ABSTRACT
Born Michael Peter Hayes in Aldershot, England (a London suburb), Most was an important rock producer/impresario of the 1960s and 1970s. He began his career in the late 1950s singing in the British pop group, the Most Brothers, where he earned his new surname. In 1959, he relocated to South Africa, working there for four years leading his own group, the Playboys, who had hits with covers of U.S. rock songs like “Johnny B. Goode.” On his return to England, he moved from performing to producing, signing a then-unknown Newcastle group, the Animals, to a production deal in late 1963. With their hit “House of the Rising Sun” in 1964, Most was launched, and he oversaw all of their mid-1960s hits, also supervising the first hits of Herman’s Hermits and the Nashville Teens. In 1965, he signed a five-year production deal with the U.S. branch of Columbia Records, producing their British Invasion acts, including folk-turned-pop-star Donovan, guitar hero Jeff Beck, and actress/singer Lulu. In 1970, he established his own RAK studio and label, which for the next decade was consistently successful producing hits on the U.K. charts for acts including guitarist Chris Spedding, the teen-pop rocker Suzi Quatro, and the disco act Hot Chocolate (“You Sexy Thing”). Most achieved additional fame by appearing as a panelist on the popular BBC program, New Faces, through the 1970s. Most sold the RAK label catalog to EMI in 1983, and was semiretired thereafter, although he continued to operate his studio as an independent. In 1995, he was named one of “Britain’s Richest 500” by the [London] Sunday Times. He died of cancer in London.
