Legendary music producer dies and announces own death - 'If you're reading this, I have moved on'
A legendary music producer, who produced early music for British bands The Who and The Kinks, has died at the age of 87. Shel Talmy “died peacefully in his sleep” at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday, 13 November “from complications due to a stroke”, his colleague Alec Palao confirmed.
Prior to his passing, Shel prepared a statement for his fans - something which was released posthumously on Facebook. As part of the statement, the music icon explained that he’d “had a good run”, though joked that his fans shouldn’t “hurry” to where he was. “I’ve had a good run, and I am delighted it lasted as long as it did,” the statement read.
“I’m also delighted that I am told I have a legacy that will last even longer. I look forward to meeting some of you in the future who are reading this, but LOL, don’t hurry to get here, I’m not going anywhere.”
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Having been born in Chicago in 1937, Shel secured a holiday job in the UK back in 1962. While on the trip, he worked at Decca Records before later establishing a name for himself. The Kinks were among his first signings, and he helped produce a string of the band’s hits including Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset.
In his light-hearted yet moving statement, Shel wrote: “Hi to all, and many thanks to all of you who have been reading my rock stories for all this time, it has been greatly appreciated.
“Please note, that if you’re reading this now, this is my final vignette, as I am no longer residing on this plane of existence, and have ‘moved on’, to wherever that may be.
“I’d like to think there is something beyond where I was to where I am now, assuming that the millions of suppositions as to what is next, are accurate."
“I’d like to think that I’m thoroughly enjoying my new ‘residence’, and that the countless rumours that there is a big working ‘studio in the sky’ are true, and that we are, dare I say, making heavenly music.
“I am also hoping that I am currently engaged in renewing relationships with a ton of friends and acquaintances, many of which go back for decades.”
Paying tribute to his late colleague, Grammy-nominated writer and producer Mr Palao described him as a "one off". “Even the briefest survey of the most essential pop and rock recordings of the 1960s would need to include something Shel produced, and that in itself is an incredibly meaningful legacy," he said.
