Mutt Lange

Biography

Robert John "Mutt" Lange ( LANG; born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer. He is known for his work in rock music as well as co-writing and producing various songs for Shania Twain, his ex-wife. Her 1997 album Come On Over, which Lange produced, is the best-selling country music album, the best-selling studio album by a female act, the best-selling album of the 1990s, and the ninth best-selling album from the United States. He has either been a producer for or worked for artists including AC/DC, Def Leppard, City Boy, the Michael Stanley Band, the Boomtown Rats, Foreigner, Outlaws, Michael Bolton, Heart, the Cars, Bryan Adams, Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Ocean, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, the Corrs, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, Now United, Nickelback, and Muse.

Early life

Robert John Lange was born in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia), and grew up in Durban, South Africa. His parents are German. His mother came from a prosperous family, and his father was a mining engineer. Nicknamed "Mutt" at an early age, he grew up a fan of country music, in particular the singer Slim Whitman. While studying at Belfast High School in what is now Mpumalanga province, he started a band in which he played rhythm guitar and sang harmonies.

Career

After his national service (1966–1967), Lange formed the band Sound Reason in 1969, together with James Borthwick, a South African TV, stage, and film actor. In 1971, Lange began the group Hocus, recording one album and releasing five singles.
In 1978, Lange wrote and produced Ipswich Town's FA Cup Final single "Ipswich Get That Goal", his connection with the club due to their South Africa-born player Colin Viljoen. The song is derived from a previous recording, "Give That Thang to Me" by Paul Jones (1977), with some parts rearranged and new lyrics. Beginning production work in 1976, his first major hits came in October 1978 with the UK No. 1 single "Rat Trap" for the Boomtown Rats, followed in July 1979 with AC/DC's hard rock album Highway to Hell (No. 8 UK, No. 17 US). He produced a total of five albums for UK band City Boy from 1976 to 1979.
He produced two more albums with AC/DC, including Back in Black (1980), which is, as of 2026, the second-best-selling album of all time. He also worked with rock group Foreigner on 4, and with Def Leppard on their hit albums, High 'n' Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize, co-writing most of the songs. After Hysteria, Lange bowed out of working with Def Leppard. In 1999, he returned to working with them in a more limited role, co-writing three tracks for their album Euphoria, which spawned the single "Promises", a Number 1 hit on the mainstream rock charts.
In 1991, he produced Bryan Adams's Waking Up the Neighbours, including co-writing "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" for the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves which – with 16 consecutive weeks at the top from 7 July to 26 October 1991 – holds the record for the longest number of consecutive weeks at Number 1 in the UK singles chart. Lange produced the single "Make You" from the album Great Escape by Irish singer Tara Blaise which was released in May 2008. In the 2001 television film Hysteria – The Def Leppard Story, actor Anthony Michael Hall portrayed Lange.

Personal life

Lange is a strict vegetarian and a follower of the egalitarian teachings of Sant Mat. He has not given an interview for decades and prefers to live a secluded life, primarily in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland.
Lange met Stevie Vann when the two attended the same school in Northern Rhodesia in the early 1960s, and the two reconnected a few years later while attending Belfast High School in South Africa. They played together in a short-lived band named Hocus, and later married and emigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1970s. The marriage broke down in the 1970s. While married, Lange started a five-year relationship with Oonagh O'Reilly, an Irish-born co-worker. In 1979, he married actress Olga Anthony.
After hearing Shania Twain's music, he got in touch with her, and they spent many hours on the phone. They finally met six months after the initial contact and were married on 28 December 1993. Lange is a teetotaler and, as a result, they had non-alcoholic champagne at their wedding. Lange had the song "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" performed as a sign of his dedication to Twain. In August 2001, their son was born.
On 15 May 2008, a spokesman for his employer Mercury Nashville announced that Twain and Lange were separating, after Lange had an affair with Twain's then-best friend and secretary Marie-Anne Thiébaud, with whom he reportedly continued the relationship and moved to Switzerland. Lange and Twain divorced in June 2010. On 1 January 2011, Twain married Frédéric Thiébaud, the former husband of Marie-Anne. Lange subsequently married Marie-Anne.
In 2011, Lange purchased Coronet Peak Station located on the mountain and ski field of the same name in Queenstown, New Zealand on South Island. In 2014, he protected 53,000 hectares (130,000 acres) of his land as Queen Elizabeth II National Trust covenant; this is the largest private conservation covenant in New Zealand.

