Colin Thurston

Colin Thurston was among the premier producers of the new wave, helming era-defining hits including <a href="spotify:artist:0lZoBs4Pzo7R89JM9lxwoT">Duran Duran</a>'s "Hungry Like the Wolf" and <a href="spotify:artist:0f3kLT4wvi2mFHlHJgV8Hl">Kajagoogoo</a>'s "Too Shy." Born in Singapore in 1947, Thurston began his career playing guitar in a series of little-known bands -- in frustration he turned to jingle writing, but rock & roll remained his passion and in the mid-'70s he began work as an engineer in a small London recording studio. In 1977 Thurston was recruited by producer <a href="spotify:artist:46ISQ20xfCvHum4YeV08XF">Tony Visconti</a> to engineer two of the year's landmark LPs, <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a>'s Heroes and <a href="spotify:artist:33EUXrFKGjpUSGacqEHhU4">Iggy Pop</a>'s Lust for Life. When <a href="spotify:artist:46ISQ20xfCvHum4YeV08XF">Visconti</a> declined to work with the influential post-punk outfit <a href="spotify:artist:4VuMnSnoTGrma3a79UhfMs">Magazine</a>, the group recruited Thurston instead, and via their 1979 release, Secondhand Daylight, he earned his first credit as a producer, instilling the record with the icy, remote textures that would prove his sonic trademark.

Thurston next signed on with the pioneering synth pop unit <a href="spotify:artist:1aX2dmV8XoHYCOQRxjPESG">the Human League</a>, helming their early efforts Reproduction and Travelogue. By all accounts he was jet-lagged and brusque when first introduced to <a href="spotify:artist:0lZoBs4Pzo7R89JM9lxwoT">Duran Duran</a> in 1980, but by the end of their live set he enthusiastically agreed to produce their first EMI single -- the sessions instead yielded half of the band's self-titled 1981 debut LP, and in the wake of smash singles like "Girls on Film" and "Planet Earth," <a href="spotify:artist:0lZoBs4Pzo7R89JM9lxwoT">Duran Duran</a> were the most popular new band in Britain. Their 1982 follow-up, Rio, also launched the quintet to stateside stardom on the strength of MTV smashes "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer," and in 1983 Thurston and <a href="spotify:artist:0lZoBs4Pzo7R89JM9lxwoT">Duran Duran</a> keyboardist <a href="spotify:artist:64d5sXMEazhDXh9vFp1C92">Nick Rhodes</a> teamed to co-produce <a href="spotify:artist:0f3kLT4wvi2mFHlHJgV8Hl">Kajagoogoo</a>'s breakthrough hit, "Too Shy."

However, Thurston did not participate in sessions for <a href="spotify:artist:0lZoBs4Pzo7R89JM9lxwoT">Duran Duran</a>'s follow-up, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and despite credits including <a href="spotify:artist:52K4ArhA4OgMO7AsyEgqCT">Bow Wow Wow</a>'s I Want Candy, <a href="spotify:artist:7Fo8TAyGJr4VmhE68QamMf">Talk Talk</a>'s The Party's Over, and <a href="spotify:artist:6loBF9iQdE11WSX29fNKqY">Howard Jones</a>' Human's Lib, his career slowly but inexorably ground to a halt. After a long illness, Thurston died January 15, 2007, at age 59. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi