Jimmy Miller was a rock music record producer from Brooklyn, NY. He was a drummer who found out in his early 20s that he liked it in the production booth. His work attracted the attention of Chris Blackwell, head of Island Records, who invited Jimmy to England to sort out the Spencer Davis Group (featuring young Stevie Winwood). Blackwell couldn’t understand why the band was popular in England, but not the US. He wisely deduced that a producer with roots in American R&B and rock might help. He was right. Jimmy beefed up the drum and bass lines, added backing vocals and re-mixed “Gimme Some Lovin’” and voila – Hit City! Next, he co-wrote with Winwood and produced “I’m a Man” – another hit. Stevie Winwood left SDG to form Traffic, and Jimmy had a new gig producing Mr. Fantasy and Traffic.
There was a buzz about Jimmy Miller. Bands loved him because his happy, energetic personality was infectious and made them want to be in there making great music. His strength was the drum and percussion parts – he often played drums on the albums, or picked up a percussion instrument to accent the rhythm – and his ability to layer acoustic guitar, keys, horns, and winds, blending them with the electric guitar and bass.
One group that really needed exactly this kind of help in 1968 was the Rolling Stones. They were coming off Their Satanic Majesties Request, a psychedelic project meant to rival Sgt. Pepper’s. The Stones had not only failed, but had alienated the fans of their earlier blues-rock sound. They were ready for a change, and Jimmy Miller was their pick for the job.
“The night Jagger phoned I just knew he was gonna ask me to produce them. I glided over to his house on a cloud.” – Jimmy Miller
The very first track Jimmy produced for the Stones was “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” The band was so excited they released it immediately as a single. It became their first #1 in the US and UK in two years. Over the next 6 years, Jimmy manned the booth for the Stones, producing what is arguably the greatest run of rock albums and singles in history:
- Beggars Banquet (1968)
- Let It Bleed (1969)
- Sticky Fingers (1971)
- Exile on Main St. (1972)
“It was really a gas to work with him. Jimmy Miller could turn the whole band on and make a nondescript number into something.” – Keith Richards
“During the time under Miller's supervision, the juices began to flow. We were productive and disciplined.” – Bill Wyman
Jimmy’s contributions include drumming and adding piano, horns and choir on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (legend has it that he is “Mr. Jimmy”), “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice.” He picked up a cowbell and banged out the famous accompaniment on “Honky Tonk Women.”
In between Stones albums, Jimmy produced Blind Faith (it was his idea to use acoustic guitars on “Can’t Find My Way Home”), Spooky Tooth, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Ginger Baker’s Air Force, Kracker and others.
The Stones hired Jimmy album by album and he never knew if he'd be asked back to produce again. He began to dread Jagger's presence in the control room. He recalled: “Keith would put a guitar solo down and I'd say 'nice take' while Mick was saying 'fucking horrible'.” The job became even more difficult when the group gathered at Keith Richard’s house in France, where the tax-exiles recorded Exile on Main St. in a miserable basement studio. Keith’s descent into heroin addiction and Mick’s frequent absences to join wife, Bianca, in Paris, didn’t make things any easier. It was becoming more and more difficult for Jimmy to control the band and the process. His enthusiasm began to wane, and around this time he, too, began using heroin. Jimmy managed to cobble the album together using some tracks recorded previously and doing the final mix in LA. Despite fans’ love of Exile, it wasn’t a favorite of Jimmy or Mick.
Keith Richards - Mick Jagger - Jimmy Miller (Villa Nellcote, France)
By 1973, Jimmy and the Stones were headed for a fall. Goats Head Soup was recorded in Jamaica, where several of the group had party homes. Between their disinterest and Jimmy’s, their drug use and his, the recording sessions were lackadaisical, if not disastrous. It was Jimmy’s last work for the band.
“I was turned off by them and myself. In a way they made me what I am and then didn't like what they'd created,” -- Jimmy Miller
When the Stones gathered in Munich in 1974 to record It’s Only Rock and Roll, Jimmy was not invited to participate. It is unfortunate that the Stones’ revisionist history now minimizes Jimmy’s contributions to their success.
Jimmy Miller soldiered on, continuing to produce fine work across many genres. He produced Overkill and Bomber for Motorhead, Beck Bogert & Appice, and artists Bobby Whitlock, the Plasmatics, Primal Scream and others. But, Jimmy’s heyday was over. He died at the age of 52 from liver failure. Jimmy is not in the rock HOF, though there is an iPetition underway to address this sad omission.
That was Jimmy Miller.
