Mickie Most 1938–2003 By Barry Willis June 15, 2003 — The music world is mourning the passing of British record producer Mickie Most, who died of lung cancer in London on May 30. He was 64.

Most's lung cancer was mesothelioma, a virulent variety caused by inhaling asbestos dust. The Guardian Unlimited's Paul Foot speculates, "Most probably he came into contact with asbestos in recording studios soundproofed with vinyl tiles impregnated with asbestos." Despite prolonged efforts to remove asbestos from commercial and residential buildings, it is still widespread. Foot quotes a rising death rate through the 1990s for workers with prolonged exposure to asbestos. Asbestos-related lawsuits are still being contested in the US, the UK, and elsewhere in the world.

Most was the first independent British producer to own his recordings, and his prolific output spanned three decades. He was said to be responsible for more number one recordings than anyone else in the field. Famed for matching songs and arrangements to performers, he discovered and/or produced a phenomenal number of UK pop acts, including the Animals, Bad Company, Jeff Beck, the Dave Clark Five, Donovan, Herman's Hermits, Hot Chocolate, Johnny Hates Jazz, Led Zeppelin, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, the Nashville Teens, Kim Wilde, and the Yardbirds. Sometimes criticized for focusing too strongly on "bubblegum," Most was known for his unerring instinct for spotting a potential pop hit.

Born Michael Hayes, he began his career in the music industry at 15 as a member of the Most Brothers, a rock band which had a brief career in the UK. He moved to South Africa with his wife, Christine, in 1959, where he fronted for his own band, the Playboys, who enjoyed regional success covering American pop songs, a formula that earned the band 11 consecutive number one hits.

He returned to England in 1962, but his performing career sputtered. He turned to marketing records in display racks in supermarkets and gas stations and then branched out as a producer. (His companies, RAK Records, RAK Studios, and RAK Music Publishing, were named after his first business venture.) He was incredibly fruitful as a producer, discovering and signing developing artists and massaging their sound into commercial gold. Most won a Grammy for the Animal's monster hit "House of the Rising Sun," which swept the pop charts on both sides of the Atlantic in 1964 and '65. Groups in his guidance were a dominant force in the "British Invasion" of American pop music of the mid-sixties. In 1965, Herman's Hermits sold more than ten million singles and albums—"all produced by Most," according to the Guardian Unlimited's Garth Cartwright.

In the late '60s and early '70s, rock music took a heavier, darker turn, a trend that was not to his liking. Most stuck with producing lightweight, danceable pop hits, and continued to enjoy success with acts like Hot Chocolate. In the late 1980s, he sold RAK enterprises to EMI. In 2002, London's Sunday Times estimated his fortune at £50 million ($75 million). "His contribution to production and the music industry was legendary, and he leaves us with a long list of hits, many of which are now considered 'classics' as his legacy," wrote Leslie Lewis, director of the Producers & Engineers Wing of the UK's Music Producers Guild.