Music Producer Phil Ramone of Wilton Dies at 79

The music world is mourning the loss of legendary music producer, engineer and arranger, Phil Ramone, who died Saturday at a New York Hospital following complications related to heart surgery, according to The Huffington Post.

Ramone stacked up 14 competitive Grammy Awards and one for lifetime achievement after working with famous artists over an array of musical genres: Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, Elton John and Tony Bennett, Madonna and Lou Reed, to name a few.

Ramone, who formerly lived in Bedford, NY, was a resident of Wilton. He had a wife, Karen Ichiuji-Ramone, and three sons, Matthew, Simon and William.

Among the hundreds of artists he worked with to produce music for television, film, and the stage was Billy Joel, who credits Ramone for engineering several of his hit songs.

"I always thought of Phil Ramone as the most talented guy in my band. So much of my music was shaped by him and brought to fruition by him. I have lost a dear friend – and my greatest mentor," Joel said in a statement after Ramone's death, HuffPo reports.

Ramone was also the brains behind the popular duet albums featuring the older Frank Sinatra with young contemporary artists like Bono and Gloria Estefan. His accomplishments included television accolades; he won an Emmy for a television special on Duke Ellington and advised presidents on producing musical backdrops for political events. His professional associations include serving as chairman emeritus of the board of trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and as a trustee for the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.

Many news outlets are reporting Ramone's age at death as 79. The Los Angeles Times says Ramone was born in South Africa in 1931, according to his 2007 memoir, but acknowledged that some public records give his birth year as 1934.

To read the full story on HuffPo, click here.

Editor's note: This article previously was published by Wilton Patch and by Bedford-Katonah Patch.