Don Meehan recognized with RIAA Certified Sales Award for Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence.”
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Music industry veteran Don Meehan has just released his holiday CD, It’s December, claiming a new world record for singing and overdubbing his voice 136 times on a single recording. It’s December is the hallmark of an astounding career for super-talented Meehan. He has earned Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum credits for recording and mixing artists such as Bob Dylan, Barbara Streisand, The Manhattans, and others.
His title song, “It’s December,” mentions Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas. Another hit on this album, “Silent Night Out There,” is an interesting arrangement hinting at a Silent Night somewhere out there, possibly even on Mars. But a most unusual achievement is Meehan overdubbing his 136 voices, singing all the choir parts of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” After singing it a cappella, he played drums, bass, guitars, piano, organ, horns and strings to make it rock, performing the work of at least thirty musicians. Going on 84, Meehan’s voice is better than ever. He said his ultimate ego trip was hearing it on his recently patented 5.1 Miniaturized Loudspeaker Placement Platform, his next big project he’ll be promoting, with five speakers only inches away.
One organization Meehan approached wouldn’t accept the new world record because they said it is impossible to prove the number of voices, and they frowned when he could not guarantee an estimated number of record sales. “Ridiculous,” said Meehan. “It’s easy to prove. And what do sales have to do with a world record?” So, he started his own campaign to claim the world record.
Don Meehan did the mono mixing on the original recordings of Sounds of Silence that launched Simon and Garfunkel in 1965, before engineer credits were published. Others through the years have falsely claimed credit. When the Library of Congress added the recording to the National Recording Registry “for long-term preservation due to its cultural, artistic and historic importance,” Meehan began a campaign at his www.roughmixdon.com blog to set the record straight.
Meehan had expressed how he wants his kids and grandkids to know about his many talents and accomplishments. Coincidentally, while working on his CD, his son, John, mentioned to him that he would like to have a couple of his dad’s Platinum records to hang on his Florida restaurant music wall. Meehan told his son about the Simon and Garfunkel situation, and several weeks later he received a package containing the award as a gift from his son.
It reads, “RIAA CERTIFIED SALES AWARD – PRESENTED TO DON MEEHAN TO COMMEMORATE THE SALE OF MORE THAN 3,000,000 COPIES OF THE COLUMBIA RECORDS LONG PLAYING ALBUM ‘SOUNDS OF SILENCE.'”
“He wouldn’t say, but I believe my son must have gotten on the case since he knows how to get things done,” remarked Meehan. “He worked as an executive with Ritz Carlton management for 12 years in six locations, and was an executive consultant for a year and a half for the new Fontainebleau before he opened his highly successful Meehan’s Irish Pub in St. Augustine. The new RIAA Award now hangs there.
It’s December is available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/donmeehan1 and all CD Baby affiliates including iTunes and Amazon.