Joe Chiccarelli is an American record producer, mixer and engineer, who is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and has been active since the 1980s. He has worked with artists such as Jason Mraz, The White Stripes, The Strokes, U2, Beck, Elton John, The Killers, Michael Bublé, Alanis Morissette, Young the Giant, Vance Joy, Julieta Venegas, Plain White T's, The Shins, Manchester Orchestra, Morrissey, Spoon, My Morning Jacket, Etta James, Weezer, Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton, Cafe Tacuba, All American Rejects, Cage The Elephant, The Offspring, Rufus Wainwright, and Joan Baez.
Chiccarelli’s career was launched by Frank Zappa, who gave him his first major engineering credit on Sheik Yerbouti. He went on to engineer Zappa’s Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III and Tinseltown Rebellion, before working with the White Stripes on Icky Thump and The Raconteurs on Consolers of the Lonely, the latter winning the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, his eighth of eleven Grammys. To date he is responsible for album sales well over 60 Million and Streams of 22 Billion.
Career Chiccarelli got his first taste of the studio through a cousin who owned Boston's Fleetwood Studio. He also worked as an engineer at Music Designers Recording Studio in Boston. Chiccarelli moved west where he scored an assistant engineer gig at L.A.'s Cherokee Studios. He got his career break engineering Frank Zappa's album Sheik Yerbouti. In an interview with HitQuarters, Chiccarelli said: "[Zappa's] engineer couldn't make the session and so he decided to take a chance on me. I'm so thankful ever since that day because he gave me a career."
He is credited with discovering singer Tori Amos and signing her first band, Y Kant Tori Read, to a label deal. However, Chiccarelli refuted this in an interview with HitQuarters saying, "That's a myth. Tori was already signed to Atlantic Records as a solo artist when I got involved." In 1998, he mixed the Latin album Un Tributo (a José José), a tribute to José José, the first of many collaborations with Cafe Tacuba.
In 2007, Chiccarelli recorded and mixed The White Stripes' Icky Thump. The band set him the challenge of creating a modern, punchy, heavily edited sound without relying on digital production tools; the album was tracked and mixed on analog tape.
After Producing the Platinum album for The Shins "Wincing The Night Away". In 2009 Chiccarelli produced sessions for Brandi Carlile as well as Minus the Bear's album Omni, released on May 4, 2010. He produced four tracks on The Strokes' fourth album, Angles. He also produced the Multi-Platinum debut album from Australian group Boy & Bear. The band received five ARIA awards for the album. He also Produced the Platinum selling debut album for Young The Giant. It yielded two Platinum singles Cough Syrup and My Body. He also engineered and mixed tracks on Morrissey's Swords album.
In 2011, Chiccarelli produced Jason Mraz's Multi-Platinum fourth album Love Is a Four Letter Word which was Grammy Nominated and yielded the 7X Platinum single "I Won't Give Up", released April 17, 2012 and Alanis Morissette's upcoming Havoc and Bright Lights as well as the album Songs of Patience for Alberta Cross. In 2012 he produced what became a Gold album, Departures, for Australian artist Bernard Fanning as well as tracks for Dwight Yoakam. His 2013 album projects include Divine Fits, Hellogoodbye, Saints Of Valory, Plain White T's, Need To Breathe, The Madden Brothers, Number One Charting Australian Album "Greeting from California", and Oxbow. In 2014 he has produced Morrissey's album, World Peace is None of Your Business, the first of five album's he's produced for Morrissey. He also produced five songs on Spoon's album They Want My Soul, and tracks with The Rocketboys, Ivan & Alyosha, JEFF the Brotherhood and Victorian Halls. In 2015 he produced a duets album for Doug Seegers and Jill Johnson, becoming a Platinum Number One album in Sweden.
