ANDY McKAIE,
1946-2022
Andy McKaie, the longtime MCA/Universal music executive who drove significant reissue programs of material by blues, rock, jazz and country artists, died Saturday following a 17-year struggle with Parkinson's disease. He was 76.
A former music critic/writer and publicist, McKaie took over the MCA Records reissue program in 1986, overseeing reissues and boxed sets of music originally released on multiple labels, among them Motown, Mercury, Island and, most significantly, Chess and other blues labels.
He conceived and produced a series of boxed sets and 50th anniversary releases from the Chess catalog that included Complete collections by the likes of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters.
In 2004 he was a key player in the development of the audio releases for PBS' Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues series. Besides producing the Grammy-winning boxed set, he produced the TV package Martin Scorsese Presents the Best of the Blues. He was also executive producer and A&R rep for B.B. King's Grammy-winning late-career duets albums, 80 and Blues Summit.
While overseeing 200 reissues and compilations per year, McKaie conceived and executed catalog overhauls for The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, among scores of others.
He won four Grammy Awards in the Historical Recordings category, for Chuck Berry’s The Chess Box, Billie Holiday’s The Complete Decca Recordings, Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey and Little Walter’s The Complete Chess Masters (1950 to 1967).
Living Blues magazine named him Reissue Producer of the Year four times, and in 2010, the Blues Foundation gave him the Keeping the Blues Alive award in the producer category.
He also co-created and developed the highly successful midline 20th Century Masters/Millennium Collection and helped initiate and develop the Gold and Definitive Collection lines for Universal.
After 28 years at Universal, McKaie retired in 2012 as senior vice president, A&R, for Universal Music Enterprises.
