Bruce Swedien

Engineer supreme BORN1934

Born in Minneapolis, trained pianist and electrical engineering student Bruce Swedien first recorded musicians as a teenager at the Schmitt Music Company in his hometown, where he worked with Tommy Dorsey. Running his own studio at 19, in 1957 he moved to Chicago to work for RCA Victor and then, with recording pioneer Bill Putnam, Universal. As well as recording sessions by jazz greats including Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan – in 1962 he had his first Grammy nomination for his work on Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons’ Big Girls Don’t Cry – Universal was also where he began his long association with Quincy Jones. After engineering The Chi-Lites, Jackie Wilson and others at Brunswick, Swedien reconnected with Jones on the soundtrack to 1977 musical The Wiz, followed by Michael Jackson’s 1979 smash The

Wall, 1983’s mega-seller Thriller, 1987’s Bad and, without Quincy, 1991’s Dangerous. The engineer won three Grammys with Jackson, and two more for his work with Jones. He later hosted classes for audio engineers, penned several books about his studio experiences and listed Paul McCartney, Muddy Waters, Mick Jagger, George Benson, Donna Summer, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Barbra Streisand, Barry White and more on his studio resumé. Of his “dear brother-in-arms”, Quincy wrote, “for more than 70 years I wouldn’t even think about going into a recording session unless I knew Bruce was behind the board.”