ABBA

In 1956, he got to meet Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones, who were in town for a concert. Consequently, Arif received the Quincy Jones Scholarship, which allowed him to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He and his soon-to-be bride Latife relocated to Beantown and he studied there for three years and taught for one.

Then they moved to the Big Apple, where he landed a job at Atlantic Records. He filled multiple roles as arranger, label house producer, and studio manager. In 1966, he scored his first hit when he produced “Good Lovin” for The Young Rascals. When a young Aretha Franklin arrived at the label in 1967, Arif was a key player in launching her career. He arranged her 1967 album, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, which included her hit “Respect”. She followed this up with Lady Soul in 1968. Arif worked similar magic on Dusty Springfield’s 1969 LP, Dusty in Memphis.

Around this time, he added vice president to his growing list of job titles. Those job titles would also include composer, percussionist, pianist and solo artist. He released a pair of albums, Glass Onion and Journey, which featured the talents of Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Gary Burton, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Joe Farrell, and Steve Gadd. Meanwhile, he was still producing albums for other artists, such as Christmas and the Beads of Sweat by Laura Nyro and a self-titled effort by John Prine in 1971.

In 1975, he helped resurrect the careers of the Bee Gees by producing Main Course and its #1 hit, “Jive Talkin’”. While recording the album, Arif encouraged Barry Gibb to tap into his falsetto, which became a staple of the Bee Gees’ records. In 1976, he won his first of a dozen Grammys, for Best Producer of the Year. For his part on the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever, he won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1979.

More awards followed: In 1982, he won a Grammy award in the category of Best Female Pop for Melissa Manchester’s recording of “You Should Hear How She Talks About You”. He took home a Grammy in 1984 for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two of More Voices on the strength of Chaka Khan’s “Be Bob Medley”. In 1984, he helped her score a hit with “I Feel for You”, which was penned by Prince. His most lucrative successes in the 1980s were Phil Collins’ Face Value and No Jacket Required.

In 1990, he won another Grammy, this time for Record of the Year, which was Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings”. He was also enshrined in the NARAS Hall of Fame. Continuing his string of Grammy awards, he won in the categories of Best Album Notes in 1993 for Aretha Franklin’s Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings and Best Musical Show Album in 1996 for Smokey Joe’s Café. He also produced The Songs of Leiber & Stoller in 1996 and was nominated for a Grammy for 1997’s Rent.

It was a banner year for Arif which featured collaborations with some of the biggest female artists in the music business. On the small screen, ABC aired a new version of Cinderella with Brandy and Whitney Houston. Back in the recording studio, he produced three songs on Something For Grace by Regina Carter, four songs on Higher Ground by Barbra Streisand, and Flame by Patti Labelle. He was also nominated for another Grammy in the category of Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal thanks to Carly Simon’s cover of “Laura” on Film Noir. Fittingly, he was named a NARAS hero on 3^rd December 1997.

In 1998, he was the music producer of the Frankie Lymon biopic, Why Do Fools Fall in Love. On the small screen, he produced “Love is All That Matters” for Double Platinum, a made-for-TV movie starring Brandy and Diana Ross. He took Patti LaBelle’s One Nite Only concert, which aired on PBS, and immortalized it on compact disc. In his copious free time, he produced four songs for Bathhouse Betty by Bette Midler, and Everyday is a New Day by Diana Ross. By the end of the 1990s, he had also written an opera entitled I Will Wait. He ended the millennium with Jewel’s stocking stuffer, Joy: A Holiday Collection.

In 2001, he resigned from Atlantic after thirty-eight years of service and went to work for Manhattan Records as a general manager and vice president. He was also the recipient of more accolades, including a Lifetime Achievement award from NARAS and the Nordoff-Robbins Music Foundation Man of the Year award. In 2002, he won a Trustees Award at the Grammys, his eighth.

He produced one of his biggest successes in 2003, when Norah Jones’ solo debut CD, Come Away With Me, shot to #1 on the Billboard pop chart. Arif left the 2003 Grammys with an armload of awards, including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, and Record of the Year for the album’s breakout hit, “Don’t Know Why”. In 2004, he won his twelfth Grammy award for A Little Moonlight, the Best Jazz Vocal Album by Dianne Reeves.

Arif found out that he had pancreatic cancer in 2005, but he soldiered on with a new album entitled All My Friends Are Here. It turned out to be his swan song, and was unfinished when he passed away on 26^th June 2006. His son Joe completed the album, and its accompanying documentary, The Greatest Ears in Town: The Arif Mardin Story, in 2010.

Bee Gees recordings

Edge of the Universe (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)

(LP: Main Course)

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