Denny Cordell; Influential Record Producer

Denny Cordell, 51, record producer who worked with such artists as Chet Baker, Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge. A native of Argentina educated in England, Cordell became influential in the evolution of contemporary popular music. He managed Baker in the mid-1960s and then went to work for Island Records in 1965. He left to produce the Moody Blues’ first album, “Go Now: The Moody Blues 1.” As an independent producer, Cordell produced such hits as Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and Joe Cocker’s “With a Little Help From My Friends.” In the 1970s, Cordell signed Mudcrutch, which evolved into Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, whose albums Cordell produced. Cordell left the music business in 1980 to focus on his other passion, breeding and training thoroughbred racehorses in Ireland. But in 1991, he returned to Island as creative director. He brought the Irish rock band the Cranberries to the label and helped produce Etheridge’s current album, “Yes, I Am.” On Feb. 18 in Dublin of lymphoma.