Recording and mix engineer Al Schmitt will receive the 2,557th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Thursday, honoring a career of more than 50 years in which he worked on more than 150 gold and platinum albums and received 20 Grammys.
Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh and music producer Don Was will join Schmitt in speaking in the 11:30 a.m. ceremony in front of the Capitol Records building where he works.
Schmitt is a native New Yorker who moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950s, worked at RCA early in his career, engineering albums for Sam Cooke, Rosemary Clooney and Henry Mancini.
Schmitt became an independent producer in the mid-1960s, working with Ann-Margret, Bobby Darin, Eddie Fisher and on Cooke’s last records. He also collaborated in the 1960s with Jefferson Airplane, Jackson Browne and Neil Young.
Schmitt later returned to engineering, working at Capitol Studios on Frank Sinatra’s “Duets” and “Duets II,”; Barbra Streisand’s “Back to Broadway”; Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable”; and Diana Krall’s “The Look of Love.”
Schmitt received four Grammys for his work on the posthumously released 2004 Ray Charles album “Genius Loves Company.” His other Grammy wins include work on George Benson’s 1976 release “Breezin”‘ and Paul McCartney’s 2012 album “Kisses on the Bottom.”
Schmitt’s most recent Grammy came in 2014 for best surround sound album for McCartney’s “Live Kisses.”
—City News Service