Longtime Malibu resident Alan Douglas, a record producer who worked with popular musicians such as Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix, died on June 7 at his home in Paris, France. He was 82 years old.
Alan lived in Malibu for almost 30 years, and eventually settled in France with his wife, Lucia Solazzi Douglas Rubenstein. But even after moving to Paris, Alan remained connected to Malibu, and would only stay in Malibu when visiting the states, according to his daughter, Solo Douglas.
Alan was born on July 20, 1931, in Boston, Mass. He grew up in Chelsea, Mass., and attended Colby College in Waterville, Maine, on a football scholarship. He worked at the family mattress store before ultimately getting involved with the entertainment industry.
While living in Malibu, Alan worked out of an office on Hollywood Boulevard, but he made the commute everyday for almost 20 years because “there was nothing better to him than going to bed and waking up to the sound and smell of the ocean,” Solo shared.
Alan is often associated with the posthumous success of Jimi Hendrix. He had gotten to know Hendrix in New York, where the two lived near each other. Hendrix shopped at a store owned by Alan’s second wife, Stella Benabou. Four years after the death of Hendrix, Alan acquired rights to produce music that the guitar player had never released. According to an article in the LA Times, record stores were selling an estimated 3 million Hendrix albums a year, more than two decades after the death of Hendrix.
One of the last things Alan shared with Solo was a few weeks before his death when he said, “I just want to sit on the beach of Malibu and fade away.” He had been ill in recent months, and died from complications from a fall.
Alan is survived by brother Jerry Douglas; sister Beverly Shuman; wife Lucia Solazzi Douglas Rubenstein; daughters Kirby Veevers and Solo Douglas; and three grandsons. He was honored with a memorial service in New York.