Grammy-winning music engineer Ed Cherney, whose long list of credits includes albums by Canadians Michael Bublé, Céline Dion, Anne Murray and Jann Arden, died early Tuesday after a battle with cancer.
Cherney was engineer on Bublé’s 2018 album Love and Dion’s 2007 album Taking Chances and produced Murray’s 1996 self-titled album. He worked on several recordings for Arden, including her acclaimed 1995 collection Living Under June.
“Ed and I worked on many of my early records together in the 90s – all of which I treasure,” tweeted Arden. “Ed was the best engineer on the planet. Ask anybody! Biggest heart. Kind. Funny. What a loss. Devastated.”
During a career that spanned more than 45 years, Cherney won three Grammys during his career – for working on albums by Bonnie Raitt (1994), Buddy Guy (2003) and Willie Nelson (2016). He also earned an Emmy for sound mixing in 2015.
“You left us leaving a huge pain in our hearts,” read a tweet from the Latin GRAMMYs. “Our love goes out to your folks and your immense group of friends and admirers.”
A Chicago native, Cherney has more than 350 album credits for legends like The Rolling Stones, Bob Seger, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Sting, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel and Elton John as well as pop acts like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Backstreet Boys and Paula Abdul.
He worked on soundtracks, too, including The Bourne Legacy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and A Mighty Wind.
Tributes for Cherney are flooding social media. Guitarist Slash called him “one of the greatest guys in the business & a good friend.”
Friend and colleague Steven Slate described Cherney as “one of the greatest humans I’ve ever known.” He wrote: “Ed was larger than life. He was funny as hell. He was warm and generous. He was one of the first to believe in me at the start of my career and gave me a shot when few others did.”
Asked what kind of music engineer he is, Cherney told Universal Audio: "The best kind.
“I try to make the technical as invisible as possible. For the most part, I work from the heart and not the head.”