Lenny Waronker
Credited on Bete Noire.
Lenny was introduced to the music industry by his father, Waronker became a staff producer at Warner Brothers Records during the mid-60s. His first major work was for Harpers Bizarre, whose soft-harmony version of Paul Simon's The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin Groovy)', reached the US Top 20 in 1967. Waronker's mellifluous production style, which centred on his artist's sense of melody, is exemplified on a series of excellent albums by James Taylor, Ry Cooder, Arlo Guthrie, Randy Newman and Gordon Lightfoot. Many of these releases were commercial successes and thus Waronker's technique in many ways defined the sound of Warners during the early '70s. He rose to become head of A&R at the company, and its chief of production, yet his trademark style could be heard in disciple Ted Templeman, a former-member of Harpers Bizarre. His work with the Doobie Brothers and Little Feat was built on Waronker's template.