Jack Douglas dead at 80: Legendary rock producer famously recorded with John Lennon the day Beatles icon was shot and killed
Jack Douglas, the iconic music producer who worked with the late John Lennon as well as Aerosmith, has died at the age of 80.The family of Douglas, who worked with the late Beatles frontman on the December 1980 day he was killed, posted a statement on Facebook informing the public of the producer's death. 'He passed away peacefully on Monday night,' his family said of the New York City-born creative. 'As many of you who follow him know, he produced great music, and lived a colorful life.'Lennon's widow Yoko Ono took to Instagram on Tuesday to pay memorial to her late friend, saying, 'Rest in Peace, Jack Douglas.'Relatives of Douglas in the Facebook post encouraged fans to leave memorials in an adjacent comment thread.'We know that he touched many of your lives; we would love to hear more about that in the comments,' the statement read. Jack Douglas, the iconic music producer who worked with the late John Lennon as well as Aerosmith, has died at the age of 80; Pictured in 2019 in Anaheim, California Lennon's widow Yoko Ono took to Instagram on Tuesday to pay memorial to her late friend, saying, 'Rest in Peace, Jack Douglas'; Ono and Lennon pictured in November 1980 Douglas - who also worked with musical artists such as Alice Cooper, the late Miles Davis, Cheap Trick and Blue Öyster Cult - 'will be missed,' his family said.Douglas detailed his climb up the music industry ladder on the 2023 podcast Takin' a Walk, as he got a job as a custodian at the New York City studios Record Plant.'I wanted to be a producer and a composer, and the funny thing was, while I was the janitor at night, I was also a client, because I was scoring the original ABC after-school specials for the producer Danny Wilson,' he said. He added, 'So at night I would be a client and in the daytime I was the janitor, but you know, I would beg other engineers if I could just sit in on their sessions so I could learn, and I worked my way up.'Douglas said he continued working as an assistant engineer and also collaborated on demos with artists.One of the artists in that group was future superstar Billy Joel. Douglas assisted in the demo recording that led Columbia to sign the Piano Man artist in 1972. Douglas revealed on the podcast that his first run-in with Lennon came at the studio.'The door opens and John comes into the room and I nearly peed myself, because I didn't think I would be having contact with him,' he said. 'And he sits down, he says, "Okay if I hang out in here? I'm just looking for a place that's not so noisy."'They began chatting and a personal and professional relationship formed, with Douglas working on Lennon's albums Imagine (as an engineer) and 1980's Double Fantasy (as a co-producer). Lennon seen signing an autograph for his eventual killer Mark David Chapman in New York Monday, December 8, 1980 Douglas seen waiting in the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital after Lennon's killing Douglas had worked with Lennon in the studio (on Yoko Ono's track Walking on Thin Ice) on December 8, 1980, hours before Mark David Chapman fatally shot the Beatles legend outside of The Dakota building.Douglas, speaking with People in 2023, explained his pain in the wake of Lennon's death, as he and Lennon (who was 40 when he was killed) usually departed the studio with one another, since they lived nearby.'I would normally get out of the limo and just walk out Central Park West to our apartment,' Douglas said. 'And that played very heavily on me for many years.'Douglas said he didn't accompany Lennon on the night in question, as he was working late on a record for Karen Lawrence & the Pinz. The producer was pictured outside of the emergency room of the Roosevelt Hospital in New York in the wake of the infamous incident.Douglas also spoke with media (including the late Tom Snyder) and others on behalf of Ono in the days following Lennon's killing. Douglas said he and Ono subsequently honored Lennon's memory in a private service at the studio.'We went to the studio, 11 or 12 at night, and I had an assistant bring out everything we could find in the vault,' Douglas said in the 2023 interview with the magazine. 'It was talking, his music, anything.' Douglas also worked with musical artists such as Alice Cooper, the late Miles Davis, Cheap Trick and Blue Öyster Cult; Douglas pictured in 2022 with guitarist Garret Bielaniec Lennon pictured in NYC in 1977, three years before he was fatally shot He continued, 'And we sat there until dawn just listening to different things that John had done. And that was the only service that there was. It was just Yoko and I.'Douglas told Rolling Stone in January of 1981 that Lennon had emotionally been 'feeling terrific' at the time of his tragic murder.'Having been with John in L.A. during that time when he was just unbelievably depressed, the one thing that makes me feel not so bad now is that when he died he was real happy, maybe happier than he’s ever been,' he said at the time.He added, 'I mean, he was feeling terrific, constantly talking and joking… during the Double Fantasy sessions he was always full of chitchat about how the Beatles’ old records were made.'In the 2023 chat with People, Douglas said that Lennon seemed to have an 'almost supernatural' sense of his own tragic fate to come.'He spoke about death every once in a while,' Douglas said.'He would say things like, "I might be gone soon." He would say, "When I die, it’s going to be bigger than Elvis."''And I’d say, "Stop talking like that." He insisted on journals being kept for every moment, everything being documented, me placing microphones all over the studio so that everything could be recorded.' Douglas worked with Aerosmith, seen in 2023, on multiple albums in the 1970s Douglas and Steven Tyler seen in Sarasota, Florida in 2023 Aerosmith's Joe Perry was among the music industry staples to pay memorial to the late producer on social media Tuesday, reposting the family's announcement on Instagram Stories Douglas added of Lennon, 'It felt like he had a feeling something was coming, and he was very intuitive about things. Extremely.'With Aerosmith, Douglas produced on albums such as 1974's Get Your Wings, 1975's Toys in the Attic, 1976's Rocks, and 1977's Draw the Line.Douglas said the way he 'approached' his work with the Boston-based rock staple was to 'listen to the band first of all.'He added, 'My job is to make a band's dreams come true, not mine.'Aerosmith's Joe Perry was among the music industry staples to pay memorial to the late producer on social media Tuesday, reposting the family's announcement on his Instagram Stories.
