battle Born by The Killers, The Annie Lennox Collection by Annie Lennox, Kite by Kirsty MacColl, Hoodoo by Alison Moyet, Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home by Sinead O’Connor, If I Should Fall from Grace with God by The Pogues, Dirty Work by The Rolling Stones, Glittering Prize 1981-1992 by Simple Minds, Live! by Status Quo, Ha!-Ha!-Ha! by Ultravox and Boy, October, Under a Blood Red Sky and War by U2 along with numerous compilations.

Peter Gabriel Recordings
Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
(Charisma CB 354)(UK45)

Sources:

Lillywhite, Steve (15th March 1955-Present)

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