Hugh Mendl

Who was Hugh Mendl?

Hugh Rees Christopher Mendl was a British record producer, A&R representative, and manager who worked for Decca Records for over 40 years.

Mendl attended Radley College and then University College, Oxford, where he studied history. After falling in love with jazz music in the late 1930s, he abandoned his career in foreign affairs for sound recording and reproduction. Mendl's grandfather, who was chairman of the Decca Gramophone Company, landed him his first position in the business. During World War II he worked as an announcer for jazz radio in Jerusalem and on news broadcasts in the Mediterranean. He applied for a job at the BBC after the war but soon returned to Decca. He worked as a "song plugger" in the late 1940s, and began producing in 1950, working early in his career with Reggie Goff, Winifred Atwell and Josh White.

Mendl produced Lonnie Donegan's first recordings, which were pivotal in defining the new skiffle sound of the 1950s. His production credits covered a wide variety of styles—he also produced the original cast recordings of musicals such as Hello, Dolly!, Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be, Oh! What a Lovely War and Cinderella, a set of speeches by Winston Churchill, comedy/satire albums by Ivor Cutler and Frankie Howerd and even an LP of the Le Mans 24-hour race, inspired by his lifelong passion for motor racing.