Val Garay Should Write A Book

Val Garay is a legendary record producer and engineer who has worked with some of the most successful artists of all time including Kim Carnes, The Motels, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Burdon, Dolly Parton, Elton John, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Ringo Starr, Linda Ronstadt, Sarah Brightman,  Kenny Rogers, Santana, Reel Big Fish, Sally Kellerman, Candye Kane and Joan Armatrading, just to name a handful.  


In 1982 he shared a Grammy Award for Record of the Year with Kim Carnes, for the record ‘Bette Davis Eyes.’  He has received numerous entertainment industry awards and additional Grammy nominations including Best Engineered Recording for his work on the James Taylor album ‘JT’ and Linda Ronstadt's ‘Simple Dreams,’ a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year for Kim Carnes ‘Mistaken Identity,’ a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year,’ and an Emmy nomination for Best Engineered Recording of a TV Special for Neil Diamond's ‘Glad You're Here With Me Tonight,’ as well as dozens of gold and platinum records.


In November 2010, Val partnered with attorney George Woolverton and legendary creative director John Kosh to form a new label, Red Red Records, and is currently working with up-and-coming new artists like Nikki Lang, as well as producing/engineering scores for motion picture and television projects.


With credits including 13 Number One albums, Val’s more than successful track record spans the past three decades, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.  He has nine Grammy nominations.  The walls of his home are filled with gold and platinum records.





Starting out as a songwriter and performer, Val soon gravitated toward working behind the scenes with artists as diverse as the Mamas and the Papas and The Buffalo Springfield to Seals & Crofts. It was at the legendary Sound Factory studio that he became acquainted with the studio's owner/operator, Dave Hassinger. Mr. Hassinger was well established as one of rock 'n' roll's top engineers, having helmed many of the Rolling Stones recordings, including ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Under My Thumb.  Dave Hassinger realized that Val had a "great pair of ears," and offered to teach him the finer points of the craft. Working with Hassinger for a year, Val refined his technique and perfected the punchy bottom sound, guitar blend and mixing approach that distinguishes his work today.


Val Garay helped to create and define what is still being referred to as the "L.A. Sound." With the release and success of Linda Ronstadt's ‘Heart Like A Wheel,’ he suddenly became one of the most sought after engineers in the business, known for creating never-before-heard instrument sounds.


With the release of Kim Carnes' album, ‘Mistaken Identity,’ Val's reputation as a hit-making producer was sealed. The album was a worldwide smash, and ‘Bette Davis Eyes’ became a Number One hit in 31 countries, earning Val Garay a Record of the Year Grammy in the process. Garay followed his successful collaboration with Carnes by producing The Motels' All Four One album, which not only garnered critical acclaim, but also gave the Motels the commercial success that had eluded them in the past. ‘Only The Lonely’ became a Top Ten smash.


Val comes from a Hollywood family.  His father, Joaquin Garay was well known for being the voice of Panchito the Rooster in the Disney classic ‘The Three Caballeros’  as well as a singer, bandleader and nightclub owner.  His best friend was Errol Flynn!  Val was showing me some family photos, and several of his Dad with movie star friends, along with showing me some of his early written music when we started talking about his career.




AM:  I didn’t realize your father was Joaquin Garay.  Everyone knows Panchito the Rooster!  Is that why your dog is named Pancho?


VG:  Yes, after my Dad.  He named all his animals Pancho.  The horse was named Pancho and the dachshund was named Pancho, everything was named Pancho, way before George Foreman.


AM:  (laughter) And you wrote all this music?


VG:  Yes this is 1965 copyrights at the Library of Congress for the lyrics for the group I was in called The Bundles.


AM:  How did the Bundles do?


VG:  Nothing, we played nightclubs all over Northern California.


AM:  Were you always interested in music?


VG:  No, I was going to Stanford studying to become a doctor.


AM:  So what’s the story?  How did you get into music from medicine?


VG:  I met a cocktail waitress who knew I played guitar and told me I should start playing since I had some friends who were already in a band.  She told me I should sing at a club in San Mateo so I started doing it.  Well I started hanging out with her until 4:00 in the morning so the next thing I knew I was missing my 8:00 AM classes.  I dropped out.


AM:  Did you realize medicine wasn’t your passion?


VG:  It was my passion at that point but what I realized was music was something that I always loved.  I used to tell my father he had to learn a certain song.  This was in the Fifties and I listened to the radio constantly.  I didn’t even realize it but I loved songs.


AM:  So when did you start writing songs?


VG:  In 1963.  I’m twenty-one years old.


AM:  And you dropped out of school?


VG:  I finished my four year degree but I was in medical school to become a doctor.


AM:  So you started living life as a working musician.


