ED CHERNEY,
1950-2019

Producer/engineer/mixer Ed Cherney, who won Grammy Awards for his work with Willie Nelson, Buddy Guy and Bonnie Raitt, died of cancer Monday. He was 69.

His wife, former Record Plant President Rose Mann-Cherney, announced his death on Facebook.

A native of Chicago, he moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s and started working for Bruce Swedein. After eight years of work that included Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, he went out on his own and engineered landmark albums such as Raitt’s Nick of Time and Eric Clapton’s work for the film Rush. In a 40-year career, he worked with Iggy Pop, Bob Seger, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, The Rolling Stones, Etta James and many others as an engineer, mixer and producer.

Cherney founded the Music Producers Guild of America, which later became the Producers & Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy. His Studio Ed was housed at The Village in Los Angeles.

He won Grammys Guy’s Blues Singer, Nelson’s Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin and My Way, and Raitt’s Longing in their Hearts. The year he won Best Engineered Album—Non-Classical for the Raitt album—1994—he mixed three of the five albums nominated in the category.

Raitt wrote on Facebook, “Heartbroken at the loss of my dear friend and brilliant engineer/producer, Ed Cherney. Together with Don Was, we made a mighty trio, creating some of the most celebrated albums of our careers, garnering us a string of Grammy nominations and awards for Nick of Time, Luck of the Draw, Longing in Their Hearts and Road Tested in the early-mid 90’s. “He was one of the sweetest, funniest, big hearted and talented people I’ve ever known, as widely liked as he was respected as one of our businesses greatest recording Engineers. I will miss him so much and am so grateful we got to have him as long as we did. “Thank God he is out of pain and my deepest sympathy goes out to his beloved longtime wife and partner, Rose.”

Cherney also received an Emmy for HBO’s 2015 film Bessie.

So sad to hear that Ed has passed. He was a brilliant engineer and we did some wonderful things together with the Rolling Stones and Don Was. He will be missed. Bless you, Ed!

— Keith Richards (@officialKeef) October 22, 2019