{"id":2603,"date":"2020-04-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2603"},"modified":"2020-06-12T15:32:17","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:32:17","slug":"hal-willner-music-producer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2603","title":{"rendered":"Hal Willner, music producer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hal Willner – an American music producer working in recording, films, TV and live events – passed away after contracting Covid-19 on April 7, 2020.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

He was best known for assembling tribute albums and events featuring a wide variety of artists and musical styles (jazz, classical, rock, Tin Pan Alley).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Willner was born in Philadelphia in 1956. His father and uncle were Holocaust survivors. Willner moved to New York City in 1974 to attend New York University, but did not graduate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the late 1970s, Willner worked under record producer Joel Dorn, credited as associate producer on Leon Redbone's albums Double Time and Champagne Charlie, and The Neville Brothers' Fiyo on the Bayou.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Willner became the sketch music producer of Saturday Night Live in 1980, where he chose the music to be used in sketches for four decades. From 1988 to 1990 he produced the TV program Sunday Night (later renamed Night Music), which was hosted by David Sanborn and presented musicians from a wide variety of genres.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Willner produced albums for Marianne Faithfull, Lou Reed, Bill Frisell, Steven Bernstein, William S. Burroughs, Gavin Friday, Lucinda Williams, Laurie Anderson and Allen Ginsberg, among others. He produced a live tribute concert to Tim Buckley, that ultimately launched the career of Tim's son Jeff. He released one album under his own name: Whoops, I'm an Indian, which featured audio samples from 78 rpm records from the early-mid 20th century.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Following earlier stagings, in January 2010 Willner produced his pirate-themed concert event Rogue's Gallery for the Sydney Festival. The multinational cast included Marianne Faithfull, Todd Rundgren, Tim Robbins, Gavin Friday, Peter Garrett, Baby Gramps, David Thomas, Sarah Blasko, Katy Steele, Peaches, Glenn Richards, Liam Finn, Camille O'Sullivan, Kami Thompson and Marry Waterson.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

At the time of his death he was married to television producer Sheila Rogers, and they had one son.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Willner had symptoms consistent with COVID-19. He died at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on April 7, 2020, one day after his 64th birthday during the pandemic in New York City. A tribute to Willner was played during the April 11, 2020 episode of Saturday Night Live, featuring both the reminiscences of current and past cast members and a choral rendition of Lou Reed's song "Perfect Day".<\/p>\r\n<\/p>

<\/p>\n \n \n

<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hal Willner – an American music producer working in recording, films, TV and live events – passed away after contracting Covid-19 on April 7, 2020.   He was best known for assembling tribute albums and events featuring a wide variety of artists and musical styles (jazz, classical, rock, Tin Pan Alley).   Willner was born […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[46,7019,15],"tags":[4056,4058,942,4057],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/imageholder\/uploads\/Hal_Willner.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3524,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3524","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":0},"title":"Adam Schlesinger, singer & songwriter","date":"April 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Adam Lyons Schlesinger \u2011 an American singer-songwriter, record producer, bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, and drummer \u2013 passed away after suffering from Covid-19 on April 1, 2020. \u00a0 He won three Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the ASCAP Pop Music Award, and was nominated for Academy, Tony, and Golden Globe Awards.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Adam-Schlesinger.jpeg?fit=1200%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11703,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=11703","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":1},"title":"Kenny Malone, Drummer","date":"August 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Drummer Kenny Malone, a prolific session player who played on hits for Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard and many others, has died. He was 83. Malone's friend and former bandmate Dave Pomeroy said he died Thursday after being diagnosed with COVID-19. The American drummer and percussionist from Denver, Colorado was known\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Profiles"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Drummer-Kenny-Malone.jpg?fit=960%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3317,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3317","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":2},"title":"Alan Merrill, vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, actor & model","date":"March 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Alan Merrill \u2011 an American vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, actor and model \u2013 passed away on March 29, 2020 after contracting Covid-19. \u00a0 In the early 1970s, Merrill was the first Westerner to achieve pop star status in Japan. He was the writer of, and lead singer on, the first released\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2477,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2477","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":3},"title":"Joel M. Reed, film director, producer and screenwriter","date":"April 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Joel M. Reed \u2011 an American film director, producer and screenwriter \u2011 died on April 12, 2020, aged 86, in a care facility in New York City after contracting COVID-19. \u00a0 Reed is best known for directing the controversial Blood Sucking Freaks\u00a0 (1976), a notorious horror comedy that was the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3203,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3203","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":4},"title":"Hamish Wilson, actor","date":"March 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hamish Wilson \u2013 a Scottish actor from Glasgow \u2013 succumbed to Covid-19 on 26 March 2020. \u00a0 He was best known for briefly taking over the role of Jamie McCrimmon for part of two episodes in the 1968 Doctor Who serial \"The Mind Robber\" when series regular Frazer Hines was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3155,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3155","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":5},"title":"Detto Mariano, music publisher","date":"March 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Detto Mariano \u2013an Italian composer, arranger, lyricist, pianist, record producer and music publisher \u2013 died on 25 March 2020 after contracting Covid-19. \u00a0 Born Mariano Detto in Monte Urano, Mariano started his career in 1958 but was launched by entering Adriano Celentano's \"Clan Celentano\", becoming keyboardist in his accompanying group\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Italy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6194,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603\/revisions\/6194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}