Alex Sadkin
Encyclopedia
Alex Sadkin is best remembered as a record producer
in the early 1980s, but actually got his start in the music industry as a saxophonist
for the Las Olas Brass in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
.
Sadkin grew up in Fort Lauderdale across the street from Bennett Elementary School, and played saxophone in Sunrise Junior High School and Fort Lauderdale High School
. He attended Florida State University
in Tallahassee
where he played bass guitar with childhood friends Lyle LaBarbera (rhythm guitar) and Jim Hendee (drums), and singer Phil Turk. He eventually received his Bachelor of Science degree in geology in 1971.
After graduation, Sadkin worked with Jim Hendee at a sea turtle farm called Mariculture, Ltd. on Grand Cayman
Island, where they both lived on Seven Mile Beach
, a few miles from the town of Hell
. During their six months of living and SCUBA diving there, they got their first taste of playing reggae
at several clubs around the island.
When Sadkin returned to South Florida he began his recording career. He was first trained as a mastering engineer
but eventually moved into recording studio
work as a "tape-op" (Assistant Engineer) at Criteria Studios
in Miami, Florida
. He got his first big break after impressing Neil Young
with his mixing ability, and he eventually became head engineer at Compass Point Studio
in Nassau, Bahamas
. He worked alongside Island Records
boss Chris Blackwell
on many of the label's projects, most famously with Bob Marley & The Wailers
, including the seminal Rastaman Vibration
.
A full member of the Compass Point All Stars
from day one, he began producing artists for Island Records (Grace Jones
, Marianne Faithfull
, Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker
), while doing mixing work for other labels (Talking Heads
). Among the other artists he produced in the 1980s are James Brown
, the J. Geils Band, Thompson Twins
, Classix Nouveaux
, Foreigner
, Duran Duran
, Simply Red
, Arcadia
and Paul Haig
.
Alex Sadkin was a mentor to engineer and producer Phil Thornalley
, who would go on to work with The Cure
, Johnny Hates Jazz
, and Natalie Imbruglia
. He had a special gift of being able to sense and analyze an artist's inner creative abilities and talents, even if the artist couldn't. Composer-keyboardist Wally Badarou
had this about Sadkin: "His dedication to maintain genuine 'mixes in progress' from the word go, was a great lesson. I made it a system for my subsequent production from then on."
Sadkin died in a motor accident in Nassau at the age of 38, shortly after completing production work on Boom Crash Opera
's eponymous 1987 album, and just before he was due to begin working with Ziggy Marley
. The Duran Duran song "Do You Believe In Shame
", Robbie Nevil
's "Gone Too Soon" and Grace Jones' "Well Well Well" are dedicated to his memory. Also Joe Cocker
's album Unchain My Heart
(1987) is dedicated to the memory of Alex Sadkin.
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
in the early 1980s, but actually got his start in the music industry as a saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
for the Las Olas Brass in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
.
Sadkin grew up in Fort Lauderdale across the street from Bennett Elementary School, and played saxophone in Sunrise Junior High School and Fort Lauderdale High School
Fort Lauderdale High School
school song = sang to the tune of "Flow Gently Sweet Afton" Fort Lauderdale High School is a secondary school located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida serving students in grades 9 through 12...
. He attended Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
in Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
where he played bass guitar with childhood friends Lyle LaBarbera (rhythm guitar) and Jim Hendee (drums), and singer Phil Turk. He eventually received his Bachelor of Science degree in geology in 1971.
After graduation, Sadkin worked with Jim Hendee at a sea turtle farm called Mariculture, Ltd. on Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the nation's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles southwest of Cayman Brac.-Geography:Grand Cayman encompasses 76% of...
Island, where they both lived on Seven Mile Beach
Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman
Seven Mile Beach is a long crescent of coral-sand beach on the western shore of Grand Cayman island. Despite its name, the beach is only about long. Seven Mile Beach known for its beauty, recently receiving the honor of "The Caribbean's Best Beach" from Caribbean Travel and Life Magazine...
, a few miles from the town of Hell
Hell, Grand Cayman
Hell is a group of short, black, limestone formations located in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Located in West Bay, Grand Cayman, it is roughly the size of half a soccer field...
. During their six months of living and SCUBA diving there, they got their first taste of playing reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
at several clubs around the island.
