The reclusive, ultra-rich South African music producer who worked with AC/DC, Shania Twain, and Lady Gaga

South African record producer Mutt Lange is one of the most respected and successful music producers worldwide, having worked with artists such as AC/DC, Def Leppard, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga.

Robert John “Mutt” Lange was born on 11 November 1948 in Zambia and grew up in Durban, South Africa.

He attended Belfast High School, where he started a band in which he played rhythm guitar and sang harmonies.

Although his school band helped him gain a grounding in music, his career took off in 1969, after his national service, when he formed the bands Sound Reason and Hocus.

He played bass in these bands, and to make money, he worked as a sound engineer at Johannesburg studios, recording radio jingles.

In 1973, Lange moved to London, where he joined forces with musician friends to start a publishing and production company called Zomba.

His first major hit came in 1978 with the number one United Kingdom single “Rat Trap” for the Boomtown Rats.

Christopher Noxon reported that he enjoyed moderate success producing bands like The Boomtown Rats and The Outlaws.

His big break came when he started working with the Australian band AC/DC, who produced the wildly popular Highway to Hell and Back in Black.

Lange became known as a hit-maker in the music industry, and he continued to work with the world’s top bands and artists.

He partnered with the rock group Foreigner on 4, and with Def Leppard on their hit albums, High ‘n’ Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize, co-writing most of the songs.

He produced Bryan Adams’s Waking Up the Neighbours, including co-writing “Everything I Do, I Do It for You” for the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

He also worked with Michael Bolton, Heart, the Cars, Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Ocean, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, the Corrs, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, and Nickelback.

He co-wrote and produced various songs for Shania Twain, his ex-wife. Her 1997 album Come On Over, which Lange produced, was a great success.

It became the best-selling country music album, the best-selling studio album by a female artist, and the best-selling album of the 1990s.

Zomba Recording Corporation

Mutt Lange enjoyed an undisclosed stake in Zomba Recording Corp, the record company founded by his friend and manager, Clive Calder, and Ralph Simon.

Zomba Corporation was officially registered in Switzerland in 1975, operating out of Calder’s bedroom space in London.

While Calder and Simon were building Zomba Recording Corp, Lange made a name for himself as a successful music producer.

Lange, who became one of the world’s leading hard-rock producers, helped Zomba achieve strong growth.

In 1978, Zomba opened offices in New York City and signed numerous new artists. Through its subsidiary, Jive, it partnered with DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and R. Kelly.

By 1990, Zomba was worth $225 million with over fifty companies. It continued its aggressive acquisition spree to grow the company.

BMG had owned 25% of Zomba’s publishing business since 1991 and 20% of its recording business since 1996.

Noxon reported in 2002 that Zomba generated approximately $800 million in annual sales and claimed to be the largest independent record company in the world.

At the time, Zomba boasted 12 recording studios and seven independent labels, including Jive Records, home to Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync.

As part of a 1996 BMG agreement with Zomba, it was required to buy the remaining shares it did not already own before 31 December 2002.

BMG Entertainment concluded its deal with Zomba for the purchase of the company’s entire assets at $2.74 billion.

Mutt Lange today

Mutt Lange is reclusive and secretive. He is media savvy and very seldom engages in interviews or discusses his life.

Noxon reported that Lange’s friends said his silence and reclusive lifestyle are motivated by simple humility.

“He doesn’t want anything to get in between the music and the fan. I think he believes that the music is the only thing that’s important,” one friend said.

However, Noxon argued that a more basic reason why Lange stays in the shadows is that he is an epic perfectionist.

His biggest successes were the result of intense labour, careful calculation and countless revisions to songs and albums.

“I imagine Lange can’t stand handing control of something as precious as his own story over to anyone whose work he couldn’t then tweak, trim or redo a thousand times over,” he said.

He has not given an interview for decades and prefers to live a secluded life, primarily in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland.

Despite the secrecy, Lange’s life is not a complete mystery, especially following the high-profile break-up in 2008 and divorce from Shania Twain in 2010.

Lange is a strict vegetarian and teetotaler and follows the egalitarian teachings of Sant Mat, which emphasises inward devotion and the pursuit of truth through personal experience.

In 2011, he purchased Coronet Peak Station, located on the mountain and ski field in Queenstown, New Zealand, on the South Island.

In 2014, he protected 53,000 hectares of his land as a Queen Elizabeth II National Trust covenant. This is the largest private conservation covenant in New Zealand.