https://www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/life-and-violent-death-of-a-genius-called-joe

Music producer Joe Meek was never going to die a natural death.

That is the verdict of Clem Cattini, drummer of The Tornados, for whom Meek produced the groundbreaking record Telstar in 1962 – the first British record to top the US singles chart – in his poky studio at 304 Holloway Road.

Fans of Meek, named by weekly music magazine NME as the greatest producer of all time, are celebrating his legacy on the 50th anniversary of his death.

But recognition of his creative genius has been overshadowed by the manner in which he died on February 3, 1967, at the age of 37 – he committed suicide in his studio after shooting his landlady, Violet Shenton, dead.

An inquest jury found Meek deliberately killed Mrs Shelton, who ran a leather shop with her husband downstairs.

But half a century on, those with intimate knowledge of Meek’s life say her death was no more than a terrible accident involving a man driven to despair by financial troubles, fears over blackmailers who threatened to expose his homosexuality, a dispute with the feared Kray twins, and police interest following the gruesome murder of a teenage rent boy.

Meek shook the music world by producing three No 1 hit records from his little studio, where musicians would play in the bathroom, on the staircase and in the living room with Meek twisting, cutting, slowing down, speeding up and subverting the tracks as they played.

Clem, now 79, who worked with Meek at the Holloway Road studio, recalled: “The studio was bizarre. I mean the drums were in the fireplace.

“But it was incredible, the sounds he could get out of that studio, the equipment he used and what he recorded Telstar with. Modern equipment could not get anywhere near it.

“Musically, Joe was a moron, and I don’t mean that in a mean way, but he didn’t have a clue. But in terms of sound production he was incredible, the forerunner of the independent producer. He was just a genius with sound.”