British record producer Peter Collins, who’s worked with the likes of Rush and Bon Jovi, has died at the age of 73.

Rush members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson have both paid tribute to the producer, who passed away in his home in Nashville after battling pancreatic cancer.

Collins has production credits on Rush's albums Power Windows (1985), Hold Your Fire (1987), Counterparts (1993) and Test for Echo (1996).

He also worked on Queensrÿche's albums Operation: Mindcrime (1988) and Empire (1990), Bon Jovi's These Days (1995), and Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid (1991).

Geddy Lee wrote on Instagram, "So sad to hear of the passing of Peter Collins. A dear, dear friend and producer of 4 different RUSH albums. During periods in the 80's and 90's we had some incredible musical adventures together, in various studios across the globe.

“He truly was our Mr. Big…with his ever present cigar and constant good humour. After hitting the record button, I can still hear him say 'OK boys, from the topping … no stopping!' We love ya B, rest in peace and thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

 

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Lifeson wrote, "Peter Collins will forever live in my memory as Mr. Big, sitting at his control centre beside a recording console with his ubiquitous tools: a legal pad, an ashtray and a Monte Cristo No. 2. Love you B. Farewell."

 

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Previously sharing what made him want to become a record producer in an interview with Journal On The Art Of Record Production in 2004, Collins shared: “I was a singer-songwriter in the sixties, in my teens, and I had a deal with Decca as an artist. I went in the studio and I realised in the course of making that album I wasn’t really interested in being an artist, I was interested in being in the studio and the actual process of making a record.”

"In those days, all the producers were very, very powerful people,” he continued. “They all smoked Cuban cigars. Everybody held them in great reverence. One of my first jobs in the business was as an assistant to the producers at the Decca studios in West Hampstead.

“I was able to see how they wielded power in the studio and that’s what I wanted to be.”