Roy Thomas Baker, who was a celebrated producer of the 1970s and 1980s and known for helping produce Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” died on April 12 at his home in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. He was 78. An official statement said that the cause was unclear.
In addition to his work with Queen, Baker also collaborated with bands like the Cars, Journey, Mötley Crüe, and Foreigner. He was additionally a producer and sound engineer at a number of different recording studios over the course of his storied career.
Baker was born on November 10, 1946, in Hampstead, England. He got his start in the music industry at London’s Decca Studios in London in 1963. Most notably, he was a lead engineer on hit singles like “All Right Now” by Free and “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” by T. Rex.
He first met Queen in the 1970s while looking at a studio complex in London. The band, which was just getting their start, was recording free demos as a trade to help the studio test its sonics. Baker revealed this in a now-archived 1979 interview.
The band’s first album, Queen, was recorded by Baker while he had some free time, having reportedly noted that he wanted to get more familiar with production work. From there, he recorded Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, and A Night at the Opera.
In a 2005 interview with The New York Times, he spoke about the song’s legacy. He said: “I thought it was going to be a hit. We didn’t know it was going to be quite that big. I didn’t realize it was still going to be talked about 30 years later.”
Later in the conversation he added, “The thing that makes it most ageless is the fact that it didn’t confine to any given genre of music. It doesn’t compete with anything. It’s in a world of its own.”
He reiterated in other interviews that while he didn’t realize just how big the song would get, he recognized something essential about it.
After the final version was completed – following some refinements at Roundhouse, Sarm East Studios, Scorpio Sound, and Wessex Sound Studios – there was a feeling that Queen had created something special. “Nobody really knew how it was going to sound as a whole six-minute song until it was put together,” Baker told Performing Songwriter magazine. “I was standing at the back of the control room, and you just knew that you were listening for the first time to a big page in history. Something inside me told me that this was a red-letter day, and it really was.”
