Legendary music producer Steve Albini, best known for recording with Nirvana, has died at the age of 61.
Albini died of a heart attack, his music studio cast told Pitchfork. He was married to director Heather Whinna.
He enjoyed a storied decades-long career in the studio, while also performing as frontman for Big Black and Shellac, the latter with whom he is reportedly planning an upcoming tour.
He was recognized for his role in the rise of alternative rock music in the 1980s and 1990s, notably for his work with the Pixies, Jarvis Cocker and PJ Harvey.
Legendary music producer Steve Albini, best known for recording with Nirvana, has died at the age of 61.
Outside of the studio, Albini performed as frontman for Big Black and The Shellac, the latter of whom he was reportedly planning an upcoming tour with before his death.
Despite his success in the recording studio, Albini’s later career was also marked by his vocal criticism of the music industry.
He particularly attacks the predatory practices of music industry executives, saying that young groups are often lured into exploitative deals at the start of their careers.
Albini was known for his preference for the term “musical engineer” rather than producer, and left his mark on the iconic music of the grunge era, including recording Nirvana’s album “In Utero.”
Those who worked with him said he was not afraid to show his disgust at the music he produced, and he described the Pixies in 1988 as “four cows more eager to be led by their rings in the nose “.
In the weeks before his death, Albini was preparing to tour with his band Shellac, and the group had recorded their first album in a decade which is scheduled for release next week.
Born in California, Albini grew up in Missoula, Montana, with a “normal” childhood – which he says changed everything when a friend introduced him to the Ramones.
“It was the first time I felt like part of the culture represented irreverence and awkwardness and the kind of mania that my friends and I displayed,” he recalled to the Guardian .
From there, he began recording with Big Black, while ostensibly seeking controversy with his work, including a short stint with the group name “Rapeman”, a title he said he later regretted.
Known for bringing a raw, energetic sound to his work, Albini has been influential in the rock and metal scenes for decades.
Albini (seen in concert in June 2023 in Spain) has attracted controversy throughout his career and later said he regretted some of his actions taken “from an ignorant position”.
In his early production work with bands such as Slint and The Breeders, he became known for his raw and energetic productions which became better known with artists like Nirvana.
In the 1980s this saw him work on Jesus Lizard’s early albums, and he went on to ‘engineer’ hundreds of albums over the following decades.
The music producer lived in Chicago with his wife, director Heather Whinna.
In an interview with AV Club in 2000, he revealed that he suffered a deformity in his right leg following a car accident when he was 18 years old.
Despite spending decades with grunge rockers like Kurt Cobain, Albini also revealed in 2022 that he avoided drugs and alcohol, particularly due to his father’s struggle with alcoholism.
He told Noise Delays Recovery that he feels “extremely lucky” not to have fallen into the pits of addiction.
“I don’t like the taste of alcohol, I don’t like being drunk, and I’ve never liked the drug states I’ve experienced enough to prefer them to being straight in the moment with clarity,” he said.
Aside from music, he has also been recognized as a successful poker player, once winning a World Series of Poker gold bracelet during a 2022 competition in which he won over $196,000 in prize money. in silver, beating 773 other players.
In 2018, he also reportedly won a poker tournament that earned him over $105,000.
Despite spending decades with grunge rockers like Kurt Cobain, Albini revealed that he avoided drugs and alcohol, in part because of his father’s struggle with alcoholism.
Albini became synonymous with controversial work early in his career, also producing songs such as “Pray I Don’t Kill You F*****” and a group name “Run N***** Run”, according to Pitchfork.
In his later years, he would apologize for some of his offensive antics, tweeting in 2021: “Many things I said and did from an ignorant position of comfort and privilege are clearly horrible and I regret them.
“No one has to ignore this, and I feel obligated to make amends.”
“I’m late for a conversation about my role in inspiring the shit in ‘Edgelord.’ Believe me, I’ve met my share of punishers at concerts and I sympathize with anyone who isn’t me but still had to endure them.
