Felix Pappalardi

Felix Pappalardi (1939-1983) was a producer, songwriter and musician best known for his work with seminal 60s rock bands Cream and Mountain.

Born in the Bronx, Pappalardi was a classically-trained musician who graduated from the High School of Music & Art. He found some success playing the folk circuit of Greenwich Village (with Max Morath’s Original Rag Quartet, a mainstay act at the Village Vanguard). After finding some success opening for Dinah Shore in Las Vegas, Pappalardi took some time to study classical music further at the University of Michigan.

Upon returning, he found work hard to come by until finding his niche as a producer. He gained a name for himself working with Village folk luminaries like Joan Baez, The Lovin' Spoonful and The Youngbloods. In 1967, he was called off to work on Cream’s second album, Disraeli Gears. His input behind the scenes (including writing “Strange Brew” with Eric Clapton and his future wife, Gail Collins. The band retained Pappalardi as their producer and arranger from that point forward (until their breakup in 1968). He was often referred to as Cream’s “fourth member”.

In 1969, Pappalardi expressed an interest in producing the work of hard rock guitarist Leslie West. West was so electrified and deeply influenced by Cream’s music that he hired Pappalardi straightaway as the bass player for his new backing band, Mountain. From 1969 to 1971, Pappalardi toured with Mountain, produced all their albums and co-wrote several songs, including their hit single “Mississippi Queen”.

By 1972, owing to the partial deafness incurred by his work touring with Mountain without proper hearing protection, Pappalardi was forced to retire. He continued producing throughout the end of the decade, but eventually laid dormant.

In 1983, Gail Collins discovered the affair he’d been having with groupie Valerie Merians for the better part of a year. Despite their open marriage, Collins was enraged. Taking a .38 revolver Pappalardi had recently given her as a gift, she shot him in the throat and killed him in a fit of anger. Charged with second-degree murder and possession of a firearm, Collins insisted throughout her trial that she’d shot him accidentally while he was teaching her how to use it. As a result, the jury acquitted her of both charges, finding her guilty instead of criminally negligent homicide, for which she served two years of a four-year sentence. After her release, Collins fled to a remote Mexican village, where she lived until her death in 2013.