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Bob
Barratt
(Wurzels producer 1966-1980)
Bob
Barratt was seconded by EMI to act as The Wurzels record producer
on the band's debut album in 1966. He continued to produce all their
albums and singles until EMI terminated their contract with The
Wurzels in 1980. This last work was the Drunk On A Saturday
Night single released in Feb 1980. Bob also composed a number
of Wurzels songs over the years - and was an important cornerstone
in the Wurzels story. As
announced in the Wurzelmania! News at the time, Bob passed away
at the age of 65 on Monday 26th January 2004.
This
is a nice piece written in Songwriters
International website (Mar/Apr 2004 archives):
Veteran
producer Bob Barratt died on 30 January 2004, aged 65. The long-serving
EMI producer and A&R man worked with artists as diverse as Max
Boyce, Vince Hill and The Wurzels with hits like Vince Hill's version
of Edelweiss and The Wurzels No. 1 Combine Harvester
(Brand New Key). In 1985 he set up Grasmere Records, concentrating
on releasing traditional brass bands and organ music. He chaired
the British Academy's Gold Badge Committee for many years and was
himself awarded a surprise Gold Badge in 2002. Barratt spent the
last two years of his life fighting liver cancer and leaves a wife
and three daughters. His funeral took place on February 9th at Surrey
and Sussex Crematorium.
From
the Yetties website:
This
name may not be familiar to you but Bob Barratt owned and ran Grasmere
Music (Grasmere Music Ltd, 59 Marlpit Lane, Coulsdon, CR5 2HF),
the company for which we recorded seven of our CDs. Jim Lloyd, our
manager from many years ago, put us in touch with Bob back in 1992.
We kicked off with the 'Barn Dance' recording and things developed
from there. Bob passed away back in February and he will be greatly
missed on the music scene. When we were recording for Argo/Decca
back in the 70s he was working for EMI and on his books he had groups
such as The Wurzels so his connections with the West Country go
back many years. He was an expert on such diverse subjects as publishing
copyright and bus routes. When we had finished a recording session
he would quite often hop on a local bus and have a wander through
the countryside, the longer and windier the route the better. He
also had a great love of The Scilly Isles and spent some holidays
watching the whales off Alaska. In short, he was a very diverse
and extremely intelligent character. His daughter, Jo, is running
the company at the moment. Best of luck me dear, you've got a hard
act to follow.
[Wurzelmania
are currently sourcing more information about Bob to produce a webpage
suitable for this pioneer of Scrumpy & Western Music! If you
can help, please contact us.]
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