Hal Willner, Music Producer and Longtime 'SNL' Music Supervisor, Dead at 64
— the respected producer who worked with and Marianne Faithfull, was a long-time Saturday Night Live staffer and compiled a series of eccentric all-star tribute albums — died Monday at the age of 64. A rep for Willner confirmed the producer’s death to Rolling Stone. While a cause of death has yet to be announced, a source close to Willner tells Rolling Stone he was suffering from symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.
“Absolutely devastated to get this news about my weird and lovely pal, Hal,” tweeted Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “We are heartbroken.” Richard Lewis called him “a truly unheralded genius.”
In a music business dominated by polished producers and executives regularly chasing hits, Willner always stood out. His eclectic tastes ran from jazz and R&B to indie, and only Willner would think of compiling a salute to the music of Walt Disney movies that included Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Sun Ra, the Replacements, and James Taylor. He could look and sound like a rumpled hipster gnome, but few producers were alert to the adventurous possibilities of music as Willner. Vernon Reid of Living Colour called Willner “one of a small handful of the great archivers, & contextualizers of REAL Americana.”
“We love you, Hal—thank you for everything,” posted Cat Power on news of his death.
Born in Philadelphia in 1956, Willner arrived in New York in 1974 and soon began working for producer Joel Dorn on albums by Bette Midler and Roberta Flack. In 1980, he had the idea of producing an album of jazz covers of music from Fellini films. Soon enough, he had recruited Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, along with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, for the album, called Amarcord Nino Rota.
That acclaimed project would be the first of many. For similar tribute albums to Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, and the Disney project, Willner recruited the likes of , Sting, Ringo Starr, Elvis Costello, and Iggy Pop.
Since 1980, Willner had chosen the music for skits on Saturday Night Live, and he also produced or co-produced albums by Lou Reed (Ecstasy, The Raven and Lulu) and Marianne Faithfull (Before the Poison among them). Willner and Reed were especially close, and Willner oversaw a box set of Reed’s solo albums released after Reed’s death. “We were kind of best friends,” Willner said in 2017. “He didn’t like to be alone. There was not a night that he didn’t go out. He knew all about restaurants and plays, bands. He’d be at any club. He did not accept that he was going to die. Bowie did. Leonard Cohen] did. Lou just ranted. He just loved being alive.”
Willner also played a pivotal role in the career of , when he invited Buckley to a 1991 tribute concert in New York for Buckley’s father Tim — an event that introduced the younger Buckley to the New York music community and effectively launched his career.
Willner, who had an impish charm and was beloved by many in the business, had most recently produced a tribute album honoring Marc Bolan and T. Rex that included contributions from Nick Cave, Kesha, Father John Misty, Lucinda Williams, and Joan Jett. He lived in New York and was partnered with former Rolling Stone writer Sheila Rogers.
