Lennon´s Last Studio Closes after 37 Years
By Victoria Ward, PA, in New York
The New York music studio where John Lennon spent his final hours is to close its doors after 37 years of business.
The Hit Factory has played host to some of the industry’s biggest stars, including Madonna, Paul Simon and David Bowie.
But the shift towards digital recording has taken its toll and its owners have chosen to relocate to smaller premises in Miami.
The Manhattan studio was opened by producer Jerry Ragovoy in 1968. It quickly made its name and has long been favoured by top producers, engineers and artists.
In 1975, it was sold to the late Edward Germano, who transferred it to a luxurious 100,000-square-foot space with seven recording rooms and five mastering suites.
His first customer was Stevie Wonder who recorded part of Songs in the Key of Life there.
Lennon and Yoko Ono based themselves at The Hit Factory to record Double Fantasy. The former Beatle was on his way home from the studio when he was murdered in 1980.
In 1994 the studio made the record books when it won 41 Grammy nominations for songs recorded, mastered or mixed there – including Whitney Houston’s soundtrack for The Bodyguard.
In a statement, owner Janice Germano said, “The Hit Factory paved the way for how recording studios approached the artistic process of making music.
“In doing so, it forever changed the way artists thought about creating records and raised the art form to a new level of innovation.”
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