“Ronald Lenhoff, AT2, grew up in Newport, KY, joined the Navy in 1951 and went to bootcamp at Great Lakes NTC. He went to Aviation Prep school at NATC Jacksonville, FL, then on to Electronics school at NATC Memphis and then to Radar and ECM schools at NATC Norfolk, VA.

Ron was assigned to VP-21 at Patuxent River, MD in May of 1952, where he was then immediately assigned to Crew 1 for orientation on the Martin P4M1 as 1st. Radioman, then on to Crew 2 as 1st. Radioman. Later, Ron was assigned to the new Lockheed P2V-6 Crew 2 as 1st. Radioman.

Primary mission in the P4M1 was aerial mining, and the ASW mission in the P2V-6. Ron did two Med Cruises, (1953 &1954) stationed on Malta, where he met his future wife, ‘Lyn’, who was a WREN in the British Navy in 1954.

Following discharge in 1955, Ron went to work for Muzak as a technician, then to a recording studio as a sound engineer. Ron owned his own recording studio for eight years and then went to work at King Records as Chief Engineer and Quality Control Engineer. Here Ron was the personal mixing engineer for James Brown for another eight years, and Quality Control Engineer for the pressing plant (vinyl records). Ron traveled extensively through the USA, Africa, and Europe with Mr. Brown in that capacity (Ron’s name may be recognized as co-writer on a number of James Brown Records). Ron then worked for Dover Elevator as a mechanic, and retired there in 1992.

Ron became Secretary of the VP-21/ VPB-111 Veterans Association in 1995. Ron is also a member of the ANA, and the Navy League. Ron and his wife Lyn have two sons, Mark and Bruce, six grandsons and 1 granddaughter. END

Ron Lenhoff died 11-25-2006. Visitation will be at Linnemann Funeral Home Thur. eve 11-30-2006, from 6 – 8 pm.,

30 Commonwealth Ave,
Erlanger KY.
Funeral will be at St. Barbara Catholic Ch., Friday morning

My father asked that I send this out upon his death. It was prepared by him a few months ago when he realized his time would be limited. .

Dear Friends and shipmates;
As you read this,my liberty time on earth has been cancelled and I have been called to the C.O.s office in the sky for replay of my time on earth.
It was a good time with a lot of friends and shipmates.
To my shipmates in the Association, THANK YOU for being my friend.I enjoyed your friendship.
To my CREW,Fred Norm Bill and Teo,a special thank you for making my stay on earth a memorable one.Thank you for being there.
To my shipmates from the 52′ to 55′ era ,thank you for being a part of my life!It was a great time,with lots of good memories.I hope I can take them with me.
To my friends in T.B.P.A.,Thank you for being my friend. Your friendship meant a lot to me.
To my old schoolmates,we had a good run,with lots of memories!

I LEAVE YOU ALL WITH MY LOVE AND RESPECT. REMEMBER ME IN YOUR PRAYERS.

RON

The Jane Sparrow family, England
My name is Jane and I am a cousin of the Lenhoff family in England. We were
all saddened over here to hear of Ron’s death. We will all have fond,
special memories of him. He loved to visit England and I remember laughing
with him on numerous occasions. One particular occasion was when the
American elections were on and he said of Hilary Clinton “”If that woman gets
into the Whitehouse, I’m moving to England!”” I also remember the time he and
Evelyn went to Tenerife in the Canaries with us on one of their visits. He
went to the top of Mount Teide with me on the cable car and I have a
wonderful photo of him there, also the trip to Cadbury World which he
adored. He welcomed me into his home with such warmth and generosity when I
visited.
We will all miss him.
Love and condolences to his family
Jane and the Sparrow family. 11-26-2006

Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Recording legend dead at 75
Ron Lenhoff helped define “”Cincinnati sound””
By Rick Bird
Post staff reporter

In the old black and white pictures of Ron Lenhoff from the 1960s, he looks like the quintessential engineer – button-down white shirt and geeky glasses, sitting at a control panel.

