Shel Talmy

Shel Talmy (pictured in the middle) is an American record producer, best known for working with The Kinks and The Who. He produced The Kinks' first five studio albums, from 1964-1967.

As the story goes, Pete Townshend was very taken with “You Really Got Me”, and recorded a song with his band, then called The High Numbers, called “I Can’t Explain”, and played it through the telephone for Talmy. He agreed to produce the band’s next record. The High Numbers changed their name to The Who and Talmy produced their first album, My Generation. He parted with the band after that record due to creative differences.

Talmy also worked with Roy Harper, The Bachelors, The Easybeats, and The Creation. In the 70s he co-founded a production company named Hush that help produce music for Pentangle and String Driven Thing. He hasn’t been actively involved in the music industry since that time.