Legendary producer Phil Ramone will be honored for his contributionsto the music industry on February 28, 2002 (the night after the 44thAnnual Grammy Awards), at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. Knownfor his work with dozens of top artists, including Billy Joel, PaulSimon, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan andGloria Estefan, Phil Ramone will be the first recipient of the LexiconLifetime Achievement Award — created to recognize and honor trueinnovators for their outstanding achievements in the recordingindustry.
By the early 1960s, Ramone had his own independent studio, A&RRecording, where he began his work with legendary jazz musicians JohnColtrane and Stan Getz. Ramone engineered the popular Getz/Gilbertoalbum, which earned him his first Grammy for Best Engineered Recordingin 1964. He then went on to work with more “pop-oriented” artists suchas Quincy Jones and Burt Bacharach. In 1975, he won a Grammy for Albumof the Year as producer of Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All TheseYears. The Billy Joel album The Stranger earned Ramone the1977 Record of the Year Grammy for the hit single “Just the Way YouAre.” Today, Ramone’s discography reads like a “Who’s Who” of the musicindustry.
On the technical side, Ramone is responsible for many innovationsthat have changed the way music is recorded and delivered, including:first use of solid-state console for recording and mastering SolidState Records; first Dolby 4-track discrete sound with the 1976 pictureA Star is Born; first use of satellite link between a Burbank,Calif., studio and Todd-AO for A Star is Born; first Dolbyoptical system (EDNet) to record tracks in real time from differentlocations for Frank Sinatra’s Duets I & II; and the firstuse of digital live recording for Songs in the Attic, whichpaved the way for the widespread use of the CD in the pop musicworld.
Today, Ramone remains a cornerstone of the music industry and holdsthe position of chairman of the Producer & Engineer Wing AdvisoryCouncil with the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
The event is co-sponsored by Lexicon and the Harman ProfessionalGroup, with the reception being hosted by the Producers & EngineersWing of the Recording Academy.