When Sadkin returned to South Florida he began his recording career. He was first trained as a mastering engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
but eventually moved into recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
work as a "tape-op" (Assistant Engineer) at Criteria Studios
Criteria Studios
Criteria Studios is a music-recording studio in Miami, Florida, started in 1958 by Mack Emerman.In 1999, The Hit Factory purchased Criteria Studios, revamping and reopening the studios under the new name The Hit Factory Criteria Miami.-Notable artists:...
in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. He got his first big break after impressing Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
with his mixing ability, and he eventually became head engineer at Compass Point Studio
Compass Point Studios
Compass Point Studios were founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records.In the late 1970s and mid-1980s, many musical artists from across the world came to the Bahamas to record music at its facilities. Many producers, including Chris Blackwell himself, used the studio to produce...
in Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
. He worked alongside Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
boss Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
on many of the label's projects, most famously with Bob Marley & The Wailers
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Bob Marley & The Wailers were a Jamaican reggae, ska and rocksteady band formed by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in 1963. Additional members were Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Cherry Smith and Aston and Carlton Barrett...
, including the seminal Rastaman Vibration
Rastaman Vibration
Rastaman Vibration is a roots reggae album by Bob Marley & The Wailers released on April 30, 1976. The album was a great success in the USA, becoming the first Bob Marley release to reach the top ten on the Billboard 200 charts Rastaman Vibration is a roots reggae album by Bob Marley & The Wailers...
.
A full member of the Compass Point All Stars
Compass Point All Stars
The Compass Point phenomenon was designed to be to reggae-based pop/rock music of the 80s, what Nashville was to country music, or the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section was to soul and R&B in the 60s: a recording facility animated by in-house sets of artists, musicians, producers and engineers, all...
from day one, he began producing artists for Island Records (Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
, Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
, Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
), while doing mixing work for other labels (Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
). Among the other artists he produced in the 1980s are James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, the J. Geils Band, Thompson Twins
Thompson Twins
The Thompson Twins were a British pop group that were formed in April 1977 and disbanded in May 1993. They achieved considerable popularity in the mid 1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States and around the globe. The band was named after the two bumbling detectives...
, Classix Nouveaux
Classix Nouveaux
Classix Nouveaux were an English 1980s new wave band. They had number one hits in Poland, Portugal, the former Yugoslavia, Israel, Iceland, and other countries...
, Foreigner
Foreigner (band)
Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm...
, Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, Simply Red
Simply Red
Simply Red were a British soul band that sold more than 50 million albums over a 25-year career. Their style drew influences from blue-eyed soul, new romantic, rock, reggae and jazz...
, Arcadia
Arcadia (band)
Arcadia were the pop group formed in 1985 by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, during a break in that band's schedule. However, Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and in none of the music videos, and stated he was only to be involved in the recording side...
and Paul Haig
Paul Haig
Paul Haig is a Scottish indie composer, musician and singer. He was originally a member of 1980s post-punk band Josef K who were signed to the Postcard record label...
.
Alex Sadkin was a mentor to engineer and producer Phil Thornalley
Phil Thornalley
Phil Thornalley is a songwriter-producer who has worked in the music industry since 1978. He is perhaps best known for co-writing the song "Torn" which Natalie Imbruglia later covered to great success for her 1997 debut album, Left of the Middle...
, who would go on to work with The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, Johnny Hates Jazz
Johnny Hates Jazz
Johnny Hates Jazz is an Anglo-American Pop/Rock band, formed in 1986 by Clark Datchler , Mike Nocito , and Calvin Hayes...
, and Natalie Imbruglia
Natalie Imbruglia
Natalie Jane Imbruglia is an Australian singer-songwriter, model and actress. In the early 1990s, Imbruglia was known to audiences as Beth Brennan in the popular Australian soap Neighbours. Three years after leaving the programme, Imbruglia launched a singing career with the international hit,...
. He had a special gift of being able to sense and analyze an artist's inner creative abilities and talents, even if the artist couldn't. Composer-keyboardist Wally Badarou
Wally Badarou
Wally Badarou is a musician from Benin.-Biography:A synthesiser specialist, Badarou was the longtime associate of the British band Level 42, known for its blend of funk, pop, soul and rock...
had this about Sadkin: "His dedication to maintain genuine 'mixes in progress' from the word go, was a great lesson. I made it a system for my subsequent production from then on."
Sadkin died in a motor accident in Nassau at the age of 38, shortly after completing production work on Boom Crash Opera
Boom Crash Opera
Boom Crash Opera are a pop-rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1985. Initially based around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance and Peter Farnan Boom Crash Opera also includes Dale Ryder , Peter 'Maz' Maslen , Greg O'Connor and Ian Tilley Boom Crash Opera are a pop-rock band...
