Departures of note

Phil McDonald was a British recording engineer and record producer who spent much of his career at Abbey Road Studios, where he worked on some of The Beatles' most celebrated records. He joined EMI Recording Studios at Abbey Road in 1964 at the age of 18, starting in the tape library before moving through the disc-cutting department and eventually becoming a balance engineer. His first session with The Beatles was documented as 17 June 1965 for 'Yesterday', and he went on to work on Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album, and took a central role in the recording of Abbey Road, for which he shared a Grammy in 1970. He was one of the few engineers credited on the back cover of that album. Around 1971 he moved to Apple Records, where he worked with all four Beatles on their first solo projects, and later lent his talents to artists including Eric Clapton, Harry Nilsson, Deep Purple, Squeeze and Roy Orbison. His career spanned influential albums such as All Things Must Pass, Imagine, Plastic Ono Band, Deep Purple In Rock, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, and Traveling Wilburys Vol.1. Born in Leeds on 3 February 1946, he died at the age of 80.