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Eric Woolfson, a founder and the principal songwriter and vocalist of the Alan Parsons Project, a British group that existed only in the studio and that took its ambitious, sophisticated progressive rock to the pop charts, died on Wednesday in London. He was 64.
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Eric Woolfson, left, and Alan Parsons, in 1979.
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The cause was cancer, said his daughter Sally Seddon.
Mr. Woolfson, a songwriter and keyboardist, met Alan Parsons in the summer of 1974 while working as a session musician at Abbey Road Studios in London. He had recently branched out into management, and Mr. Parsons, an engineer and producer who had just completed work on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” asked to be taken on as a client.
Before long the pair began discussing ideas about a new kind of group that would emphasize the engineer and producer rather than the musicians, in the same way that auteur filmmakers were turning the spotlight away from stars and onto the director. In 1975 they formed the Alan Parsons Project, a studio entity that had no permanent members, other than its two founders, and never toured.
Mr. Woolfson, who wrote nearly all the music and lyrics for the group’s 10 concept albums, sang lead vocals on many of its most famous songs, including “Time,” “Eye in the Sky” and “Don’t Answer Me.”
Eric Norman Woolfson was born in Glasgow on March 18, 1945. He taught himself to play piano. In the 1960s he was hired as a songwriter by Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones’ producer, and for a time he worked at Southern Music, where his fellow songwriters and lyricists included Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
During this period he wrote songs for Marianne Faithfull, Chris Farlowe, the Tremeloes and other artists.
As a fledgling manager, Mr. Woolfson signed Carl Douglas as one of his first clients and was rewarded when his “Kung Fu Fighting” reached No. 1 on the British and American charts. His chance meeting with Mr. Parsons, however, put his career on a new track.
For the group’s first album, Mr. Woolfson drew on material he had been developing based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe. “Tales of Mystery and Imagination,” released on the Charisma label in 1976, was a surprise success, and Clive Davis signed the group to Arista Records, where Mr. Woolfson and Mr. Parsons made nine more albums before going their separate ways in 1990.
Initially Mr. Woolfson sang the lead vocals on demo tapes, and guest artists with a similar vocal style would perform on the final version. He lobbied Mr. Parsons to let him take the lead vocal on “Time,” which turned out to be one of the group’s biggest hits, reaching No. 15 on the Billboard pop chart in 1981. Thereafter, Mr. Woolfson sang lead on nearly all the group’s songs.
After splitting up with Mr. Parsons, Mr. Woolfson wrote musicals strongly influenced by the work he had done with the Alan Parsons Project. “Freudiana” incorporated music from a work in progress that EMI released without Mr. Woolfson’s participation, and “Gaudi” and “Gambler” incorporated some of the group’s songs.
Mr. Woolfson’s musical “Edgar Allan Poe” is now playing in Berlin.
In addition to his daughter Sally, of London, he is survived by his wife, Hazel; another daughter, Lorna Covington, of Bristol; and three grandchildren.
That's one of the groups we've never talked a lot about, the Alan Parsons Project. I'm saddened by his passing as I loved their work, particularly their first 5 albums. Eric Woolfson was SUCH an able vocalist! I don't think I could point to any one song with him doing vocals that I could prefer over the other.
Like Mopac pointed out, during Woolfson's tenure the Alan Parsons Project was never a touring band at all. After he left the band, they DID however, and I was lucky to see the band twice. Incredibly, they played Grand Junction in 2002, man what a show!
That's one of the groups we've never talked a lot about, the Alan Parsons Project. I'm saddened by his passing as I loved their work, particularly their first 5 albums. Eric Woolfson was SUCH an able vocalist! I don't think I could point to any one song with him doing vocals that I could prefer over the other.
Like Mopac pointed out, during Woolfson's tenure the Alan Parsons Project was never a touring band at all. After he left the band, they DID however, and I was lucky to see the band twice. Incredibly, they played Grand Junction in 2002, man what a show!
Rock music lost a very special singer today.
I've always thought The Alan Parsons Project was a very underrated band you never really hear about, I was always been a big fan of them and I've always felt they've deserved greater recognition than what they've gotten
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