A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music, Ted Templeman

I wanted to read Ted’s autobiography because he’d been a producer of a few of my favorite bands of my youth. Most notably – Van Halen and the Doobie Brothers. Ted worked on all of the Dave years with Van Halen and my favorite songs and albums from all of the Doobie albums. I figured he’d reveal all of what really went on. Ted worked with Sammy Hagar, Little Feat, Van Morrison, Dave’s solo album, worked as a sounding board for George Harrison and Pete Townshend, and was a musician himself (though he liked being behind the scenes better, hence the switch to A&R, producing, etc) and played on many of the albums he produced. His philosophy on producing was to highlight his artist’s talents so they can shine in the spotlight, and to get the best performance out of the artists that deem their qualities. He gets on his high horse at times when he’s right and they are wrong, instead of looking at both sides more distinctly. But overall, a great look back at our GenX youth and the music industry through Ted’s perspective.