Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon (30 September 1942 – 21 July 2002) was an English record producer, who oversaw many of Elton John's most acclaimed recordings, including his commercial breakthrough, "Your Song". Their collaboration led to seven US No. 1 albums, and established John as one of the most successful singles artists of the 1970s. Dudgeon also produced Chris Rea's first hit, the US chart topping "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", and David Bowie's "Space Oddity", and steered many other artists to chart success, including Joan Armatrading and Elkie Brooks. The Guinness Book of Records cites Dudgeon as being the first person to use sampling in music production. He was a founding member of the Music Producers Guild. Early life and career Angus Boyd Dudgeon was born on 30 September 1942 in Woking, Surrey, England. After being expelled from Harrow School, he attended A. S. Neill's experimental and democratic Summerhill School. Throughout his life, Dudgeon regularly attended reunions and actively supported the school. Shortly before his death, he recounted how after leaving school, he was fired from a number of jobs in quick succession, "'cause I used to get bored and would leave without telling them. I worked in a toy store. I sold purple hearts on the streets of London—a pound for one hundred. I worked for a clip joint, an advertising agency. Just ridiculous jobs. I had no idea what I wanted to do". After seeing a job vacancy in the newspaper, his mother steered Dudgeon towards Olympic Studios where he worked as a tea boy. Within a few years he had worked his way up to a position as an in-house engineer at Decca's studio in West Hampstead. In this capacity, he worked with the Artwoods, Bruce Channel, Davy Graham and Shirley Collins. Early pop successes included the Zombies' single "She's Not There" (1964) and John Mayall's album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966). He helped in the auditions for Tom Jones and the Rolling Stones. He rose to co-produce Ten Years After's debut album in 1967. Around this time, he also produced the Bonzo Dog Band albums, The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse and Tadpoles. Collaboration with Elton John At the urging of producers Denny Cordell and Andrew Loog Oldham, Dudgeon moved into production, setting up Tuesday Productions in 1968. Two years later, he began working with Elton John, who had heard Dudgeon's work on the as-yet-unreleased