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Henry ‘Hank’ Cicalo 1932 – 2024
February 4, 2024 by fred.velez
Filed under blogs, Fred Velez, monkees alert, news, news feed
Hank Cicalo June 25, 1932 – January 31, 2024.
From Carole King’s Facebook page:
Hank was the engineer on Tapestry. What more can I say? 🙏
R.I.P. Hank Cicalo
Hank’s wife Lynn shared this on his Facebook page:
HENRY “HANK” CICALO June 25, 1932 – January 31, 2024 On Wednesday, January 31, Hank passed away at home, peacefully, in his sleep, surrounded by his loving family. He was 91 years old. Born in Brooklyn, Hank graduated from Lafayette High School. He served for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps and fought in the Korean War, rising to the rank of staff sergeant. He attended Audio Visual Technical School in New York City.
Shortly after graduating, he moved to California to begin his illustrious career as a recording engineer — first working with Armed Forces Radio, then Capitol Records, RCA, Dot, A&M Records and more. He had the pleasure of working with almost every great artist of his time – from the 50’s through the 80’s: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Lou Rawls, Duke Ellington, The Monkees, George Harrison, Tom Scott, Michael Feinstein and Barbra Streisand, to name a few.
One of his most acclaimed projects was Carole King’s Tapestry album, with producer Lou Adler. In addition to working with them on several subsequent projects, he also enjoyed recording many other artists on Ode Records. He met his wife, Lynn Cherry Cicalo, working on The Blade Runner soundtrack in 1982 and they married in 1988. They were fortunate to share many happy years together.
Hank is survived by his wife Lynn, his former wife Norma and their children: Joe (Shari), Christine, Victoria (Gene) and his grandchildren Joe (32) and Elena (16). A memorial service will be planned for a future time. Because of Hank’s service in the Korean War, he was a passionate advocate for the caring service provided by the USO. Contributions can be made to the USO.
From Andrew Sandoval’s Facebook page:
Last night I learned that recording engineer, Hank Cicalo, had passed – he was 91. He had a very long and incredible career in audio and to highlight only his work with The Monkees would be a disservice to his professional legacy. Nevertheless, that is how I made a connection with him some 30 years ago for an interview that has stood the test of time and has featured in numerous writings I have done ever since on the band. And it was amazing he even recalled as much as he did when, as he told me, his days as an RCA staff engineer were stacked.
Hank: “In order not to lose what I had going with other clients, and the way RCA was set up in those days, I was working like 100 hours a week. Although the Monkees things were important because we were doing scoring — underscoring stuff with Shorty Rogers and whatever — at the same time I was trying to do Duke Ellington, Vic Damone, Peggy Lee and all those other acts. There was a lot of stuff going on. In those two years, ’66 and ’67, I had seven days off the whole year and worked over 100 hours a week.”
In fact, Hank was one of the only factors of continuity in The Monkees’ first 18-months of recording, when they went from producer to producer and eventually became a band in their own right. The Monkees trusted and respected Hank and even gave him the sole writing credit on their song, “No Time,” as a sincere gesture for putting in long hours with them. Notably, he also worked with Michael Nesmith on the solo instrumental project, The Wichita Train Whistle Sings.
I want to thank Hank for his contribution and to giving me a solid interview back when I was just an eighteen-year-old cold calling him hoping to learn as much as possible. May his work live on and bring joy to those who listen. Hint: Every time you hear those words “7A” that open “Daydream Believer” – that’s Hank’s voice.
