However, the production work started
drying up but, luckily, Gary’s next high-
profile role was just around the corner.
“I think it was 1990 when Rick Astley
came over,” Gary explains. “He had
heard about me and sent a couple of
demos over which I worked on. He then
came over with his manager to listen to
them. It was nerve-racking because, at that
point, things were getting hard and it was
like, ‘I need this!’ But I played him what
I’d done and he loved it. He sang on a
few things and said: ‘Right, I want you to
do my album.’ It [Free] was his first record
after leaving Stock, Aitken and Waterman
and it had some weird stuff on it, but also
Cry For Help, which went to No.7 here.
We used the choir that was working with
Madonna at the time and flew to LA to get
some really great players on it. Of course it
kicked off, sold well over a million, so that
was good for me, and there you go: you
are back in the driving seat again.”
Gary went on to do another Rick Astley
album, 1993’s Body & Soul, which wasn’t
so successful; partly down, he thinks, to
Rick’s fear of flying, which led to it being
under-promoted. Rick then semi-retired
from music but has, of course, returned
with a Platinum-selling comeback album,
50 , and this year’s Beautiful Life, both, er,
self-produced...
“Yeah, now he’s come back and the
bugger’s produced his own albums!” Gary
laughs. “But you know what? I’d rather
he produced them than got someone else
other than me! I was disappointed and
still am. I am still a bit baffled as to why
he didn’t ask me to mix it. I still see him
and go to dinner with him, but we don’t
mention it. But I guess he wants it to be
seen that it’s all him. If I came along and
mixed it, I might get more than my fairGary with Beverley Craven on
the Woman To Woman Tour (Judie
Tzuke, Julia Fordham and the
20-piece orchestra not pictured)
© Andrew Ogilvyshare of the credit, like I helped produce
it – I understand that. I’ve listened to the
album and I think, ‘Oh, I could have done
that bit so much better’ (not that I’d dare
say that to him), but then he’d say: ‘Well,
how much better? I’ve gone Platinum!’ And
he’d be right, really!”FOLLOWING UP A CLASSIC
Gary then got involved in the high-profile
Re: Covered project, where bands from
the 80s reworked famous songs by more
recent bands. “I did Martin Fry doing
a Radiohead track, High And Dry,” he
explains. “It’s actually really good and
I also did one for Go West, The Killers’
track Human.” After this, and thanks to
that recording with Martin Fry, Gary was
offered a role that could fill many studio
types with fear: to produce the follow-up
to the most polished album of the 80s,
The Lexicon Of Love by ABC.
“[ABC manager] John Glover contacted
me and said that Trevor Horn wasn’t
going to do The Lexicon Of Love II,” Gary
explains. “I don’t blame Trevor for that,
as he’d already been there. Martin Fry
wanted me to do it as I’d worked with him,
so I said: ‘Yeah, I’d love to.’ I was taking
over from Trevor Horn, but I didn’t quite
have his budget!”
Gary did, however, manage to draft
in many of the component parts and
musicians that made the first album so
successful, including the strings and master
arranger Anne Dudley.
“I did a lot of work on the tracks before
we got together with her, but then I realised
I shouldn’t have bothered! Why use all my
stuff when I have this big chunk of beautiful
strings going on?”MISTER POSITIVE
So impressed was the now-solo Tony
Hadley with Gary’s production on The
Lexicon Of Love II that he drafted him in to
produce his recent high-profile solo album
Talking To The Moon. It’s not the first time
the two have worked together – Gary
produced Hadley’s 1997 self-titled solo
effort – and the producer had a blast in the
recording sessions.
“Tone’s great, he’s Mister Positive.
He’s always trying ideas out. You have to
have that kind of relationship – he’s not
co-producing, I am, but I have to reflect the
artist’s shape and colour. He likes to write
a lot and that can make it tough, but we
had fun doing it.”
Gary is currently working with Beverley
Craven, Judie Tzuke and Julia Fordham on
the Woman To Woman Tour and has also
been exploring different musical pastures
with recent rock productions. “I did a band
called Snakecharmer’s second album,
Second Skin. They are all crinkly rockers
apart from Adam Wakeman, who is Rick’s
son. I enjoyed doing that. It was weird stuff,
but ultimately, that’s what I love doing!”One project which Gary played
a major role on was the Eddie
The Eagle film soundtrack,
Fly. It was an album complete
with new and old tracks from
Howard Jones, Holly Johnson
and ABC, plus many more
artists who enjoyed success
in the 80s – perhaps an
ideal platform for Gary to be
involved with.
“I produced the Tony
Hadley track [Moment],
and the Go West one called
Determination,” says Gary. “I
don’t get nervous around stars
as I’m used to it. I’ve realised
they are normal people, well
most of them – a bit weird
maybe – but everyone is a
bit weird. But when I had a
FaceTime call with [album
curator] Gary Barlow, that
was... well, I was a little bit
[nervous]. I think he’s brilliant,
a great writer of pop tunes,
but when I FaceTimed him,
he goes: ‘Oh, Gaz’ and starts
quoting stuff that I’ve done that
he loves! He said: ‘I’ve always
wanted to work with you’ – he
probably didn’t mean it, but he
did know and did respect what
I’ve done. So when I did the
tracks for Tony and Go West
for him, it was just brilliant.”JUMP EDDIE, JUMP...
WHEN GARY
FINALLY MET GARY