b. 1 January 1925, New York City, New York, USA, d. 27 October 2002, Aventura, Florida, USA. This much-respected engineer/producer began his career in 1947 at New York's Ampex Studio. Here he became acquainted with Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder of Atlantic Records, who invited Dowd, then still a teenager, to join the label. His early sessions included releases by Joe Turner, Ray Charles and Ruth Brown, to whom he brought a clarity hitherto unheard in R&B recordings. Always striving for new techniques, Dowd engineered the first stereo album, by the Wilbur De Paris Dixieland Band, which required customized equipment, including two needles, to play it. He is credited with introducing the first eight-track recordin machine into a major studio in 1957. His collaborations with producers Leiber And Stoller brought commercial success to the Coasters and Drifters, while in the 60s Dowd engineered Atlantic's sessions at the Stax Records and Fame studios. His first work with Otis Redding, Otis Blue, is generally regarded as the singer's finest album and was responsible for taking the artist into the pop market. Dowd also enjoyed commercially fruitful recordings with the (Young) Rascals, Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin and later helped create the label's custom-built studio, Criteria, in Miami.
Dowd later became a fully-fledged producer, and during the 70s left the Atlantic staff to pursue freelance work, notably with Eric Clapton on 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), E.C. Was Here and There's One In Every Crowd (both 1975), the Allman Brothers on Live At Fillmore East (1971), and Rod Stewart on Atlantic Crossing (1975) and A Night On The Town (1976). He was honoured with a National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award shortly before his death in October 2002.
