Scott was born in London,[1] and grew up listening to 78 rpm records of artists like Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, and Eddie Cochran on a wind-up gramophone. In 1959 at the age of 12, he received a tape recorder which he used to record material from the BBC Light ProgrammePick of the Pops, but it was an episode of Here Come the Girls, an Alan Freeman-hosted TV show about British female pop artists in recording studios, that first focused Scott's career aspirations as a recording engineer when it featured Carol Deene singing in a recording session from the point of view of Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios, where Malcolm Addey was behind the recording console.
The Abbey Road years
On Saturday, 18 January 1964, Scott wrote letters inquiring about recording engineer job openings and mailed them to several London recording studios. Three days later he was contacted by Abbey Road Studios and subsequently interviewed and offered a position the following day. Scott began working the following Monday at the age of just 16. He received the traditional Abbey Road studio training under engineers like Malcolm Addey and Norman Smith. His first job was in the tape library, and within six months he was promoted to 2nd engineer (known then as a "button pusher"), where his first session was on side two of the Beatles' album A Hard Day's Night.[2][3][4]
After a short time as an assistant engineer, Scott was promoted to "cutting" (known as mastering today), where he spent approximately two years cutting not only acetates for artists, but the masters for many of the hits that EMI also distributed at the time, including the American Motown catalogue.
Also during this period he reconnected with David Bowie (he had previously worked on Bowie's 1969 self-titled album and The Man Who Sold the World) on a project with Bowie protege Freddie Burretti. By this time Scott wanted to move into production, and Bowie said he was about to start a new album and didn't feel comfortable about solely producing himself, so it was agreed that they would co-produce what became Hunky Dory.[8] After the album was completed, but before it was even released, work began on his next album – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – again with Scott as co-producer.[8] Scott went on to co-produce Bowie's Aladdin Sane and Pin Ups albums, as well as the little-seen Midnight Special television program episode "The 1980 Floor Show".
The follow-up, Crisis? What Crisis?, attempted to reach those same sonic heights, but it was subject to the limitations of a timetable, because Supertramp had gained a measure of stardom, and a release date and tour had already been planned. The album was also recorded at other studios besides Trident, including Studio D at A&M Records in Hollywood, the Who's Ramport Studios, and the now defunct Scorpio Studios.
Other artists Scott worked with while at Trident included America, Harry Nilsson, Lou Reed, Rick Wakeman, the Rolling Stones, Al Kooper and Lindisfarne.[citation needed] Scott was also responsible for the Clio-winning Coca-Cola advert "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke". Interviewed for tapeop.com, in 2024, Scott said: "I only ever did one ad, and that ad was I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke. ... It got a Clio [award] for it and the whole thing. That was the only ad I ever had to do. ... Yeah, they took the track we did, edited it, and then re-did the vocals without Coca-Cola."[11]
Although not strictly jazz nor progressive rock, he also worked with the southern fusion band Dixie Dregs (What If and Night of the Living Dregs) and the symphonic progressive band Happy the Man (Happy the Man and Crafty Hands).
After spending three months in Hollywood recording Supertramp on the A&M lot, and receiving more production work from the company as a result of the success of Supertramp, Scott decided to permanently move his family to Los Angeles in 1976, just by chance renting a house across the street from Frank Zappa. Subsequent to that move he produced albums with David Batteau, the Tubes, Devo, Kansas, Level 42, Dada and others.
At the behest of Zappa's wife Gail, Scott was asked to check out a demo featuring ex-members of Frank's band, Terry Bozzio and Warren Cuccurullo, along with Bozzio's wife Dale, who had formed a band eventually to be named Missing Persons. With Scott at the helm, and thanks to massive airplay from the fledgling rock radio station KROQ, the band went on to record one of the biggest selling EPs ever, which eventually led to a deal with Capitol Records, which then released their first album, entitled Spring Session M. When the group was not able to find a suitable manager, Scott also assumed that role.
After "artistic differences" caused a split, he went on to produce and manage other acts including Christine in the Attic and Cock Robin, although neither went on to achieve the level of success of Missing Persons.
Scott's previous relationship with Warren Cuccurullo, who went on to join Duran Duran, led to his mixing an MTV Unplugged episode, as well as doing engineering work on the Thank You and Pop Trash albums.
In 2000, Scott reunited with former Beatle George Harrison to work on the reissue of his catalogue, included the huge hit All Things Must Pass. He was also responsible for the organisation of Harrison's entire tape library during that period.
Current work
Scott continues to be active in the studio and gives talks around the world. In 2012, he released a memoir entitled Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust, co-written with Bobby Owsinski and published by Alfred Music Publishing.[12]
Originally from South London, Scott resided in Los Angeles from 1976 to 2013, then relocated to Nashville. In 2015, he and his wife, Cheryl, moved to Harrogate, North Yorkshire, in the UK.[15][16]
^—— (2012). Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust: Off the Record with the Beatles, Bowie, Elton & So Much More. Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. ISBN978-0-7390-7858-7.
