Thomas Lesslie Garrett known as Snuff Garrett or Tommy Garrett, was an American record producer whose most famous work was during the 1960s and 1970s.
17 Facts About Snuff Garrett
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At seventeen, Snuff Garrett was a disc jockey in Lubbock, Texas, where he met Buddy Holly.
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Snuff Garrett is often still mentioned on the Lubbock oldies station KDAV on a program hosted by his friend Jerry "Bo" Coleman.
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Snuff Garrett worked in radio in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he performed on-air stunts.
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In 1959, Snuff Garrett became a staff producer at Liberty Records in Hollywood, after having joined the label to work in the promotions department.
6.
Snuff Garrett was invited early on to produce the Monkees before they had become a major selling act, but a test session did not go well, with the Monkees preferring to work with Boyce and Hart, writers of "Last Train to Clarksville" and the Monkees' theme song.
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Snuff Garrett was responsible for hiring Phil Spector for a short period as an assistant producer.
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Many of Snuff Garrett's hit singles came from songs by the Brill Building songwriters in New York City.
9.
Between 1961 and 1969, Snuff Garrett produced The 50 Guitars of Tommy Snuff Garrett, a series of over 25 instrumental albums on Liberty Records featuring solo guitar work by Tommy Tedesco, six of which appeared on the Billboard Top LPs chart.
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In 1966, Snuff Garrett produced an album by singer-songwriter Sonny Curtis on the Viva label, The 1st of Sonny Curtis, which contains some of Curtis' most popular tunes, including "Walk Right Back".
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Snuff Garrett worked regularly with the Johnny Mann Singers and the Ron Hicklin Singers on many projects, and was responsible for the new sound of the Ray Conniff Singers in the early 1970s, producing two albums with Conniff.
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Snuff Garrett produced several tracks by Nancy Sinatra in the mid-1970s that were issued by Private Stock Records.
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In 1976, Snuff Garrett set up a sublabel of Casablanca Records, Casablanca West.
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In 1978, Snuff Garrett produced the country-oriented soundtrack of Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way but Loose, which appeared on Snuff Garrett's latter-day label, Viva Records.
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Snuff Garrett lived in Bell Canyon, California, in a ranch built for himself.
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Snuff Garrett died of cancer in Tucson, Arizona, at the age of 77.
17.
Snuff Garrett was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame on November 14,2015 in Austin, Texas.