Album releases in 2016 included releases from Oxbow, Buffalo Sunn, Bleached, Cherry Glazerr, Night Riots, SPEAK and Broken Social Scene. Album productions in 2017 included Flogging Molly, Jamie Lawson, The Wonders Years, Vance Joy and Morrissey. Album sessions in 2018 included debut album for Rare Americans, new albums for Broken Social Scene, Charly Bliss, Half Moon Run, Morrissey, The Shelters and Run River North. 2019 sessions included Morrissey, The Falls, The Jacks, Rare Americans, Little Dragon, Taylor Janzen and the Juno Award winning album for Half Moon Run's A Blemish In The Great Light. 2020 Sessions include Didirri, The Dumes, Duncan Laurence, Jagwar Twin, Liily, and Classless Act. 2021 sessions include new albums for The Districts, Michael Bublé and Cayucas. 2022 sessions include Middle Class Rut, Oxbow, Orianthi, Tegan & Sara, The Blue Stones, Robert Randolph and Liz Brasher. 2023 productions with Morrissey, Oxbow, Michael Bublé, Keith Urban, Illiterate Light, Falls, Art D'ecco, Robert Randolph, Jake Wesley Rogers and The Takes. 2024 sessions include Morrissey, Oxbow, Ripe, Sun Room, Steve Bardwil, The Takes, and Weezer. 2025 sessions include Morrissey, Des Rocs for the album To Hell and Back, DICE and Arde Bogotá. In 2026 Produced "7 Generations" on Robert Randolph's Grammy Winning "Preacher Kids" album. New album for Arde Bogota "El Club De La Gente Sola" for Sony Spain. A Number One ARIA Chart album In Australia for band DICE "I Thought the Altitude Would Be Worth The View". A new album for The Steve Bardwil Band. EP For artist Liam St. John. Mixed the upcoming album for Nūs.
Selected discography 2000 U2 – Best of 1990-2000 (Mix) Bon Jovi – Crush (Record) Julieta Venegas – Bueninvento (Produce/Record/Mix)
2001 Elton John – Songs From the West Coast (Record/Mix) Rufus Wainright – Poses (Record/Mix) Tim Easton – The Truth About Us (Produce/Mix)
2002 Bon Jovi – Crush (Record) Cafe Tacuba – Cuartro Caminos (Record/Mix) The Cult – Paint it on My Heart (Record)
2003 Rickie Lee Jones- Evening of My Best Day (Mix) Hanson – Underneath (Record/Mix) Clem Snide – Soft Spot (Produce)
2004 Pink Martini – Hang On Little Tomato (Produce/Record) The Verve Pipe – Underneath (Engineer) Chris Botti – A Thousand Kisses Deep (album) (Record) 2006 Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion (Record/Mix) Tom McRae – All Maps Welcome (Produce/Record/Mix) Stars – In Our Bedrooms After The War (Mix)
2007 The Shins – Wincing the Night Away (Produce/Record/Mix) The White Stripes – Icky Thump (Record/Mix) Castella – How Did We Get Here (Produce/Record/Mix) Kurt Elling (Concord) – Nightmoves (Produce/Record) Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (Hollywood) – This Is Somewhere (Engineered)
2008 The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely (Record/Mix) Georgia (Atlantic) – (Engineered) My Morning Jacket (ATO) – Evil Urges (Produce/Record) Augie March (Sony Music Australia) – Watch Me Disappear (Producer)
2009 Ely Guerra (Homey) – Hombre Invisible (Mix) Cory Chisel (RCA) – Death Won't Send A Letter (Produce/Record/Mix) Dredg (Universal Germany) – (Mix) Camera Can't Lie (Atlantic) – (Record) Ponderosa (New West) – Moonlight Revival (Produce/Record) Sondre Lerche (Rounder) – Heartbeat Radio (Mix) Mika (Universal) – The Boy Who Knew Too Much (Record) Manchester Orchestra (Canvasback) – Mean Everything to Nothing (Produce/Mix)
2010 Adam Stephens (Saddle Creek) – We Live on Cliffs (Produce/Record/Mix) Minus the Bear (Dangerbird) – Omni (Produce/Record/Mix) Young the Giant (Roadrunner) – Young the Giant (Produce/Record/Mix) Juan Campodónico (Universal Latin) – (Record) Ilse DeLange (Universal Holland) – Next to Me (Record) Rachael Yamagata (Warner) – (Produce/Record/Mix) The Killers (Island) – "Boots" (Producer)
