New series 1/3. Tom Robinson presents a special tribute to
Joe Meek , Britain's most prized independent record producer of the pre-Swinging 1960s era. A studio pioneer and an eccentric, Meek manufactured uniquely futuristic sounds, often from homemade devices and heightened by echo and reverb. His most famous work remains the Tornados' 1962 transatlantic number one instrumental Telstar. Other beneficiaries of the Meek touch include Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, Billy Fury , Gene Vincent , the Honeycombs, Petula Clark , Jess Conrad and Sounds Incorporated. But Meek led a life troubled by paranoia, depression and the then illegality of homosexuality. On 3 February 1967 Meek fatally shot both his landlady and himself. Producer Graham Pass