Mike Vernon, an English record producer, music executive and recording studio owner whose work helped define the British blues boom, died March 2, 2026, at age 81. A cause of death was not announced.
He co-founded Blue Horizon Records with Neil Slaven in 1965 and built it into a major independent label during the mid-to-late 1960s surge in British blues. The label became a key outlet for the scene, releasing recordings by prominent U.K. acts while also working with a number of U.S. blues musicians. Vernon later extended that work on the studio side, helping establish Chipping Norton Recording Studios as Blue Horizon’s in-house facility.
As a producer, Vernon was credited with shaping some of the era’s best-known recordings, including John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers’ Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966). He also produced Fleetwood Mac’s 1968 single “Albatross,” a notable recording from the band’s early, blues-rooted period.
His credits reached beyond blues. After starting work at Decca Records in the mid-1960s, he produced David Bowie’s debut album for Deram in 1967, reflecting a wider role in the U.K. recording industry. In later years, he received a British Blues Awards Lifetime Achievement award (2013).
Vernon co-created Chipping Norton Recording Studios in 1971 with his brother, Richard, and it later operated as a commercial residential studio until October 1999. His work with Blue Horizon and in the control room left a durable record of the musicians and recordings that defined the British blues boom.