Tom Dowd, a legendary record producer and engineer who worked with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown and Eric Clapton, and whose career spanned numerous genres, has died in south Florida at age 77.
Dowd worked at Atlantic Records for more than 20 years before becoming a sought-after independent producer in the mid-1960s. He was considered a pioneer in the studio and is credited with introducing the first eight-track recording machine into a major studio in 1957. "His contribution to music was immense," his daughter Dana told reporters. "He covered so many genres over so many years and touched so many lives. He loved what he did."