Martin Rushent

Martin Rushent
Background information
Born	3 January 1948 (1948-01-03) (age 61)
Origin	England
Occupation(s)	Record producer, Arranger, Composer
Instrument(s)	Keyboard instruments
Years active	1968 – Present
Label(s)	EMI, Virgin
Associated acts	The Human League, The Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Fleetwood Mac
Website	Martin Rushent Myspace

Martin Rushent born 1948 is an English musician and record producer.

Rushent entered the music business in the early 70s as an engineer working on records by T. Rex, David Essex, Fleetwood Mac and Yes amongst others. However it was after punk that he came into his own as a producer working on records by Buzzcocks, Generation X, XTC, 999 and the Stranglers.^[1]

In the early 80's he started his own record label Genetic, which was going to sign the nascent new romantic acts Visage, Ultravox and Spandau Ballet, but problems at their parent record company scuppered that plan. Meanwhile he invested £250,000 in setting up a state of the art recording studio at his Berkshire home. The first fruits were the debut single by ex-Buzzcock Pete Shelley "Homosapien" and subsequent album of the same name, however it was the success of The Human League and their breakthrough 1981 album Dare which cemented his reputation as a producer. He is credited as one of the pioneers of remixing with his cut and paste version of Dare, 1982's Love and Dancing. He produced other acts at the time such as Altered Images and The Go-Go's. He retired from record production shortly after an alleged altercation with Susan Ann Sulley of the Human League, at his own studio Genetic. ^[1]

He was briefly involved in the rave scene in the early 90's with the creation of Gush at Newbury airfield.^[1]

Recently he has been active again as a producer with Hazel O'Connor's Hidden Heart, is rumoured to be re mixing a new Love and Dancing and making his 70's influenced disco album with his wife Ceri. He is also currently producing the new singles from the up and coming band Mama Shamone.^[1]

Currently living in Upper Basildon, near Reading in Berkshire, where he lives with his wife Ceri Rushent and their young daughter. He has also been working closely with the young beatboxer and multivocalist Killa Kela producing several of his tracks.^[1] In January 2009 The Pipettes announced that Rushent would be producing their second studio album.

He has produced music for The Human League, The Buzzcocks, The Stranglers, Altered Images, Generation X, Hazel O'Connor and Shirley Bassey.^[1]

Rushent recently teamed up with new songwriter Meritxell Lavanchy and her band, Phenol.^[2]

Awards

• 1982 BRIT Awards - Best British producer (for Dare)

References

External links

• Martin Rushent at MySpace
• Martin Rushent Discography
• Martin Rushent laid down three hugely successful Stranglers albums – and then walked out. Strangled interview the one-time, “fifth Strangler” The Burning Up Times - Issue 3, part 1, page 28.
• Interview/Feature (2007)
• Video interview