Produced albums

Albums on which Lange produced a majority of the tracks:

Hocus – "The Swan"/"He", 1972
Richard Jon Smith – Superstar Smith, 1974
Spider – Spider, 1975
City Boy – City Boy, 1976
City Boy – Dinner at the Ritz, 1976
Kevin Coyne – In Living Black and White, 1976
Mallard – In a Different Climate, 1976
Graham Parker – Heat Treatment, 1976
Supercharge – Local Lads Make Good, 1976
The Motors – 1, 1977
City Boy – Young Men Gone West, 1977
Clover – Love on the Wire, 1977
Clover – Unavailable, 1977
Supercharge – Horizontal Refreshment, 1977
The Boomtown Rats – The Boomtown Rats, 1977
The Rumour – Max, 1977
Savoy Brown – Savage Return, 1978
Michael Stanley Band – Cabin Fever, 1978
City Boy – Book Early, 1978
Outlaws – Playin' to Win, 1978
The Boomtown Rats – A Tonic for the Troops, 1978
Deaf School – English Boys/Working Girls, 1978
City Boy – The Day the Earth Caught Fire, 1979
The Records – Shades in Bed, 1979
Supercharge – Body Rhythm, 1979
The Boomtown Rats – The Fine Art of Surfacing, 1979
AC/DC – Highway to Hell, 1979
Tycoon – Tycoon, 1979
Broken Home – Broken Home, 1980
AC/DC – Back in Black, 1980
Foreigner – 4, 1981
Def Leppard – High 'N' Dry, 1981
AC/DC – For Those About to Rock We Salute You, 1981
Def Leppard – Pyromania, 1983
The Cars – Heartbeat City, 1984
Def Leppard – Hysteria, 1987
Romeo's Daughter – Romeo's Daughter, 1988
Billy Ocean – Tear Down These Walls, 1988
Bryan Adams – Waking Up the Neighbours, 1991
Def Leppard – Adrenalize (executive producer), 1992
Michael Bolton – The One Thing, 1993
Stevie Vann – Stevie Vann, 1995
Shania Twain – The Woman in Me, 1995
Bryan Adams – 18 til I Die, 1996
Shania Twain – Come on Over, 1997
The Corrs – In Blue, 2000
Shania Twain – Up!, 2002
Shania Twain – Greatest Hits, 2004
Nickelback – Dark Horse, 2008
Maroon 5 – Hands All Over, 2010
Muse – Drones, 2015
Ashley Clark – Ashley Clark, 2015

Produced album tracks

Albums on which Lange produced at least one track:

Jessica Jones – "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday", 1972
Stephen – "Right On Running Man", 1974/5
Graham Parker and the Rumour – The Parkerilla, 1978
XTC – "This Is Pop" (single version), 1978
Roman Holliday – Fire Me Up (executive producer), 1984
Billy Ocean – Suddenly (executive producer), 1984
Billy Ocean – Love Zone (executive producer), 1986
Billy Ocean – Greatest Hits, 1989
Bryan Adams – So Far So Good, 1993
Tina Turner – What's Love Got to Do with It, 1993
Michael Bolton – Greatest Hits, 1995
Celine Dion – All the Way... A Decade of Song, 1999
Backstreet Boys – Backstreet's Back, 1997
Backstreet Boys – Millennium, 1999
Bryan Adams – The Best of Me, 1999
Britney Spears – Oops!... I Did It Again, 2000
Celine Dion – A New Day Has Come, 2002
Bryan Adams – Room Service, 2004
Various artists – Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives, 2005
Anne Murray – Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends, 2007
Bryan Adams – 11, 2008
Tara Blaise – Great Escape, 2008
Lady Gaga – Born This Way, 2011
Zander Bleck – Bring It On, 2012
Bryan Adams – So Happy It Hurts, 2022
Crossbone Skully - Evil World Machine, 2024

