1. Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer.
23 Facts About Jack Nitzsche
1. 2.
Jack Nitzsche came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and others.
3.
Jack Nitzsche worked extensively in film scores for the films Performance, The Exorcist and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
4.
Jack Nitzsche moved to Los Angeles in 1955 with ambitions of becoming a jazz saxophonist.
5.
Jack Nitzsche became arranger and conductor for producer Phil Spector, and orchestrated the Wall of Sound for almost all Spector's hits, perhaps best exemplified by "River Deep, Mountain High" by Ike and Tina Turner.
6.
Jack Nitzsche worked with Earl Palmer, Leon Russell, Roy Caton, Glen Campbell, Carol Kaye and Hal Blaine in The Wrecking Crew, the backing band for many pop acts such as the Beach Boys and the Monkees.
7.
Jack Nitzsche arranged the title song of Doris Day's film Move Over, Darling, which was a successful single on the pop charts of the time.
8.
Jack Nitzsche collaborated with Neil Young, beginning with producing "Expecting to Fly" by Buffalo Springfield.
9.
Jack Nitzsche co-produced the band's 1971 self-titled debut album and sang lead vocal on "Crow Jane Lady".
10.
Jack Nitzsche left Crazy Horse after the album's commercial failure.
11.
Jack Nitzsche frequently spewed obscenities into his vocal mike and often quarreled with David Crosby, who joined the tour's final dates to assist with vocal harmonies.
12.
In 1979, Jack Nitzsche produced Graham Parker's album Squeezing Out Sparks.
13.
Jack Nitzsche produced three Mink DeVille albums beginning in the late 1970s: Cabretta, Return to Magenta and Coup de Grace.
14.
Jack Nitzsche said DeVille was the best singer he had ever worked with.
15.
Jack Nitzsche began to concentrate more on film music rather than pop music in the mid-1970s, becoming one of the more prolific film orchestrators in Hollywood during the period.
16.
Jack Nitzsche had worked on film scores throughout his career, such as his contributions to the Monkees movie Head, the theme music from Village of the Giants and the soundtracks for Performance, The Exorcist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Hardcore, The Razor's Edge and Starman.
17.
Jack Nitzsche was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy for his contributions to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, his first of many studio projects with Scott Mathews.
18.
In 2000, Jack Nitzsche planned to work with Mercury Rev on All Is Dream.
19.
Jack Nitzsche intended to produce and orchestrate the record, having praised the band's 1998 album Deserter's Songs, but he died before pre-production.
20.
Jack Nitzsche had a relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress, who was previously in a relationship with Neil Young.
21.
In 1979, Jack Nitzsche was charged with threatening to kill her after he barged into her home and beat her with a handgun.
22.
Jack Nitzsche pleaded guilty to threatening her, was fined, and placed on three years' probation.
23.
Jack Nitzsche suffered a stroke in 1998 which ended his career.