Joe Meek facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joe Meek
Meek at his home recording studio, c. 1960s
Background information
Birth name	Robert George Meek
Also known as	Robert Duke, Peter Jacobs
Born	(1929-04-05)5 April 1929 Newent, Gloucestershire, England
Died	3 February 1967(1967-02-03) (aged 37) Holloway Road, London, England
Genres	Experimental pop space age pop rock and roll outsider
Occupation(s)	Record producer, sound engineer, songwriter
Years active	1954–1967
Labels	UK: Triumph (co-owner), Pye Nixa, Piccadilly, Decca, Ember, Oriole, Columbia, Top Rank, HMV, Parlophone USA: Tower, London, Coral

Robert George "Joe" Meek (born April 5, 1929 – died February 3, 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer, and songwriter. He was a pioneer in creating new sounds for music, especially in space age pop and experimental pop. He also helped develop recording methods like overdubbing (adding new sounds to existing recordings), sampling (using parts of other recordings), and reverberation (making sounds echo).

Meek is known as one of the most important sound engineers ever. He was one of the first to think of the recording studio as an instrument. This meant he used the studio itself to create unique sounds, not just to record music. He was also one of the first producers to be recognized for his own special style, like an artist.

Some of the popular songs Meek produced for other artists include "Johnny Remember Me" by John Leyton (1961), "Just Like Eddie" by Heinz (1963), and "Have I the Right?" by the Honeycombs (1964). His most famous work was the song "Telstar" (1962) by The Tornados. This instrumental song, which Meek wrote and produced, was the first record by a British rock group to reach number one in the US. It also topped the UK charts for five weeks. Meek even won an Ivor Novello Award for it!

Meek's album I Hear a New World (1960) was very creative, using many electronic sounds. However, it was not fully released until after his lifetime. His amazing ideas in music recording were honored in 2009 when the Music Producers Guild created "The Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production." In 2014, NME magazine called Meek the greatest producer of all time, saying he was a "complete trailblazer" who tried endless new ideas to find the perfect sound.

After Meek passed away, thousands of his unreleased recordings were found. These are now known as "The Tea Chest Tapes."

Biography

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Joe Meek was born in Newent, Gloucestershire, England. From a very young age, he loved electronics and performing. He filled his parents' garden shed with electronic parts, building radios and even what people believe was the first working television in the area.

During his time in the Royal Air Force, he worked as a radar technician. This job made him even more interested in electronics and outer space. After leaving the Air Force, he worked for the Midlands Electricity Board. He used the company's tools to explore his interest in electronics and music, even making his first record there.

Becoming a Sound Engineer

Meek left the electricity board to work as an audio engineer for a company that made radio shows for Radio Luxembourg. He became well-known for his work on Humphrey Lyttelton's jazz song "Bad Penny Blues" (1956). Meek changed the sound of the piano and made the music louder and more powerful than usual. The song became a hit!

He also worked as a songwriter, using the name "Robert Duke." His song "Put A Ring On My Finger" was recorded by the famous duo Les Paul & Mary Ford in 1958 and became a hit in the US.

In 1960, Meek started his own record company called Triumph Records. They almost had a number one hit with "Angela Jones" by Michael Cox. However, the company had trouble making enough records to meet the demand, which showed Meek that he needed help from bigger record companies to get his music to stores.

The Holloway Road Studio

Joe Meek then set up his own music production company, RGM Sound Ltd. He worked from his home studio, which he built in a three-floor apartment at 304 Holloway Road, Islington, above a leather-goods shop.

His first big hit from this studio was John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me" (1961), which reached number one in the UK. This song was promoted very well by Leyton's manager, Robert Stigwood.

The famous instrumental song "Telstar" was recorded at the Holloway Road studio in July 1962. It was released in August 1962 and became number one in both the UK and the US.

Meek's third UK number one hit was with the Honeycombs' "Have I the Right?" in 1964. This song also became a top 5 hit in America. The success of these songs helped Meek become one of Britain's first independent record producers.

Meek's landlady, who lived downstairs, sometimes found the noise from his studio too loud. She would bang on the ceiling to complain. Meek would sometimes put loudspeakers in the stairwell and turn up the volume to show his feelings.

Today, a special plaque is placed at the studio's location to remember Joe Meek's life and work.

Challenges and Later Life

Joe Meek became very interested in the idea of talking to people who had passed away. He would even set up tape recorders in graveyards, hoping to record voices from beyond. He was especially fascinated by the musician Buddy Holly, believing Holly communicated with him in dreams.

Meek faced many personal challenges. He sometimes felt that people were trying to steal his ideas. He also believed that his apartment had poltergeists (ghosts that make noise) and that aliens were controlling his mind. These beliefs made it hard for him to work.

A French composer once accused Meek of copying the melody of "Telstar" from another song. This legal problem meant Meek did not receive money from "Telstar" during his lifetime. The issue was finally settled in his favor just three weeks after he passed away in 1967.

Legacy

Recording Innovations

Joe Meek could not play a musical instrument or write music notes. But this did not stop him from writing and producing many successful songs. He worked on 245 singles, and 45 of them reached the top fifty charts!

He was a pioneer in using studio tools in new ways. He used overdubbing on one- and two-track machines, which means recording different parts of a song at different times and layering them together. He also used close miking (placing microphones very close to instruments), direct input for bass guitars, and effects like echo and reverb. He even used sampling, which was very new at the time.

Unlike other producers, Meek was always looking for the "right" sound, not just a catchy tune. He wanted to create a unique "sonic signature" for every record he made. While many engineers tried to keep sounds clear and natural, Meek was not afraid to change or distort the sound if it created the effect he wanted. He did all this from his home studio.

Meek was one of the first producers to truly understand and use the full power of a modern recording studio. His new methods included separating instruments, adding echo and reverb to voices and instruments, and using his own homemade electronic devices to process sound. He also combined different recorded performances into one finished song. Before Meek, most pop music was recorded with all musicians playing together at the same time in one studio.

A Joemeek VC3 pre-amp / compressor / exciter

In 1993, a line of audio equipment called "Joemeek" was created to honor Meek's influence on audio compression. The company even has a microphone series named "Telstar," after his biggest hit song.

"The Tea Chest Tapes"

After Joe Meek's death, thousands of his unreleased recordings were kept safe by Cliff Cooper. These recordings became known as "The Tea Chest Tapes" because they were stored in tea chests. In the mid-1980s, Alan Blackburn, who led the Joe Meek Appreciation Society, made a list of all these recordings.

These tapes contain over 4,000 hours of music on about 1,850 tapes. They include recordings by famous artists like David Bowie, Gene Vincent, Billy Fury, Tom Jones, and Jimmy Page. The tapes also show many examples of Meek writing songs and trying out new sound techniques.

In 2020, Cherry Red Records bought the tapes and plans to make them available to the public after sorting out the rights.

Artists Produced by Meek

Joe Meek worked with many artists during his career. In 1963, he recorded seven songs with a singer who was not yet famous, Tom Jones. Meek tried to get a record deal for Jones, but no one was interested at first. Two years later, after Tom Jones had a worldwide hit with "It's Not Unusual" in 1965, Meek was able to sell the tapes he had recorded with Jones to record labels.

Charted Singles Produced by Meek

Here are some of the songs produced by Joe Meek that appeared on the British music charts: