Legendary music producer, Martin Birch has died at the age of 71. His death was announced on Sunday, 9th August 2020.
Martin Birch was famous for working as a sound engineer and producer on several classic albums, among them nine-iron Maiden record.
He also wrote his name in rock and heavy metal history while producing deep Purple, Sabbath, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Jeff Beck, Fleetwood Mac, Blue Oyster Cl, Gary Moore, Skid Row, Jon Lord and Several other Artists.
The news of his death was revealed by Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale on Twitter on Aug. 9. The cause of death was not reported.
Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale taking to his official Twitter handle on Sunday, posted this message speaking about Martin Birch death. He said:
“It is with a very heavy heart I’ve just had verified my very dear friend & producer Martin Birch has passed away…Martin was a huge part of my life…helping me from the first time we met through until Slide It In…Mt thoughts & prayers to his family, friends & fans…A Gloriously Talented, Loving Man…Will Be Sadly Missed …Martin Birch R.I.P,” he said.
Known for a midrange-forward approach that favored guitars, Birch, whose nickname was Headmaster, would become perhaps best known for his 11-year stint with Iron Maiden, serving as the producer and engineer of canonical records like “Killers,’ “Number of The Beast,” “Piece Of Mind” and “Somewhere In Time.” He followed up the success of those releases with work on Whitesnake’s 1982 album “Saints & Sinners,” which included the original version of future single “Here I Go Again.” The song would be rerecorded in 1987 and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Birch’s long-term collaborations extended beyond Maiden and Whitesnake to work with other metal acts like Rainbow and Deep Purple, the latter which led to Birch helming two Black Sabbath albums, “Heaven and Hell” and “Mob Rules.”
Although he retired in 1992, Birch was a key player in ushering in a second wave of British Metal in the 1970s and into the 80s when the genre dominated globally.