Robert Alan Fraboni (born 23 April 1951)
Early years
As a young teenager in southern California, he hitchhiked to Hollywood and sat in on recording sessions with
Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios.
He moved to New York City in 1971 and studied under Al Grundy at the Institute for Audio Research. From there he began working with Herb Abramson A-1 studios and recorded artists including Dave "Baby" Cortez and Michael Brown. He then went on to work at the Record Plant with engineers Roy Cicala, Jack Adams, Shelly Yakus, Tom Flye, Jack Douglas,
Jimmy Iovine, and Dennis Ferrante. While at the Record Plant he worked with musicians including
Bob Dylan,
Allen Ginsberg,
Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles,
Eric Carmen's the Raspberries, and
John Lennon.
[Christopher Walsh, "Rob Fraboni & The Origins of RealFeel", Sonic Scoop, May 27, 2010.]
The Village Recorder (1972–1976)
In 1972 Fraboni moved back to California and was hired as a maintenance engineer at The Village Recorder but was quickly promoted to chief engineer by owner
Geordie Hormel. There he engineered "Sail On, Sailor" for The Beach Boys and mixed half of the Holland record, which would be his first album that made it on the charts.
He then worked with
Jimmy Miller on the
Rolling Stones album
Goat's Head Soup as well as
Planet Waves with
Bob Dylan and
The Band. Dylan then invited him to be a sound consultant for the Dylan/Band tour in 1974. Also recorded at "the Village" were albums with
Joe Cocker (including
You Are So Beautiful),
Wayne Shorter and Nicholas Tremulis.
Shangri-La (1976–1985)
In 1976, Fraboni designed and built Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, CA, to the precise specifications of
Bob Dylan and
The Band.
He was president and co-owner of the studio for ten years he worked on
The Band's
Northern Lights – Southern Cross,
Eric Clapton's
No Reason to Cry,
Wayne Shorter's
Native Dancer,
Bonnie Raitt's
Green Light,
Tim Hardin's
Unforgiven and
Blondie Chaplin's self-titled solo debut. Also during this time, he spent 18 months working with
Martin Scorsese and
The Band on the soundtrack for
The Last Waltz, considered one of the greatest concert films ever made. Also during this time, in both Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd's separate biographies, he is credited with delivering the actual proposal between the two and served as Best Man at their wedding.
Island Records (1985–1990)
In 1985, Fraboni was hired and moved back to New York by Island Records' founder
Chris Blackwell as the corporate vice president of Island Records. There he worked closely with Blackwell in all creative aspects of the company, handling signings, A&R, product management, artist development, quality control, and remastering of artists' catalogs. He worked as executive producer on Melissa Etheridge's self-titled debut record; served as music director on the Good to Go Film Project; worked with Robert Palmer; helped remaster U2's
Joshua Tree; produced
Buckwheat Zydeco, Nick Tremulis, and
John Martyn; signed
Etta James to Island; sat in on sessions with
The Bongos; and went to Barry Diament, to remaster all of
Bob Marley's catalog for CD on Tuff Gong in 1989.
1990–present
After leaving Island just prior to its sale to Polygram, he worked with
Phoebe Snow and
Wendy Wall. Fraboni started Domino Records in the early '90s, which released recordings by
Alvin Lee, John Mooney, Cowboy Mouth, and Rusty Kershaw. With new backing for Ardeo Records in the mid-'90s, he released
Ivan Neville's
Thanks, Gary Nicholson's
The Sky's Not the Limit, and Bellevue Cadillac's
Black and White. He produced John Mooney again for the House of Blues release
Against the Wall. At Keith Richards' home in Jamaica during Thanksgiving 1995, he and Richards co-produced some of the only nyahbinghi recordings ever made outdoors. Keith's label, Mindless Records released these as The Wingless Angels.
He also produced
Keith Richards' material on the Rolling Stone's
Bridges to Babylon in 1997
as well as served as a sound consultant on the subsequent tour. Fraboni launched his QRS Entertainment in 2003 with
About Them Shoes, a recording by
Hubert Sumlin which features appearances by Clapton, Keith Richards, and others. The label also has music by Nick Tremulis, Sir Mack Rice, Sean Walshe, and Blondie Chaplin.
Awards
Fraboni was nominated for Producer of the Year at the New York Music Awards in 1989 for a
Wendy Wall album on SBK which won Best Folk Album of the Year. He received a Grammy nomination in 1982 for a
Bonnie Raitt record,
Green Light, as well as a Grammy nomination in 1978 for
The Last Waltz movie soundtrack. The Stones'
Bridges to Babylon was nominated for Best Rock Album of 1997. He won a Grammy in 2002 for best Country Album for his production of
Keith Richards' performance of "You Win Again" on the
Hank Williams tribute album,
Timeless. For
Hubert Sumlin's
About Them Shoes he received a 2005 Grammy nomination for "Best Blues Album" and won "Best Blues Album" at The Blues Music Awards in 2006.
Discography
See full discography at
Rob Fraboni Discography
External links
