Paul McCartney paid tribute Wednesday to longtime Beatles recording engineer Geoff Emerick, who died Tuesday at age 72, saying that he was “shocked and saddened” by Emerick’s death.
In a message published Wednesday morning to his social media accounts, McCartney called Emerick “smart, fun-loving and the genius behind many of the great sounds on our records.”
“Woke up this morning to the sad news of Geoff Emerick’s passing. He was a great engineer and friend, and even though @thebeatles had many great engineers over the years Geoff was the ONE,” McCartney wrote.
“He was smart, fun-loving and the genius behind many of the great sounds on our records. I worked with him after The Beatles and it was always fun and the sounds he managed to conjure up were always special,” McCartney added. “Having seen him earlier this year when he came round to our studio I’m shocked and saddened to have lost such a special friend.”
McCartney concluded, “God bless you Geoffrey – love Paul.”
According to CNN, Emerick, who worked on groundbreaking Beatles albums including “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” died of a heart attack. In an online statement, Emerick’s manager William Zabaleta said he had been on the phone with Emerick when the engineer “had complications” and “dropped the phone.”
“Today, at around 2 o’clock, I was making my way back from Arizona to Los Angeles to go pick up Geoff so we could transport some gold records and platinum plaques to our show in Tucson,” Zabaleta said.
“While on the phone with Geoff Emerick, he had complications, dropped the phone. At that point, I called 911, but by the time they got there it was too late,” he added. “So Geoff suffered from heart problems for a long time. He had a pacemaker and, you know, when it’s your time, it’s your time. We lost a legend and a best friend to me and a mentor.”
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) October 3, 2018
Official Statement
— Geoff Emerick (@GeoffEmerick) October 3, 2018