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Reissue compiler and producer
Andy McKaie has an impressive list of accomplishments. As vice president of catalog development and A&R for Universal Music Special Markets, he has supervised critically acclaimed reissues taken from the massive
MCA Records catalog which includes the catalogs of Chess Records,
Don Robey's Duke-Peacock Records, ABC Records, and Decca Records, among many others.
The Flushing, NY, native moved to Los Angeles, CA, in 1981. His career includes working as a rock critic and a publicist. In 1986, he was hired to oversee
MCA's reissue department. Preferring to work from the original stereo two-track masters,
McKaie has won two Grammy Awards: Reissue Producer of the Year for
Chuck Berry's
The Chess Box and Reissue Co-Producer of the Year for
Billie Holiday's
The Complete Decca Recordings.
McKaie was also instrumental in reissuing long out of print recordings by blues legend
B.B. King. Some
McKaie-related releases from the '90s are
Outside Looking In: The Best of the Gin Blossoms (October 1999), Gladys Knight's Essential Collection (September 1999), Alfred Hitchcock Presents Signatures in Suspense (July 1999), Patsy Cline's 20th Century Masters (July 1999),
Best of Patti Labelle: 20th Century Masters (April 1999),
Louis Armstrong's All Time Greatest Hits, The Very Best of Rufus & Chaka Khan, The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd,
Etta James Her Best,
B.B. King's Greatest Hits (
MCA), The Mamas & the Papas' Greatest Hits,
Uptown Rulin': The Best of the Neville Brothers,
Muddy Waters'
His Best: 1947-1955, and the CD reissue of the soundtrack of the 1971 Gene Wilder children's movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. In 1999, he became Senior Vice President of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises where he co-created and developed the 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection, which quickly became the best-selling, mid-price series that the music industry had produced to date. In 2010 he was awarded the “Keeping the Blues Alive” Producer Award from Memphis’ Blues Foundation. ~ Ed Hogan