Michael Donald Chapman OAM (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s.
[5] The pair struck up a song-writing partnership, and began working with producer Mickie Most on his RAK Records label, which quickly became home to a roster of artists including Suzi Quatro, Smokie, and Mud.
[2][4] Chinn recalled: We decided to meet someone who was making hit records instead of going round to publishers' offices and playing our songs to people who didn't know what they were talking about.
The pair's dominance of the charts in Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand outlasted the decline of glam rock, and waned in line with the fading fortunes of Smokie and Suzi Quatro.
[4] Chapman exerted a tight grip on the output of the bands whose works he produced, determining the content of all albums.
[6] Some resented the level of control: The Sweet, whose interests lay in heavy rock, chafed at the teenybopper material Chapman gave them to perform, finally balking at some songs which did not fit in with their new direction[7][8] and seeking success on their own;[9] Chapman offered "Some Girls" to Blondie; the song was eventually given to Racey instead.
Deborah Harry has referred to Chapman as a dictator,[10] and for the photo shoot for one magazine interview he insisted on dressing up as US wartime General George S. Patton, Jr.[10] Chapman continued to write hits, including Exile's "Kiss You All Over" (1978)[2] and Toni Basil's "Mickey" (1982, a reworked version of "Kitty", a song they had written for Racey in 1980).
[14]Employing the same skills he had applied to records by Smokie and Gilder, Chapman produced a more polished guitar and keyboard sound than the band had ever achieved, topped with layered vocals.
The source of its driving disco beat is a matter of contention: Chapman claimed he had created the sound after the band had presented it as a slower, reggae-style song; band members insist it had always been known as their disco song and that they had created the sound by combining the influences of Kraftwerk and Saturday Night Fever.
Chapman relished the praise heaped on his work on Parallel Lines, commenting soon after its release: There's loads of hits, it's a great album, but who gives a fuck.
[15]Within months of Parallel Lines' release, Chapman was working with another band for which he would achieve a career high-water mark: power pop outfit the Knack.
With a team now firmly in place, the Knack and Chapman entered the studio, eager to capture the energy of their live performances.
While artists such as the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were spending more than a year and a million dollars to produce an album, Get The Knack was recorded in just 11 days for a miserly $17,000.
He accused singer and guitarist Doug Fieger of being deluded with notions he was Jim Morrison or Buddy Holly ... "there was nothing he could do that wouldn't work".
In an article in Creem magazine Chris Stein marvelled at Chapman's attention to detail, noting that the percussion for "The Tide Is High" also included "eight tracks of drum sticks tapping on a piano bench."
The control room is filled with a gigantic blue console that's hooked up to computers, satellites and atomic submarines off the coast of Maine.
His compositions have included Tina Turner's "The Best" (originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler), "Better Be Good to Me" and "In Your Wildest Dreams" and Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield" (all co-written with Holly Knight), Nat Allison's "Anyone for Tennis" (which was used in advertisements for tennis coverage on the Seven Network during the 2009-10 season) and Scandal's "Hands Tied", another Chapman/Knight collaboration which was No.
[20] Between 1999 and 2001, Chapman wrote and produced Babyphetamine, an album by the teenager Erin Evermore for the Tigerstar label, owned by the former Chrysalis Records head, Terry Ellis.
The band's lead singer, Matt Starr, flew to Chapman's East Coast home in an attempt to meet the producer.
The bold move worked, with Chapman flying to Los Angeles a month later to see the band perform live and ultimately agreeing to produce their first album.
In September 2008, Chapman met Haim, and started producing an album with the band, which is still under construction [citation needed].