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This Book of Memories memorial website is designed to be a permanent tribute paying tribute to the life and memory of Gary Loizzo. It allows family and friends a place to re-visit, interact with each other, share and enhance this tribute for future generations. We are both pleased and proud to provide the Book of Memories to the families of our community.

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Obituary for Gary Alexander Loizzo

Gary Alexander  Loizzo
Gary Alexander Loizzo, age 70, of Orland Park, passed away on January 16, 2016 surrounded by his loving family after a 3 year battle with pancreatic cancer. Beloved husband to Diane. Proud father of his daughter Dawn (Howie) Knoebel, and sons: Todd (Heather), Vince (Gina) and Doug (Kelly). Inspirational grandfather of his cherished grandchildren: Jake, Alex, Jack, Brooklyn, Ben, Gianna, Josette and Lilly. Preceded in death by Claudia, his parents Louis and Virginia Loizzo, and his sister Diane Halvorson. Dear son-in-law of Evelyn and the late William Jachna. A record producer, as well as the tour audio engineer for over 40 years, Gary also leaves behind his STYX family and many dear friends. Visitation Wednesday, January 20, 2016, from 2-9 p.m. at Colonial Chapel, 15525 S. 73rd Ave., (155th/Wheeler Dr. & Harlem) Orland Park, IL. Lying in State Thursday, January 21, 2016, at All Saints Lutheran Church, 13350 S. LaGrange Rd., Orland Park, IL, from 10:00 a.m. until time of Funeral Service at 11:00 a.m. Interment Good Shepherd Cemetery, Orland Park, IL. Express your thoughts and condolences at colonialchapel.com 708-532-5400

Gary Loizzo had what’s known in the music business as golden ears. He became an integral member of the Styx production team when he first began working with the band as an engineer on their 1974 album Man of Miracles. He garnered a pair of Grammy nominations for Best Engineered Album of the Year for his work on 1979’s multiplatinum-selling Cornerstone and 1983’s Kilroy Was Here, both of which were recorded in Oak Lawn, Illinois at his own Pumpkin Studios, as was 1981’s Paradise Theater, which reached #1 on the album charts. Ultimately, he graduated to the role of the band’s co-producer on albums like 2003’s Cyclorama and 2005’s Big Bang Theory. “Gary understood our music from a live, front-of-house perspective as well as from the console in the recording studio with us. He was a world-class engineer with great ears,” says Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw. “I feel blessed to have worked with him for so many years, and to call him my friend. He was a good man, and a straight shooter whose opinions I respected and always took to heart.”

So, what was Gary’s secret? He had an inherent knack for knowing exactly how to listen to his artists’ needs and bring them to life in the studio, as well as how to translate those sounds live as a front of house (FOH) mixing engineer. As Gary himself told me this past summer, “I learned that you can get good sound and good performances, but you just have to take a lot of time, and have a lot of care and a lot of patience — and the artist has to cooperate. When I mix in the studio, I mix it as a beautiful collage, so that you can listen ten times and go, ‘Oh, that’s there! Oh, that’s over here!” Each time you listen, it’s always there.’”

Gary was uniquely adept at getting great live sound for the band no matter the venue challenges he faced night after night on the road. All told, he mixed no fewer than 1,500 shows for Styx. (Yes, you read that number right.) “When I mix live, I hit you in the face with it!” he observed. “If I miss it, you miss it — and you’ll never hear it again in that song. So I mix live as a caricature. I’m pushing things out at people all the time. If I don’t see an audience reaction where there is normally one, I missed it. So that’s the difference between studio mixing and live mixing — one’s a collage, and one’s a caricature. And once I found that out, I became comfortable with mixing live.”

The Styx mixmaster had a very specific philosophy for what he wanted people to hear when he produced live performances for home audio and video releases: “It needs to make you feel like you’re in the seats, watching a concert. You shouldn’t put the people on the stage with the band; that just doesn’t feel right. Early on, I found that’s what I wanted to do, so I brought the music 20 percent more into the house so it was still clear and represented, but I sat the people — me — where I was mixing, so I still felt like it was live in front of me.”

Gary felt his role as producer was to capture the absolute essence of the band. “My job is strictly to record them in their fullest. That’s what I consider my job to be. They have the talent. I just have to make sure it gets recorded properly. I can reel all of that in. I wish I was 100 percent responsible, but I ain’t. Those guys are great directors, and I listen, because I know they’re good. And it always seems to work. It’s a good team.”

When Gary sang his 1968 American Breed #5 hit single “Bend Me, Shape Me” with Styx as his backing band at the Hollywood Casino Ampitheatre in Tinley Park, Illinois on September 5, 2015, everything came full circle. And to a man, Styx was impressed with Gary’s energetic, rousing performance (which subsequently became a YouTube favorite). “That was fun to see,” observed Styx co-founding guitarist/vocalist James “JY” Young immediately following the show. Added keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan, “Outstanding! I loved it. I’ve loved that song since I first heard it when I was a kid.” Agreed Tommy Shaw, “It was a hit single, and the whole audience was singing along with it. Man, it was a really good show! An American Breed apart.”

And that’s Gary Loizzo for you in a nutshell: He was a rare breed indeed, the likes of whom we will not see again. Enjoy your time behind that great mixing board in the sky, my friend. Your golden ears were a gift to us all.
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