Steve Lillywhite awarded CBE
Producer Steve Lillywhite has been named a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by HRH Queen Elizabeth in her New Year’s Honours List.
For those of you outside the UK and bewildered by the Honours List – The Awards are essentially an acknowledgement of an individuals achievements in a particular pursuit, they are awarded to leading sports personalities, writers, public figures and more importantly to private individuals for their contribution to their own community/
The CBE is the third level in the Order of the British Empire after the Knight/Dame Grand Cross (GBE) and Knight/Dame Commander (KBE/DBE). Only those top two ranks receive the official title of Knight and the use of Sir or Dame.
Lillywhite began his career back in 1972 as a tape operator for Polygram before moving to Island Records as a staff/in-house producer. His first major success coming when he produced Siouxse &The Banshees first single, 1978?s ‘Hong Kong Garden’, he also produced Steel Pulse’s first release ‘Klu Klux Klan’
Over the next three decades, he would produce numerous major albums, including:
U2 – ‘Boy’, ‘War’ & ‘October’, ‘The Joshua Tree’ , ‘Achtung Baby’, ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ and ‘No Line on the Horizon’.
Dave Mathews Band – ‘Under the Table and Dreaming’, ‘Crash’
Rolling Stones – ‘Dirty Work’
Peter Gabriel – ‘Peter Gabriel (III)
Talking Heads – ‘Naked’
Morrissey ‘Vauxhall and I’
Ultravox – ‘Ultravox!!!’
Psychedelic Furs – ‘The Psychedelic Furs’
Crowded House – ‘Time on Earth’
Big Country – ‘The Crossing’
30 Seconds to Mars – ‘This is War’
He was also responsible for the production on many early new wave records including releases by Toyah, XTC, The Chameleons, and Eddie & The Hot Rods. More recently he has been linked to Beady Eye, and Evenessence – it is estimated that he has production credits for over 500 releases.
Lillywhite also produced the ultimate Christmas song, The Pogues ‘Fairytale of New York’ which featured the late Kirsty MacColl who was previously married to Lillywhite.
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