Fred Mollin, a Grammy-nominated and Juno-award-winning music producer and composer with deep Island ties, recently released his memoir, “Unplugged: Stories and Secrets from a Life of Making Records, Scoring Film, and Working With the Legends of Music.”
The book is a vibrant look into more than 40 years of the triumphs and misses of the music industry, the musicians who starred onscreen and in audio — from Jimmy Webb to Billy Joel — as well as stories from his own life. Mollin will be sharing more at an upcoming book signing on July 26 at Edgartown Books.
Mollin sat down with The Times recently at his summer rental in V.H., and opened up about how much the Island has meant to him through the journey of writing his memoir. While he has spent much of his time between the U.S. and Canada, he sees the Island as his “home base.” He first visited the Vineyard when he was 15 years old, and he connected with the place and people immediately: “This is where my heart is,” Mollin, now 72, said as he looked out over his screened-in patio to the street beyond.
In a chapter about the Vineyard in his book, Mollin writes, “[The Island is] the best of small-town America, frozen in a time when things were simple and good.”
He said he came up with the idea for his book while strolling through the sand-swept bike paths in Katama back in 2018.
“I decided to start trying to remember certain stories about my behind-the-scenes world,” Mollin said. Many years have gone by since many of his favorite run-ins with famous musicians, so he said writing it all down was his way of keeping the memories close. “The inspiration for the book was not to forget things.”
Through the combination of Mollin’s natural wit, writing by dictation to his phone, and the many world-renowned characters he’s worked with in the past, he came up with more than enough stories to fill 440 pages. And he left out no detail, ranging from his joyful local experiences with James Taylor when he was performing at Mooncusser, the former coffee shop and music venue, to difficult — and even near-death — interactions with Harry Nilsson. Mollin said Taylor was rather shy and sweet, and his friends pushed him to perform his original songs for the community. Nilsson, he said, wasn’t much of either quality.
Mollin described Nilsson as “300 pounds of lunacy,” and said one night, Nilsson offered him a “snort of great stuff,” which Mollin assumed was cocaine but turned out to be amyl nitrate — also known as “poppers.” Mollin lost consciousness and barely missed hitting his head on the sharp edge of a table when he fell to the ground, just to wake up to Nilsson laughing uncontrollably in his face. Mollin said it was important to him to explore all facets of his experience in the industry — the good, the bad, and the ugly.
“[I hope] it’s helpful to hear true, behind-the-scenes stories of recording,” he said. “The book is meant to be a conversation with me.”
Mollin wrote his book in an intentionally educational style — easy to digest while still maintaining interest for the reader. His perspective throughout is not just as a music producer for artists like Billy Joel, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Linda Ronstadt, but also as a friend. He has maintained close relationships with some artists he’s worked with, and remembers fondly the years he spent working alongside some of the most iconic musical legends of a generation.
And Mollin has recorded music of his own too, from lullabies for Walt Disney Studios to music for children — most recently featured in his 2021 album, “It’s Great to Be a Kid.” He said his mind is geared toward composition. He hears the many musical parts that could be layered into a tune in his head first, then puts the elements into action through Pro Tools, the recording software he uses.
“I think I always had it … [being able to] hear how a song can be arranged,” Mollin said. “My whole life is about being a musician first.”
Mollin started producing music when he was just 18 years old, but his interest started far younger. He described seeing a guitar in the display window of a store in Massachusetts when he was 5 years old — a moment that sparked the desire to play and pursue music. And he said his work ethic and sense of responsibility got him to where he is today. “I was there to take care of people,” Mollin said of his job as producer, where the duties of his position often extended beyond the studio: “It was sort of like being an airline commercial pilot — I’ve got to get [them] safely home.”
While Mollin has often been the backstage, guiding force of many well-known, chart-hitting songs and albums, like the 1977 Dan Hill song “Sometimes When We Touch,” he has not been front and center the way some of the artists he’s worked with have been. Mollin has chosen to focus on creating artistic works that matter to him, to the talent he uplifts, and to the audience. And he remembered how it all started: With a bright maroon electric behind the glass in a Massachusetts storefront that he spotted as a child — beaming with possibilities. The seeds for his path were planted then, and have been growing ever since.
“It’s an honorable life, being a musician,” Mollin said with a smile.
Edgartown Books is hosting Fred Mollin for an event on Saturday, July 26, from 2 to 4 pm. More information is available at bit.ly/EB_FredMollin.
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