Gus Dudgeon

1942-09-30 · Woking, Surrey, England

Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon (30 September 1942 – 21 July 2002) was an English record producer, who oversaw many of Elton John's most acclaimed recordings, including his commercial breakthrough, "Your Song". Their collaboration led to seven US No. 1 albums, and established John as one of the most successful singles artists of the 1970s. Dudgeon also produced Chris Rea's first hit, the US chart topping "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", and David Bowie's "Space Oddity", and steered many other artists to chart success, including Joan Armatrading and Elkie Brooks. The Guinness Book of Records cites Dudgeon as being the first person to use sampling in music production. He was a founding member of the Music Producers Guild.