Rupert Hine (72) was born on Sep 21, 1947 in Wimbledon, London, England. He was the son of Maurice, a timber merchant, and Joan (née Harris), a Red Cross nurse. He grew up in a house full of music; his mother was an amateur ballet dancer and his father an amateur musician who also played drums in a jazz band when he was young. Hine’s mother was convinced he would be an architect, but Hine’s early ambition was to become a cartographer. Hine started playing in the school band at age 14 and played the mouth organ, mostly because it was the cheapest instrument to buy.
In the early 1960s, Hine formed half of the folk duo Rupert & David with David MacIver. The duo performed in pubs and clubs and occasionally shared the stage with a then-unknown Paul Simon. The duo’s one released single was a cover of Simon’s “The Sound of Silence“. The single was not a success, but was notable for featuring a young Jimmy Page on guitar and Herbie Flowers on bass. For several years Hine wrote songs with MacIver while working at temporary jobs, until he was helped by Deep Purple‘s bassist Roger Glover, whom Hine knew from Glover’s previous band Episode 6. Hine and MacIver were signed to Deep Purple’s Purple label. Glover produced Hine’s first solo album, Pick Up a Bone (1971). Unfinished Picture(1973) followed, but neither album was successful. However, Hine now became increasingly in demand as an independent producer.
As a record producer Rupert Hine worked on ‘The Getaway’ for Chris DeBurgh, Tina Turner’s ‘Private Dancer’ and ‘Break Every Rule’, Howard Jones’ ‘Human Lib’, Bob Geldof’s ‘Deep In The Heart of Nowhere’, Thompson Twins ‘Close To The Bone’, Stevie Nicks ‘The Other Side of the River’ as well as albums by The Fixx, Robert Palmer, Rush, Katey Sagel, Dusty Springfield and Norman Cook.
In 1973, Hine, along with guitarist Mark Warner, formed the band Quantum Jump, releasing two albums, Quantum Jump (1976) and Barracuda (1977). After the re-release of the single “The Lone Ranger” (from Quantum Jump) became an unexpected UK Top five hit in 1979, a third album – Mixing, a reworking of tracks selected from the first two Quantum Jump albums – was released.
After Quantum Jump disbanded, Hine released a trilogy of albums under his own name, including Immunity (1981); Waving Not Drowning (1982); and The Wildest Wish to Fly (1983). The American release of Wildest Wish dropped two tracks, radically reworked two others and incorporated two tracks from 1981’s Immunity – including “Misplaced Love”, which featured a guest vocal by Marianne Faithfull and had been a minor hit in Australia, reaching number 14 on the chart.
But it was as a producer that Hine made the biggest impact in popular culture. While the 1970s were a busy time for Hine, with titles by Camel, Anthony Phillips (ex-Genesis) and Kevin Ayers (ex-Soft Machine) to his credit, it wasn’t until New Wave engulfed the 1980s that he reached international success by becoming the go-to producer for The Fixx and Howard Jones, two of the genre’s biggest acts. Hine helmed the first four studio albums by The Fixx, including 1983’s Reach the Beach and its top-5 hit “One Thing Leads to Another,” and the first two albums by Jones.
Hine also had a hand in crafting Tina Turner’s 1984 juggernaut Private Dancer, having produced the single “Better Be Good to Me,” a top-5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 that earned a Grammy Award — for best rock vocal performance, female — in 1985. He also co-wrote and produced “Break Every Rule,” the title track to Turner’s 1986 album, and again collaborated with the rock legend on 1989’s Foreign Affair.
In 1985, Hine wrote and produced much of the soundtrack for the black comedy film Better Off Dead. Later he and composer Eric Serra wrote “The Experience of Love”, the end title song for the Bond film GoldenEye. His film soundtrack credits also include The Fifth Element (composed by Serra), and The Addams Family.
Other production credits from the decade include Stevie Nicks’ The Other Side of the Mirror, as well as albums by the Thompson Twins, Underworld, Saga and Chris De Burgh, among others. He also linked up with Canadian progressive rock heroes Rush for a two-album run that included 1989’s Presto and 1991’s Roll the Bones.
In the 1990s, Hine worked on albums with Bob Geldof and French artist Éric Serra, as well as releases by actresses Katey Sagal and Milla Jovovich. One of his biggest hits of the decade arrived in 1996, when he produced the self-titled debut album by Duncan Sheik, which included modern rock radio staples “Barely Breathing” and “She Runs Away.” The pair teamed up again with 1998’s Humming.
Hine continued his work in the 21st Century, producing albums for Suzanne Vega, Ra, Stuart Davis and others. In 2008 he oversaw the benefit album Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace, which had contributions from Rush, Vega, Sheik, Sting, Alanis Morissette, Ben Harper and Hine himself, among others. A follow-up compilation, meant to mark the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday, featured Peter Gabriel, Lorde, Kate Bush, Elbow, Sheik and Howard Jones.
Over his 50 years of being active in music, Hine worked on over 130 albums.
“Rupert pioneered electronic musical instrument interfaces with the fledgling MIDI. Invited by Apple in the 90s to help demonstrate the powers of their ground-breaking software engines to the music-world’s creative thinkers, Rupert has consistently championed the incorporation of the digital environment into art and creativity”.
Rupert Hine died June 4, 2020 at the age on 72. He had been battling with cancer since 2011.
