R.I.P.: Andy Paley, Record Producer, Composer

Andy Paley, a record producer, composer and rock ’n’ roll chameleon who worked with artists as varied as Madonna, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jonathan Richman, and who helped resuscitate the career of the Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson after his much-chronicled emotional flameout, died on Nov. 20 in Colchester, Vt. He was 73.

The NY Times reports his wife, Heather Crist Paley, said the cause of his death, at a hospice facility, was cancer.

A curator of the spirit of classic 1960s pop, Paley played many roles over an ever-evolving career. He got his start in the late 1960s as the frontman for a Boston-area power-pop outfit called the Sidewinders, which briefly included the future FM radio staple Billy Squier on guitar and opened for groups like Aerosmith.

Later that decade, he banded with his younger brother, Jonathan, to form a highly regarded, if short-lived, pop duo, the Paley Brothers. With their winsome looks and mops of blond hair, they appeared in the pages of teen bibles like 16 magazine and Tiger Beat and toured with the pop confection Shaun Cassidy.

A skilled multi-instrumentalist, Paley often went on the road with his close friend Mr. Richman and filled in on keyboards on Patti Smith’s 1976 tour of Europe.

Influenced by studio wizards like Phil Spector, Paley also produced songs for numerous performers, including Debbie Harry, K.D. Lang, NRBQ, Little Richard and Brenda Lee. In the 1980s, he began to produce for Seymour Stein, the visionary label chief of Sire Records.

Paley was also a songwriter. Among his many credits, he helped write two songs for Madonna’s 1990 album “I’m Breathless” — “Now I’m Following You” and “I’m Going Bananas” — released in conjunction with the film “Dick Tracy,” in which Madonna co-starred with Warren Beatty. Mr. Paley produced and contributed songs to the film’s soundtrack album as well.

Five years later, he produced and co-wrote several songs for “Young Blood,” a return-to-roots album by the combustible rock ’n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis. And he wrote songs for the cartoon series “The Ren & Stimpy Show” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”