Visconti: From Marc to Morrissey.

As a young man Tony Visconti swapped New York for London to make records. Forty years on he has finally got round to recording his account of a remarkable career

Quickfire

Bookshops are flooded with "premature" autobiographies, but your tale is one of sex, drugs, groundbreaking rock'n'roll and some of the biggest names in music. Why wait so long to write it?

I first tried to do it about 20 years ago, but I started and decided I really wasn't ready to write. The internet wasn't invented and it took me until I started writing essays on my website that I realised I could write. I also needed a publisher to come along and say they were interested in putting it out to stop me from getting discouraged after two chapters.

Growing up in New York, you had access to some incredible musicians from a very early age. Do you think you would have had the career you had if you'd started off in some small Midwest town miles from anywhere?

I had this conversation with someone from the Midwest and the answer is no. I was so lucky. I didn't realise until I grew up that I lived in a culturally rich area and exposed to so much music. I knew jazz musicians when I was 13 years old and I could take my bass on the subway and just go and jam with them. There's no way I'd have developed like I did if that wasn't an option.

Back in the Sixties, you thought the British had the edge when it came to production. When and how do you think that changed and the Americans overtook us?