Philip “Phil” Ramone (January 5, 1934 – March 30, 2013)
was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business partner Jack Arnold at 112 West 48th Street, New York, above what was then Manny’s Music. The success of that studio caused it to grow into several studios and a record producing company. He was described by Billboard as “legendary” and the BBC as a “CD pioneer”
Ramone was a musical prodigy, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Princess Elizabeth at age ten. In the late 1940s he trained as a classical violinist at the Juilliard School, where one of his classmates was Phil Woods. Ramone opened his own recording studio before he was 20. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States on December 14, 1953