Express & Star

Judas Priest and Black Sabbath producer Chris Tsangarides dies aged 61

Rock producer Chris Tsangarides, who worked with an array of Midland acts such as Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Bruce Dickinson, has died.

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Chris Tsangarides. Pic: https://www.facebook.com/chris.tsangarides.1

The music icon pictured above (pic: https://www.facebook.com/chris.tsangarides.1), died aged 61 on Sunday of heart failure after a battle with pneumonia.

The news was reportedly confirmed by his daughter Anastasia on Facebook.

Chris' first work was as a sound engineer on Judas Priest’s 1976 album Sad Wings Of Destiny and he went on to produce albums including Gary Moore’s Back On The Streets, Thin Lizzy’s Thunder And Lightning, Priest’s Painkiller and Black Sabbath’s The Eternal Idol.

He was also behind the desk for Bruce Dickinson’s debut solo album Tattooed Millionaire.

Chris worked with Birmingham's Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne too, as well as group such as Y&T, Black Sabbath, Tygers of Pan Tang, Ian Gillan, Girlschool, Exodus, Yngwie Malmsteen, Magnum, The Quireboys, The Amorettes, Rock Goddess, Concrete Blonde and Helloween.

In addition to rock icons, Chris also worked with a variety of pop and electronic artists including Depeche Mode, The Human League and Tom Jones.

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi paid tribute to Chris on Twitter:

Fellow Sabbath icon Geezer Butler added:

As did Judas Priest:

Thin Lizzy also paid tribute to him on Facebook: