Robert John Lange was born in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia), and raised in Durban, South Africa. His German mother came from a prosperous family, and his South African father was a mining engineer. Nicknamed "Mutt" at an early age, Lange 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, he started the group Hocus, recording one album and releasing five singles.[2]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
Lange is a strict vegetarian and a follower of the egalitarian teachings of Sant Mat.[3] He has not given an interview for decades and prefers to live a secluded life, primarily in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland.[4]
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.[5] 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,[6] 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.[7] Lange and Twain divorced in June 2010. On 1 January 2011, Twain married Frédéric Thiébaud, the former husband of Marie-Anne.[8][4]
In 2011, Lange purchased Coronet Peak Station located on the mountain and ski field of the same name in Queenstown, New Zealand. 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.[9]
Discography
Produced albums
Albums on which Lange produced a majority of the tracks:
