Renowned Nashville Music Exec. Richard Landis Passes
Richard Landis
Veteran singer-songwriter, session musician, producer and label head Richard Landis has passed away. He was 77.
Throughout his career Landis served as an executive at Capitol Records, Giant Records and BNA, and had over 40 years of professional credits and chart success with artists including Juice Newton, The Oak Ridge Boys, Earl Thomas Conley, Eddie Rabbitt, Kenny Rogers, Lorrie Morgan, Doug Supernaw, Neil Diamond, Poco and Vince Gill. Landis also produced the last record of Roy Rogers career, Tribute.
Landis grew up in the borough of Queens, New York and attended the prestigious High School of Music & Art in Manhattan. He was first encouraged to move to Nashville in the ’90s by Joe Galante, then head of RCA. Galante was one of the biggest champions of Landis’ career, hiring him to produce many artists on his roster.
He partnered with Galante and the late Stan Moress in the publishing company, Route 66 Music. From 1993 to 2000, Landis and James Stroud co-owned Nashville’s Loud Recording, as well as an overdub and mixing suite next door called Too Loud. In 2007, Landis opened his own studio, Fool on the Hill, in Berry Hill, which he later sold to Peter Frampton.
Landis began producing music for Juice Newton in 1981. They released her multi-Platinum album, Juice, which charted two No. 1 singles. Landis also produced Lorrie Morgan’s top 10 album, War Paint in 1994. That same year he was one of the producers on CMA Album of the Year, Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, producing the last track on the album, Morgan’s cover of “The Sad Café.” He also produced Morgan’s signature hit “Something in Red.”
An accomplished pianist and a passionate NY Yankees fan, Landis also cherished his beloved dog Rowdy, who was a fixture in the studio and is being cared for by friends. Funeral arrangements are pending.
