David Richards

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

David Richards was based in Switzerland at Mountain Studios in Montreux, owned by Queen, and in Attalens. There he engineered and co-produced many albums by Queen, David Bowie and other artists. His selected discography as co-producer includes Queen's A Kind of Magic (1986), The Miracle (1989), Innuendo (1991), and Made in Heaven (1995), as well as David Bowie's Never Let Me Down (1987), The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), and Outside (1995). He also co-produced albums for Roger Taylor (Fun in Space, 1981; Strange Frontier, 1984), Chris Rea (Shamrock Diaries, 1985; On the Beach, 1986), Iggy Pop (Blah-Blah-Blah, 1986), and Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé (Barcelona, 1988). Richards played keyboards on some records and handled live music recording at events like the Montreux Jazz Festival.

In Their Own Story

In 1977, Richards worked as assistant engineer on Yes's Going for the One. Two years later he was assistant engineer on Queen's Live Killers (1979). By 1986 he was co-recording Queen's Live Magic with Mack. He engineered, recorded and mixed tracks for Brian May's Back to the Light (1992), including "Driven by You", "Last Horizon", and "Just One Life". For Brian May's Another World (1998), he did additional recording on "Why Don't We Try Again" and mixed the title track. He mixed Duran Duran's 1993 album and their 1995 cover album Thank You (mixing "Perfect Day"). He recorded and mixed Samael's Eternal (1999). He mixed David Bowie's Welcome to the Blackout (Live London '78) in 1979, though it was not released until 2018. His final credit was on William Fierro's UNO (2013), handling enregisterment, mixing, mastering and arrangements.

Reader's Guide

David Richards co-produced a wide range of albums across the 1980s and 1990s. His Queen co-productions include A Kind of Magic (1986), The Miracle (1989), Innuendo (1991), and Made in Heaven (1995). He also co-produced solo albums by Roger Taylor (Fun in Space, 1981; Strange Frontier, 1984), Chris Rea (Shamrock Diaries, 1985; On the Beach, 1986), Jimmy Nail (Take It or Leave It, 1985), Feargal Sharkey (Feargal Sharkey, 1985), Iggy Pop (Blah-Blah-Blah, 1986), Magnum (Vigilante, 1986), Virginia Wolf (Virginia Wolf, 1986), David Bowie (Never Let Me Down, 1987; The Buddha of Suburbia, 1993; Outside, 1995), The Cross (Shove It, 1988), and Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé (Barcelona, 1988). As engineer or mixer, he worked on Queen's Live Killers (1979, assistant), Live Magic (1986, recorded by Mack and Richards), Brian May's Back to the Light (1992) and Another World (1998), Duran Duran's 1993 album and Thank You (1995), Samael's Eternal (1999), and David Bowie's Welcome to the Blackout (mixed 1979, released 2018). He also played keyboards on some records and recorded live music at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Did You Know?

• David Richards was based at Mountain Studios in Montreux, which was owned by Queen.
• He co-produced Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé's album Barcelona (1988).
• Richards mixed David Bowie's live album Welcome to the Blackout in 1979, but it wasn't released until 2018.
• He played keyboards on some records and recorded live music at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
• His final credit was on William Fierro's UNO (2013), handling enregisterment, mixing, mastering and arrangements.