Mutt Lange

Robert John "Mutt" Lange (/læŋ/ LANG; born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer. He is known for his work in rock music as well as co-writing and producing various songs for Shania Twain, his ex-wife. Her 1997 album Come On Over, which Lange produced, is the best-selling country music album, the best-selling studio album by a female act, the best-selling album of the 1990s, and the ninth best-selling album from the United States. He has either been a producer for or worked for artists including AC/DC, Def Leppard, City Boy, the Michael Stanley Band, the Boomtown Rats, Foreigner, Outlaws, Michael Bolton, Heart, the Cars, Bryan Adams, Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Ocean, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, the Corrs, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, Now United, Nickelback, and Muse.

Early life

Robert John Lange was born in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia), and grew up in Durban, South Africa. His parents are German. His mother came from a prosperous family, and his father was a mining engineer. Nicknamed "Mutt" at an early age, he grew up a fan of country music, in particular the singer Slim Whitman. While studying at Belfast High School in what is now Mpumalanga province, he started a band in which he played rhythm guitar and sang harmonies.

Career

After his national service (1966–1967), Lange formed the band Sound Reason in 1969, together with James Borthwick, a South African TV, stage, and film actor. In 1971, Lange began the group Hocus, recording one album and releasing five singles.

In 1978, Lange wrote and produced Ipswich Town's FA Cup Final single "Ipswich Get That Goal", his connection with the club due to their South Africa-born player Colin Viljoen. The song is derived from a previous recording, "Give That Thang to Me" by Paul Jones (1977), with some parts rearranged and new lyrics.^{[citation needed]} Beginning production work in 1976, his first major hits came in October 1978 with the UK No. 1 single "Rat Trap" for the Boomtown Rats, followed in July 1979 with AC/DC's hard rock album Highway to Hell (No. 8 UK, No. 17 US). He produced a total of five albums for UK band City Boy from 1976 to 1979.^{[citation needed]}

He produced two more albums with AC/DC, including Back in Black (1980), which is, as of 2026^[update], the second-best-selling album of all time. He also worked with rock group Foreigner on 4, and with Def Leppard on their hit albums, High 'n' Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize, co-writing most of the songs. After Hysteria, Lange bowed out of working with Def Leppard. In 1999, he returned to working with them in a more limited role, co-writing three tracks for their album Euphoria, which spawned the single "Promises", a Number 1 hit on the mainstream rock charts.^{[citation needed]}

In 1991, he produced Bryan Adams's Waking Up the Neighbours, including co-writing "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" for the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves which – with 16 consecutive weeks at the top from 7 July to 26 October 1991 – holds the record for the longest number of consecutive weeks at Number 1 in the UK singles chart. Lange produced the single "Make You" from the album Great Escape by Irish singer Tara Blaise which was released in May 2008.^{[citation needed]} In the 2001 television film Hysteria – The Def Leppard Story, actor Anthony Michael Hall portrayed Lange.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Lange is a strict vegetarian and a follower of the egalitarian teachings of Sant Mat. He has not given an interview for decades and prefers to live a secluded life, primarily in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland.

Lange met Stevie Vann when the two attended the same school in Northern Rhodesia in the early 1960s, and the two reconnected a few years later while attending Belfast High School in South Africa. They played together in a short-lived band named Hocus, and later married and emigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1970s. The marriage broke down in the 1970s. While married, Lange started a five-year relationship with Oonagh O'Reilly, an Irish-born co-worker. In 1979, he married actress Olga Anthony.

After hearing Shania Twain's music, he got in touch with her, and they spent many hours on the phone. They finally met six months after the initial contact and were married on 28 December 1993. Lange is a teetotaler and, as a result, they had non-alcoholic champagne at their wedding. Lange had the song "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" performed as a sign of his dedication to Twain. In August 2001, their son was born.

On 15 May 2008, a spokesman for his employer Mercury Nashville announced that Twain and Lange were separating, after Lange had an affair with Twain's then-best friend and secretary Marie-Anne Thiébaud, with whom he reportedly continued the relationship and moved to Switzerland. Lange and Twain divorced in June 2010. On 1 January 2011, Twain married Frédéric Thiébaud, the former husband of Marie-Anne. Lange subsequently married Marie-Anne.

In 2011, Lange purchased Coronet Peak Station located on the mountain and ski field of the same name in Queenstown, New Zealand on South Island. In 2014, he protected 53,000 hectares (130,000 acres) of his land as Queen Elizabeth II National Trust covenant; this is the largest private conservation covenant in New Zealand.

Discography

Grammy Awards

• 1991 – (Everything I Do) I Do It for You by Bryan Adams – Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television
• 1995 – The Woman in Me by Shania Twain – Best Country Album
• 1998 – You're Still the One by Shania Twain – Best Country Song
• 1999 – Come on Over by Shania Twain – Best Country Song
• 2016 – Drones by Muse – Best Rock Album

References

External links

• Mutt Lange at IMDb