Stars' tributes to producer Most

Mickie Most had more number one hits than any other producer

Pop star Suzi Quatro and others have paid tribute to producer Mickie Most, who has died at the age of 64.

Most, who worked with music stars including Jeff Beck and Lulu, died at his home in north London on Friday from cancer.

Quatro, 53 next week, flew back from Spain after cutting short a holiday upon hearing the news.

"Mickie has been the biggest part of my life since I was 20 years old," she said.

"He took me from Detroit in 1971 and brought me over to England. He always had one eye on me, even when I got married.

"I really am very upset. It's come as a huge shock. He was like a father and a brother so I feel like I have lost a member of my family."

'Picking songs'

Like many other artists who worked with Most, Quatro said his skill in marrying a song to a particular singer was among his most outstanding talents.

His greatest quality was to see star quality and then find the right song, and marry that song and the artist together in one package Suzi Quatro

Nicky Chinn, of the Seventies song-writing and producing team Chinn and Chapman, said: "He had an incredible skill in picking songs - he could pick a song on the moon.

"He was a giant, something special. So many artists owe so much to him. I am already missing him greatly."

Most, whose real name was Michael Peter Hayes, was reported to be worth £50m and credited with producing more No 1 hits world-wide than any other record producer.

During a long career he recorded work with Herman's Hermits, The Animals, Hot Chocolate and Kim Wilde.

He will also be remembered by many for his put-downs and brutally honest assessments of new talent on the TV show New Faces.

South Africa star

Most, from Aldershot in Hampshire, began his music career in The Most Brothers, whose backing band included future Shadows Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch on guitars.

He was a great friend and support to all he loved, generous to a fault Life-long friend Deke Arlon

In the late 50s and early 60s he became a pop star in South Africa where his band the Playboys had 11 consecutive number ones with covers of American hits.

After he returned to the UK, his first job producing was with the Animals and their massive hit House of the Rising Sun.

By 1964 he had won his first Grammy award, and in the late 1960s he was producing Donovan, Lulu and Beck.

In the 1970s he signed Mud and Suzi Quatro to his own label - Rak Records - and worked with Hot Chocolate and Smokie.

Rak was sold to EMI in the late 1980s but Most continued to make money because he owned the rights to his own records - the first UK producer to do so.

Many of his songs have held enduring popularity, including Hot Chocolate's You Sexy Thing, which featured in the hit movie The Full Monty.

Most leaves his wife of more than 40 years Christina, two daughters Nathalie and Christalle and a son Calvin.