's eponymous 1987 album, and just before he was due to begin working with Ziggy Marley
Ziggy Marley
David "Ziggy" Marley is a Jamaican musician and leader of the band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. He is the oldest son of famed reggae musician Bob Marley...
. The Duran Duran song "Do You Believe In Shame
Do You Believe In Shame
"Do You Believe In Shame?" is the nineteenth single by Duran Duran. Released 10 April 1989 it was the third and final single from the Big Thing album.-About the song:...
", Robbie Nevil
Robbie Nevil
Robert S. "Robbie" Nevil is an American pop singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist. He is best known for his 1986 Billboard Hot 100 #2 hit, "C'est La Vie".-Life and career:...
's "Gone Too Soon" and Grace Jones' "Well Well Well" are dedicated to his memory. Also Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
's album Unchain My Heart
Unchain My Heart
Unchain My Heart may refer to:* Unchain My Heart , a 1962 song by Ray Charles* Unchain My Heart , a 1987 album by Joe Cocker* Unchain My Heart!!!, a song by Gorgoroth...
(1987) is dedicated to the memory of Alex Sadkin.
Selected production credits
- Bob Marley and The Wailers – Survival (1979)
- Grace Jones – Warm Leatherette (1980)
- Grace Jones – NightclubbingNightclubbingNightclubbing is the fifth studio album by Grace Jones, released in 1981. It is the second of three post-disco albums that Jones made at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas and became Jones' commercial breakthrough and also formed the basis of her groundbreaking concept tour A One Man Show...
(1981) - Grace Jones – Living My LifeLiving My LifeLiving My Life is the 993-page autobiography of Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman, published in two volumes in 1931 and 1934 . Goldman wrote it in Saint-Tropez, France, following her disillusionment with the Bolshevik role in the Russian revolution...
(1982) - Joe Cocker – Sheffield SteelSheffield SteelFor the University Newspaper published under the same name; see The Steel PressSheffield Steel is the eighth studio album by Joe Cocker, released in 1982...
(1982) - Thompson Twins – Quick Step and Side KickQuick Step and Side KickQuick Step and Side Kick is the third album by the British synthpop group Thompson Twins. It was released in February 1983, and was their first album to be released as a trio...
(1983) - Thompson Twins – Into the GapInto the GapInto the Gap is the fourth album by the British pop group Thompson Twins. It was released in February 1984 and reached no.1 on the UK Albums Chart, and no.10 on the U.S...
(1984) - Duran Duran – Seven and the Ragged TigerSeven and the Ragged TigerSeven and the Ragged Tiger is the third studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran, released globally in November 1983. It would prove to be the last studio album for the band's original lineup until 2004's Astronaut....
(1983) - Paul Haig (ex-Josef KJosef K (band)Josef K were a Scottish post-punk band, active between 1979 and 1982, who released singles on the Postcard Records label. The band was named after the protagonist of Franz Kafka's novel The Trial...
) – Rhythm Of Life (1983) - Talking Heads – Speaking In Tongues (1983) [mixing only]
- Foreigner – Agent Provocateur (1984)
- Arcadia – So Red The RoseSo Red the RoseSo Red the Rose is the platinum-selling album by the Duran Duran-spinoff group Arcadia, which was released in 1985 — the only album the band ever released...
(1985) - Robbie Nevil – Robbie NevilRobbie Nevil (album)Robbie Nevil is Robbie Nevil's first album, released in 1986. It peaked at #37 on the Billboard 200, remaining on the chart for 46 weeks. The album produced three top-15 pop singles: "C'est La Vie" , Dominoes and "Wot's It To Ya" ....
(1986) - Boom Crash Opera – Boom Crash OperaBoom Crash OperaBoom Crash Opera are a pop-rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1985. Initially based around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance and Peter Farnan Boom Crash Opera also includes Dale Ryder , Peter 'Maz' Maslen , Greg O'Connor and Ian Tilley Boom Crash Opera are a pop-rock band...
(1987) - Simply Red – Men and WomenMen and Women (album)Men and Women is the second album released by British pop group Simply Red in 1987.-Track listing:Side one# "The Right Thing" - 4:19# "Infidelity" - 4:09# "Suffer" - 4:55...
(1987)