[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6},"actionData","errors","components/artists/ArtistDetail",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":12,"_13":14},"artist",{"_41":42,"_43":7,"_44":45,"_46":47},"language","nl","bio",{"_11":15},"similarArtists",[],{"_16":17,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":23,"_24":25,"_26":-5,"_27":-5,"_28":29},"summary","

Nigel Gray was an English record producer. His album credits include Outlandos d'Amour (1978), Reggatta de Blanc (1979), and Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) for the Police, Kaleidoscope (1980) and Juju (1981) for Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as five albums for Godley & Creme.

","content","

Nigel Gray (1947 – 30 July 2016) was an English record producer. His album credits include Outlandos d'Amour (1978), Reggatta de Blanc (1979), and Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) for the Police, Kaleidoscope (1980) and Juju (1981) for Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as five albums for Godley & Creme.\n

Gray was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album (1981) for Zenyatta Mondatta, and also won two Grammys for producer of Best Rock Performance (\"Don't Stand So Close to Me\") and Best Rock Instrumental (\"Behind My Camel\").\n

Gray was revered by Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich for his work on the Police's Reggatta de Blanc. Gray's production on Siouxsie and the Banshees' records with guitarist John McGeoch was also a reference for Godrich during the recording of Radiohead's \"There There\".\n

\n\n

Surrey Sound Studios

1975–1987

In 1975, Gray converted a co-operative hall building on Kingston Road, Leatherhead, in southern England, into a four-track recording studio named Surrey Sound Studios, on a budget of £1,200, with his brother Chris Gray as engineer. Initially it was used as a rehearsal space and a demoing facility.\n

In 1977, the studio became 16-track, housing an Ampex MM1000 16-track tape machine and an Alice desk. Amongst others The Police recorded their first album Outlandos d'Amour there using this setup.\n

In 1978, during the recording of Godley & Creme's L album (the first in a string of five albums that the duo made there), the studio had upgraded again to 24-track with an all-MCI setup (which also included a fully-automated JH-400B console). Other artists such as the Police and Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded albums there. Singles from the Lotus Eaters and Latin Quarter made the UK Singles Chart. Other albums included Slow Crimes by the Work, and those by The Professionals, Girlschool, Tank, Hazel O'Connor and Eurogliders.\n

In 1983, the studio underwent further refurbishment for two months, reopening with a newly-installed Harrison MR4 console, Otari MTR-90 tape machines (24-track and 2-track) and Sony tape decks and digital recorders.\n

In 1987, Gray sold his studio and retired to Cornwall. His last project was the production of the album Universal Sky, the third by local band the Viewers.\n

His younger son Tom is a well-known British luthier, under the name Gray Guitars.\n

1980–1981

In 1980, Gray began running his own record label, Surrey Sound Records. The label issued 7 singles in late 1980 and early 1981, none of which charted. Surrey Sound Records closed by the end of 1981.\n

Death

On 31 July 2016, the members of the Police, Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, reacted on a social network to Gray's death, writing: \"Nigel Gray recorded the first three Police albums, the first two in his converted studio above a dairy in Leatherhead in Surrey. Nigel was a qualified medical doctor who followed his passion into music and was able to use his kindly bedside manner to coax three extraordinarily successful records from a band operating at the time on the tiniest of shoestring budgets. We simply couldn't have done it without him, that's the truth\".\n

Collaborators

Artists for whom Nigel Gray produced or engineered include:\n

\n\n

Simon Ådahl
Alternative TV
Code Blue
Paul Brady
England
The Escape
Eurogliders
Girlschool
Godley & Creme
Klark Kent, a pseudonym of Stewart Copeland
Sonja Kristina
Lotus Eaters
Craig McNeil
Hazel O'Connor
The Passions
The Planets
Charlie Peacock
The Police
Polyphonic Size
The Professionals
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Glacier Georges
Tank
The Viewers
Wishbone Ash
The Work
Two People

References

\n\n

External links

Surrey Sound Records label information on uk45s80.orgfree.com
Surrey Sound Studios on discogs.com

","description","English record producer (1947–2016)","url","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Gray","wikibase_item","Q5390982","thumbnail","original_image","general_info",{"_30":31,"_32":33,"_34":35,"_36":37},"date_of_birth","1947","place_of_birth","Surrey","nationality",[40],"occupations",[38,39],"record producer","composer","United Kingdom","id","79297","type","attributes",{"_41":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":-5,"_58":-5,"_59":-5,"_60":-5,"_61":62,"_63":-5,"_64":-5,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":70,"_72":73,"_74":-5,"_75":-5,"_76":-5,"_77":-5,"_78":-5,"_79":-5,"_80":-5,"_81":-5},"relationships",{"_48":49},"songs",{"_50":51},"data",[],79297,"name","Nigel Gray","slug","nigel-gray","spotify_artist_url","spotify_artwork_url","instagram_url","website_url","genres",[],"spotify_popularity","spotify_followers_count","country_of_origin",[40],"country_code","GB","lastfm_listeners",1,"lastfm_playcount","lastfm_tags",[],"id_on_tidal","tidal_artist_url","id_on_deezer","deezer_artist_url","deezer_artwork_url","id_on_itunes","itunes_artist_url","counter"]

Surrey Sound Studios

1975–1987

1980–1981

Death

Collaborators

References

Further reading

External links

Nigel Gray

Broadcast History