Album tracks written or co-written

Britney Spears – "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" from Oops!...I Did It Again, 2000
Bryan Adams – "I Will Always Return", "You Can't Take Me" and "This Is Where I Belong" from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, 2002
Bryan Adams – "So Far So Good" from Anthology, 2005
Bryan Adams and Sarah McLachlan – "Don't Let Go" from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, 2002
Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting – "All for Love" from The Three Musketeers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1993
Bryan Adams – "So Happy it Hurts" from So Happy It Hurts, 2021
Bryan Adams – "On the Road" from So Happy It Hurts, 2021
Bryan Adams – "Kick Ass" from So Happy It Hurts, 2021
Jessica Andrews – "I'll Take Your Heart" from Heart Shaped World, 1999
Backstreet Boys – "If You Want It to Be Good Girl (Get Yourself a Bad Boy)" from Backstreet's Back, 1997
Backstreet Boys – "It's Gotta Be You" from Millennium, 1999
Blackhawk – "I'm Not Strong Enough to Say No" from Strong Enough, 1995
Michael Bolton – "Only a Woman Like You" from Only a Woman Like You, 2002
Michael Bolton – "Said I Loved You...But I Lied" from The One Thing, 1993
Claude François – "Stop, Stop, Stop" and "Without Your Love I Can't Live" from Bordeaux Rosé, 1978
Clout – "Don't Stop" from Substitute, 1978
Billy Ray Cyrus – "Only God (Could Stop Me Loving You)" from Storm in the Heartland, 1994
Celine Dion – "If Walls Could Talk", from: "All the Way... A Decade of Song", 1999
Dana – "Without Your Love (I Can't Live)" – track produced by Barry Blue from The Girl Is Back, 1979
Def Leppard – All songs on Pyromania, 1983
Def Leppard – All songs on Hysteria, 1987
Def Leppard – "Ring of Fire" and "I Wanna Be Your Hero" from Retro Active, 1993
Def Leppard – "Promises", "All Night" and "It's Only Love" from Euphoria, 1999
Dionne Warwick – "Without Your Love" – track produced by Richard Landis from Finder of Lost Loves, 1985
Claude François – "Without Your Love I Can't Live" and "Stop, Stop, Stop" from Chante En Anglais - Bordeaux Rosé, 1978
Dobie Gray – "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" from Dobie's self-titled album, 1979
Girls Next Door – "Without Your Love" from What a Girl Next Door Could Do, 1987
Heart – "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" and "Wild Child" from Brigade, 1990
Heart – "Will You Be There (In the Morning)" from Desire Walks On, 1993
Huey Lewis and the News – "Do You Believe in Love" from Picture This, 1982
Huey Lewis and the News – "It Hit Me Like a Hammer" from Hard at Play, 1991
Lonestar – "You Walked In" from Crazy Nights, 1997
Loverboy – "Lovin' Every Minute of It" from Lovin' Every Minute of It, 1985
Reba McEntire – "I'll Take Your Heart" from Moments and Memories: The Best of Reba, 1998
Miss Willie Brown – "You're All That Matters to Me", 2012
PJ Powers – "(Let That) River Roll" from Thandeka Talk to Me, 2001
Starship – "I Didn't Mean to Stay All Night" from Love Among the Cannibals, 1989
Carrie Underwood – "Who Are You" from Blown Away, 2012
Celtic Woman – "Walk Beside Me", 2015
Romeos Daughter – "Don't Break My Heart", "I Cry Myself to Sleep at Night", "Wild Child", "Heaven in the Backseat", 1988
Eddie Money – "Heaven in the Backseat", 1991
The Corrs – "Breathless", 2000
Shania Twain – All songs on The Woman in Me (except "Leaving Is the Only Way Out"), Come on Over, and Up!
Zander Bleck – "Bring It On", 2012
Radioactive – "Move It", 2022
Radioactive – "Reset" and "Open Spaces", 2024
Leah Martin-Brown - "Boys", 2024
Crossbone Skully - "I'm Unbreakable" from Evil World Machine, 2024
Crossbone Skully - "The Last Night On Earth" from Evil World Machine, 2024

Grammy Awards

1991 – (Everything I Do) I Do It for You by Bryan Adams – Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television
1995 – The Woman in Me by Shania Twain – Best Country Album
1998 – You're Still the One by Shania Twain – Best Country Song
1999 – Come on Over by Shania Twain – Best Country Song
2016 – Drones by Muse – Best Rock Album