But those pictures are deceiving. Lenhoff was not creating rocket science, but rock ‘n’ roll.
He helped define the “”Cincinnati sound”” for James Brown’s seminal hits mostly recorded at King Records, where Lenhoff was Brown’s personal recording engineer from 1964 to 1972.
Lenhoff, of Independence, Ky., died Sunday morning at his home after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 75.
His name can be found in the credits of almost every James Brown record from the ’60s, including all of his hits: “”Cold Sweat,”” “”Sex Machine,”” “”Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.””
“”He was James Brown’s favorite engineer at King. When I was 17, I wanted to know why,”” remembers Bootsy Collins, the Cincinnati funk legend and Rock Hall of Fame inductee who joined Brown’s band as the hot-shot teenaged bassist in 1969.
“”What I saw was Ron’s attention to detail. Where the mike was placed, where you had a musician and where you should stand, your section, your spot, and every amp had to be a certain volume,”” Collins said. “”The reason being we recorded all the instruments live, so it was very important where you stood in conjunction with your fellow band member.””
Lenhoff, born in Elsmere, Ky., and raised in Newport, went into the Navy after graduation in 1949 from Newport Catholic High.
“”He was a radio and electronics expert on the P2V bomber,”” said a son, Mark Lenhoff, of Burlington.
In the 1950s, Ron Lenhoff worked at, then bought, the Fidelity studio, where he cut his recording teeth, his son said.
In 1964, he was hired by King Records as its chief engineer. At the time, the studio’s star was Brown, but his relationship with King owner Syd Nathan was often a contentious one. Lenhoff smoothed things out and helped the “”Godfather of Soul”” find his sound.
Collins remembers the recording environment Lenhoff created.
“”He was always on time, and wanted you to be, too. He wanted everything perfect. James really liked that in him, but then sometimes James did not want things so perfect and Ron knew when to compromise to make the Godfather feel in control. Musicians can be strange cats,”” Collins said.
Mark Lenhoff remembers the Saturday night in 1968 when the phone rang at their home.
“”It’s James Brown. He was doing a concert in Nashville, and he wants to record tonight. My dad said, ‘Well, we have to drive,’ and my mom said, ‘Take Mark, he’ll help you stay awake.'””
By the time they arrived, it was 1 a.m.
“”At two, the session started and they did ‘Sex Machine.’ I was 13-years-old,”” Mark Lenhoff said. “”I had no idea what was going on. I know it took several hours to record it, but they ended up using the first take.””
The tune would define Brown’s new style of aggressive funk music, the recording to this day a rugged R&B classic. Lenhoff used his trick of slightly speeding up the final mix to give it an even more in-your-face feel.
Brown insisted that Lenhoff be listed as a composer of the song, so for years he got royalty checks from it, Mark Lenhoff said.
Ron Lenhoff and Brown had a public reunion in June of 1997 when Brown wanted a tour of the old King Records building on Brewster Avenue in Evanston. Brown had toyed with the idea of relaunching the studio to support new artists, and wanted to see his old digs.
The encounter set the two men to reminiscing. Lenhoff told The Post that day: “”James was the only man I knew who could go into a studio with one line to a song and come out with a hit record. We recorded ‘Cold Sweat’ in one take, in mono, and it went directly to vinyl.
Lenhoff lamented the closing of King when the studio was sold.
“”It was the only studio that had acoustics all its own,”” he said.
King Records folded in the early ’70s as Brown moved on to a new label. Mark Lenhoff says his dad had offers to engineer in other cities, but decided to stay in Northern Kentucky with a “”sensible job”” to make sure his family was stable. So for the next 20 years, he was an elevator engineer.
But even after the King glory days, Ron Lenhoff would still get calls from Brown, Mark Lenhoff said.
“”James called some three times in the ’70s and wanted my dad to come on the road with him as his sound man. He went twice to Africa and Europe once on tours.””
Collins remembers Lenhoff as an engineer who knew how to take care of a bunch of young crazy funk players creating cutting edge music.
“”He knew his equipment and what it was capable of doing, and sometimes he would push it to the limits. That’s what I really liked about him. He was not scared of blowing things up, like a speaker or two, to make you happy or feel good about what we were doing. Maybe he just did it because we were kids. But he sure knew how to balance his work with the artists and that is a gig in itself.””
Collins said those who never knew Lenhoff should listen to “”Sex Machine.”” “”The sound of that record will never die or be duplicated.””

Copyright 2006, The Post”