Remembering 2025’s Music Losses: Roy Thomas Baker

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The music side of the remembrance of the losses of 2025 begins with someone you’ve probably never heard of…unless you read liner notes. His contributions to music, however, cannot be understated. We began our annual tribute to the musical deaths of the previous year with one of the most significant producers of the 1970s. Roy Thomas Baker One word: QUEEN. Roy Thomas Baker produced Queen’s first five albums. Of course, that’s not all that Baker contributed to music. He also produced the first albums by American band The Cars. His contributions are a who’s who of rock and roll: Ozzy, Dusty Springfield, Cheap Trick, Devo, and Smashing Pumpkins are some of the acts he sat in the control studio for. Baker started working in recording studios at the age of fourteen. He was mentored by the legendary Gus Dudgeon (best known as Elton John’s producer), so he had production skills and lessons that served him well through five decades and a host of legendary albums. And now that he’s dead, they’ll probably put him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Roy Thomas Baker Born November 10, 1946, Hempstead, London Died April 12, 2025, Lake Havasu City, Arizona (unknown cause) (age 78) Here’s one of Queen’s great songs, “Killer Queen,” which was produced by Roy Thomas Baker: