1. Guy Stevens was a British music industry figure whose roles included DJ, record producer and band manager.
21 Facts About Guy Stevens
1. 2.
Guy Stevens compiled and annotated reissues and compilations of American records, particularly for EMI.
3.
Guy Stevens wrote the first UK press profiles of such musicians as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf in the Record Mirror.
4.
Guy Stevens was approached by record company executive Chris Blackwell in 1964 to run the Sue record label in the UK, as an offshoot of Island Records.
5.
Guy Stevens compiled and annotated The Sue Story compilation LPs.
6.
Guy Stevens used the Sue label to put out obscure American singles not only from the US Sue group of labels, but from many small independent record companies, and some of the bigger ones.
7.
Guy Stevens was president of the Chuck Berry Appreciation Society, and had a say in the UK releases that Pye International put out by Berry, Bo Diddley and others on the Chess and Checker labels.
8.
Guy Stevens broke into record production at Blackwell's suggestion in 1965, firstly on a single by Alex Harvey and then producing live albums by Larry Williams and Lee Dorsey.
9.
Guy Stevens produced their early recordings, before they added keyboardist Gary Wright to become Spooky Tooth.
10.
Guy Stevens managed and produced Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, an artistic and musical collaboration between the band Art and designers Michael English and Nigel Waymouth, which led to the album Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids.
11.
Guy Stevens introduced lyricist Keith Reid to keyboardist Gary Brooker of The Paramounts.
12.
Guy Stevens encouraged them to write together, and reportedly commented to Reid at a party that a friend had turned "a whiter shade of pale".
13.
In 1967, Guy Stevens was imprisoned for several months for drug offences, during which time his record collection was stolen, leading to a breakdown.
14.
Guy Stevens named the band after the Willard Manus novel, which he had read while in prison.
15.
Guy Stevens served as the Mott's manager, and produced their eponymous 1969 debut album and its 1970 follow-up, Mad Shadows.
16.
In 1976 Guy Stevens was present, although not clearly as a producer, on a demo session which The Clash undertook before they were signed.
17.
At the session, Guy Stevens was there for a while and then he got upset about something.
18.
In 1979, the band recruited Guy Stevens to produce their album London Calling.
19.
Guy Stevens was last seen alive at his home in South-east London on 29 August 1981.
20.
Guy Stevens's death was the result of an overdose on the prescription drugs he was taking to reduce his alcohol dependency.
21.
Guy Stevens produced Free's debut album Tons of Sobs, the eponymous debut album of Mighty Baby, and the debut of Spooky Tooth, Supernatural Fairy Tales.