Queen guitarist Brian May has paid tribute to legendary music producer Roy Thomas Baker, who passed away on April 12, aged 78.
After co-producing Queen's 1973 debut album, the London-born producer worked with the band on Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera, and Jazz..
Sharing some personal photos of the producer on Instagram, May writes, "Very sad to hear of the passing of Roy Thomas Baker. Roy played a huge part in the production of so much Queen music in the early days.
"Photographs of Roy seem to be quite rare, but I was able to find these 3-D pictures of a trip that my then wife Chrissy and I made to visit Roy and his wife Barbara in their cottage in Norfolk. It must have been 1973. We went strawberry picking, and, as you can see, Roy was interested in the stereoscopic process, posing in a pile of wood for stereoscopic effect! I took the tennis picture at Ridge Farm, on a day when we were visited by some Japanese journalists from Music Life magazine.
"Roy was a part of our production team from the very beginning up to and including the album A Night At The Opera. We then parted company for A Day At The Races, but reunited for the Jazz album.
"Roy's production contribution along with Mike Stone's engineering for Bohemian Rhapsody will never be forgotten.
"I regret slipping out of touch latterly with Roy," May added. "I suppose life moves at such a pace these days that we imagine there will be plenty of time to rekindle a friendship, and then suddenly one day it's too late.
"Thank you, Roy for all the great work you did for us, and all the fun we had.
"Rest in Peace. Bri."
The news of Baker's death was confirmed yesterday, April 22, in a statement from his publicist, who revealed that the producer died at his home in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. A cause of death has not been announced.
In addition to his iconic work with Queen, Baker produced recordings by Foreigner, Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick, Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hager, Devo, Guns N’ Roses, The Darkness, Smashing Pumpkins and more.