2011 The Strokes (RCA) – Angles (Produce/Record) Big Talk (Anti) – Big Talk (Produce/Record/Mix) Manchester Orchestra (Columbia) – Simple Math (Produce/Record/Mix) Gin Wigmore (Universal) – Gravel & Wine (Record/Mix) Christina Perri (Atlantic) – Produce/Record Alberta Cross (Ark) – Produce/Record Boy & Bear (Universal) – Produce/Mix Tiziano Ferro (EMI Italy) – Record Jason Mraz (Atlantic) – Love Is A Four Letter Word – Produce/Record Dwight Yoakam (Warner) – 3 Pears – Co-produce/Record
2012 Eleni Mandell (YepRoc) – I Can See the Future (Produce/Record/Mix) Keaton Henson (Sony UK) – Produce/Mix Cafe Tacuba (Universal) – Co-Produce/Mix Dropkick Murphys (Born & Bred) – Mix Alanis Morissette (Collective Sounds) – Havoc and Bright Lights – Produce/Mix Eleni Mandell (Yep Roc) – Produced/Mix
2013 HelloGoodbye (OldFriends) – Produce/Mix Saints of Valory – "Neon Eyes" (Atlantic) – Engineer/Producer Divine Fits – "Ain't That The Way" (Merge) – Engineer/Producer Russian Red (Sony) – Produce/Record Plain White T's – "Should've Gone to Bed" (Hollywood) – Engineer/Produce Bernard Fanning – Departures – Mixing/Producer
2014 Spoon (Loma Vista/Universal) – Produce/Record Real Estate "Talking Backwards" (Domino) – Mix NeedToBreathe (Atlantic) – Produce/Record Saints Of Valory (Atlantic) – Produce/Record Morrissey (Harvest/Capitol) – Produce/Mix The Madden Brothers (Capitol) – Produce/Mix
2015 The Front Bottoms – Back on Top (Atlantic) – Produce/Mix Jeff The Brotherhood (Warner Bros.) – Produce/Record Ivan & Alyosha (Dualtone) – Produce/Mix On An On – And the Wave Has Two Sides(RollCall) – Producer/Engineer/Mixing Victorian Halls – Hyperalgesia (Victory) – Mixing
2016 Doug Seegers (Universal) – Produce/Mix Bleached (Secretly Canadian) – Produce/Record Milow (Universal) – Produce/Record The Arkells (Universal) – Produce/Record The Augustines (Universal) – Produce/Mix
2017 Morrissey (BMG) – Produce/Mix Cherry Glazerr (Secretly Canadian) – Produce/Record Jamie Lawson (Warner UK) – Produce/Mix Flogging Molly (Concord) – Produce/Mix Broken Social Scene (Universal) – Produce/Record Wildling (Warner Bros) – Produce/Record Oxbow – Thin Black Duke (HydraHead) – Produce/Mix Night Riots (Sumerian) – Produce/Mix Meresha (Sonic Dolphin) – Produce/Mix
2018 The Wonder Year (Hopeless) – Produce/Record Only Yours (Pirates Blend) – Produce/Record Vance Joy (Atlantic)"Thinking of You " – Produce/Record Morrissey (BMG) "Back On the Chain Gang" – Produce/Record/Mix Ben Hazlewood (MintMusic) "Months & Miles" – Produce/Record HelloGoodbye (Old Friends) – Mix
2019 Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts)EP – Produce Run River North (Nettwerk) "Hands Up" – Produce/Record Morrissey (BMG) "California Son" – Produce/Record/Mix Rare Americans (RA) – Produce/Record Charly Bliss (Barsuk) "Young Enough" – Produce/Record The Shelters (Warner Bros) "Jupiter Sidecar" – Produce/Record 2020 Morrissey (BMG) "I Am Not a Dog on a Chain" – Produce/Record/Mix The Jacks (Universal) "Remember You" – Produce/Record Half Moon Run (Glassnote) "A Blemish in The Great Light" – Produce/Record Taylor Janzen (Glassnote) "Ruined Plans" – Produce/Record
2021 The Districts (Fat Possum) "Great American Painting" – Produce/Record/Mix Half Moon Run (Glassnote) "Seasons of Change" EP – Produce/Record Liily (Flush) – Produce/Record
2022 Percy Howard (3 Circle) "The Stars and The Well" – Produce/Record/Mix Cayucas (One Rpm) "Hanging on the Westside" – Produce/Record/Mix Classless Act (Better Noise)- Produce/Record/Mix Michael Buble' (Warner Bros.) – Record
2023 Postdata (Paper Bag) "Run Wild" – Produce/Record/Mix The Blue Stones (Monarck) "Pretty Monster" – Produce/Record Oxbow (Ipecac) "Love's Holiday" Produce/Record/Mix
2024 The Takes (AWAL/Sony) "Lay Hold" – Produce/Record Jake Wesley Rogers (Warner Bros.) "Loser" – Record Liz Brasher (Blue Elan) "Baby Damn" – Produce/Record/Mix Sun Room (Sun Room Records) "Faux French" – Produce/Record/Mix Ripe (Glassnote) "Friend in the Dark" – Produce/Record/Mix Art D'Ecco (Paper Bag) "Serene Demon" – Produce/Record Illiterate Light (Thirty Tigers) "The Stars Are Burning Out" – Produce/Record/Mix
2025 Ripe (Glassnote) "Play The Game" – Produce/Record/Mix Robert Randolph (Concord) "7 Generations" – Produce/Record