Smanga Kumalo – A South African–born American Grammy award-winning producer, Phillip “Phil” Ramone passed away on Saturday at the age of 72.
According to reports, he died in a Manhattan hospital after being admitted for surgery. His death was caused by a brain aneurism. Ramone’s son, Matt Ramone, on Saturday confirmed the death of his father.
The family did not immediately release details of the death, but Matt Ramone says his father was “very loving and will be missed.” “We are sad to report that, Phil Ramone, the Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer whose hit collabos include recordings with Ray Charles, Billy Joel and Paul Simon, has died at 72,” he said. Later reports revealed that Ramone was actually 79 years old although public records indicate that he was 72.
He won 14 competitive Grammy Awards and one for lifetime achievement. Worldwide sales for his projects topped 100 million. He was at ease with rock, jazz, swing and pop, and he worked with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Tony Bennett and Paul McCartney just to name but few.
Ramone was born in South Africa and grew up in Brooklyn. As a child in South Africa, Ramone was a musical prodigy, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Elizabeth II at age ten.
In the late 1940s he trained as a classical violinist at The Juilliard School, where one of his classmates was Phil Woods. He produced three records that went on to the championship of music taking home Grammys for album of the year. He produced three records that went on to the championship of music taking home Grammys for album of the year.
