Hal Willner — the respected producer who worked with Lou Reed and Marianne Faithfull, was a long-time “Saturday Night Live” staffer and compiled a series of eccentric all-star tribute albums — died Monday at the age of 64.
A rep for Willner confirmed the producer’s death to Rolling Stone. While a cause of death has yet to be announced, a source close to Willner tells Rolling Stone he was suffering from symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.
Born in Philadelphia in 1956, Willner arrived in New York in 1974 and soon began working for producer Joel Dorn on albums by Bette Midler and Roberta Flack.
In 1980, he had the idea of producing an album of jazz covers of music from Fellini films. Soon enough, he had recruited Blondie’s Debbie Harry