VG:  Yes, we played all over Northern California, Seattle and went to Hawaii to play.  When I came back I started feeling like my life was hinged on these other four guys and I didn’t like that.   At that time a really close Songwriter friend of mine moved to LA and told me I had to move there too.  I thought, “OK” so I packed up my suitcase which was all I had at the time.  I was living in San Jose.  I packed my guitar and got in the car with a friend of mine and we drove to LA.  We met at Canter’s and I never left.
AM:  Were you part of that Sunset Blvd. Music Scene at the time?


VG:  Are you kidding?  I got arrested with everybody else during the riot on Sunset.  I used to go to Ciro’s to watch Bob Dylan sit in with the Byrds.


AM:  What years are we talking about?


VG:  This is 1964 through 67.  I got signed to Lou Adler so we were always up at Lou’s house in Bel Air.  They put together the Monterrey Pop Festival so I got to go to that free because I was with Lou.  I got to see Jimi Hendrix and the burning guitar and Buffalo Springfield.


AM:  Have you considered writing a book?


VG:  Everybody talks to me about it.  I was living in an apartment building on Formosa Street between Fountain and Sunset with Neil Young when Buffalo Springfield got their name off a steamroller paving the street that had a metal plaque that said Buffalo Springfield.  That was the name of the steamroller company.  When they finished their second album which was called 'Buffalo Springfield Again,’ nobody in the band had a turn table.  I did, so they all came upstairs to listen to the acetate.


AM:  Did you start producing back then?


VG:  No, I figured out I couldn’t get great artists to let me produce them because nobody knew me.  I got a job at The Sound Factory to learn how to be an engineer.   The first album I did on my own was a band called El Chicano.  I had a number one hit with them called ‘Brown Eyed Girl.’  We re-did the Van Morrison record.   About a month after that, Linda Ronstadt came in and wanted to work with me.   That’s when we made 'Heart Like A Wheel.’


AM:  That is one of my all-time favorite albums by anyone.


VG:  It was a monumental record.  The interesting part of the story is she made an album right before on the label Asylum.  David Geffen made a deal with Capitol that she could go to Asylum but at any point Capitol could pick an album.  So we are finishing the album and Al Coury, who was the head of A&R at Capitol came over to hear the record.  We played him all the obscure songs, not ‘You’re No Good’ or ‘When Will I Be Loved.’  He went back to his office and called us ten minutes later and told us he was taking the album.  He had done this long enough that he knew it was a hit.


AM:  All Linda’s albums did well so it didn’t really matter that Capitol got that one did it?


VG: All her albums sold millions and millions of copies.  Because of working with Linda and Peter Asher on this album, Peter asked me to work with him on the next James Taylor album.  I told him I was too busy but he told me he would give me a point and a half so I said, “OK.”   So we made ‘JT.’  That was another monumental hit.


AM:  Do you know how many gold and platinum albums you have earned?


VG:  I have a hundred.  The James Taylor ‘Greatest Hits’ album has sold over 21 million copies.  I had to go in and re-record four of the original songs because the tapes got lost.  We used the same band and the same arrangements, but I did them.


AM:  I think you are best known for the Kim Carnes hit 'Bette Davis Eyes.’  Did you hear it as a Grammy winning song?


VG:   I fell in love with it the minute I heard it.  I didn’t think that far in advance in regards to a Grammy.  I had been working with Kim for six months finding new material.  We cut the song live.  There’s no over dubs on the record.  The first night we started rehearsing the song was the night John Lennon was murdered.  Then we ended up beating him for Record of the Year.


AM:  Did you think you were going to win a Grammy over John Lennon?


VG:   I thought we had a really good chance.  The scary part was we won Song of the Year, then lost Vocalist to Lena Horne and lost Album of the Year to John Lennon.


AM:  Did winning a Grammy generate more interest in you?


VG:   Yes and no.  Did I get a bunch of jobs because of it?  Not really.  I think the only two artsits that came to me then were Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.   I did start working with the Motels.   I made two albums with them and those are the only hits they had.
AM:  You tend to work with legendary artists who don’t have to worry about their careers.


VG:  James has never stopped working.  Linda did retire because she doesn’t have to work.


AM:  Which album did you produce for Dolly?


VG:  It was called ‘The Great Pretender.’  The hit single was ‘Save The Last Dance For Me.’


AM:  Did you enjoy working with Dolly?


VG:  She is the greatest!  It was a difficult time for her because she was making a movie with Sylvester Stallone so she was on the set from 7:00 in the morning until 8:00PM and then meet with me in the studio at 9:00 and work until 3:00 AM.  It was hard but the record came out great.


AM:  You are working with Nikki Lang now and I find that very exciting.  When is her album going to be out?


VG:  Nikki is great.  We are going to release an EP first.  Everywhere we go people just love her.


AM:  I’ll be looking forward to hearing the songs.  Thanks for your time Val.  I’ll be waiting for the book.


VG:  I guess I should write a book.  I was there and lived all this.