The Smiley Smile Message Board

Unfortunately, Lee Hazlewood died yesterday, at his Las Vegas home. He was 78.

In 2006, he had been diagnosed with terminal renal cancer, probably the cause of his passing.

"So long" to a great, great man who had done so much for music.  :'(

I second that, a great man, and a fine songwriter and a voice like no other  :'(

Knowing that he'll die soon, he recorded a last album. I haven't heard it yet but he definitely was a cool songwriter and producer

Back in February or March I had read an interview in which he stated that it was probably his last album... At the time I didn't know he had been diagnosed with cancer  :-\ I thought he was only "retiring"!

Actually I mostly knew his work with Nancy Sinatra, although I know some tracks by other artists (the Shadows, Duane Eddy, etc) that had been composed by him - but these "few" songs are abolutely magnificent. And his voice was great, unique. And he was a great lyricist too, one of my favourites...!

Billy Hinsche asked me to share the following with you on his behalf. Lee Hazelwood was Dino, Desi and Billy's producer.

Here's a tribute site for Lee:
http://www.mysteryisland.net/leehazlewood

And a tribute, written by Ron Smith:

Producer, writer and singer Lee Hazlewood lost his battle with renal cancer Saturday (August 4) at his home near Las Vegas. He was 78. Born Barton Lee Hazlewood in Mannford, Oklahoma in 1929, he worked a variety of jobs before and after two stints in the U.S. Army, finally becoming a DJ at a radio station in Coolidge, Arizona. It was there that he recorded and released his first records, continuing the effort when he graduated to a radio job in Phoenix in 1955. As a producer in Phoenix, he was responsible for hits like Sanford Clark's "The Fool" in 1956 and instrumentals from Duane Eddy ("Rebel 'Rouser", "Forty Miles of Bad Road", "Because They're Young") and Al Casey. It was Lee who came up with Duane's "twangy" guitar sound by putting his guitar amplifier at one end of an empty water tank and a microphone at the other end as a makeshift echo chamber. In the '60s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he re-invented Nancy Sinatra, writing and producing "These Boots Are Made for Walking", asking her to "bite" the lyrics and record it "for the truck drivers".  Other hits in the same vein followed, like "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'", "Sugar Town" and Nancy's duet with her father, Frank, "Something Stupid" (which Lee co-produced with Jimmy Bowen). Lee recorded his own duets with Nancy as well, including "Jackson" and "Summer Wine". He wrote the scores for the movies "Tony Rome" (starring Frank Sinatra) and "The Cool Ones. He appeared in three films himself-- two efforts while he lived in Sweden and one called "The Moonshine Wars" with Patrick McGoohan. Lee also produced four albums for Dino Desi and Billy and wrote Dean Martin's hit, "Houston". After being diagnosed with his fatal disease, Lee chose to work on one final album, "Cake or Death", which was released earlier this year.