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Donn Landee, who served as the engineer or co-producer on Van Halen<\/a>‘s first eight studio albums, has reportedly died of natural causes at the age of 79.<\/p>\n The news was reported by the Van Halen News Desk<\/a>. After beginning his career by working on records such as the Doors<\/a>‘ Waiting for the Sun<\/a><\/em>, Landee joined Warner Bros. as a staff engineer in 1971.<\/p>\n He soon formed a partnership with Ted Templeman<\/a>, working with the famed producer on numerous landmark albums by the Doobie Brothers<\/a>, Little Feat<\/a> and Van Morrison<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n The duo also worked together on the first two albums by Montrose<\/a>, a California-based hard rock band featuring a then-unknown singer named Sammy Hagar<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Montrose never fully broke through commercially their 1973 self-titled debut<\/a> developed a following among other musicians, including Van Halen, who later cited the sound of Montrose<\/em> as one of the reasons they chose Templeman and Landee as the producer and engineer for their own 1978 debut album<\/a>.<\/p>\n Landee would go on to serve as the engineer for the group’s first six albums. He was also instrumental in helping guitarist Eddie Van Halen<\/a> build his 5150 home recording studio, which the band first put to use on the 1984<\/a><\/em> album, which included helping to trick city officials into thinking they were building a racquetball court.<\/p>\n Read More: Every Van Halen Album Ranked<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n “One of the first times I drove him to his house on Coldwater Canyon, he had me look at the guest house and asked, ‘Can we use this?’ I told him we needed to build something more substantial,” Landee told VHND<\/a> in 2024. “We walked beyond the guest house and he showed me there was plenty of room to build his studio.”<\/p>\n After Van Halen split with founding singer David Lee Roth<\/a> – who got Templeman in the divorce – Landee was promoted to co-producer on 1986’s Hagar-fronted\u00a05150<\/em><\/a> and 1988’s OU812<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n OU812<\/em> was the final record Landee worked on with the band, but in recent years he helped remaster various Van Halen albums for reissue campaigns or expanded box set editions.<\/p>\n A look at those we’ve lost in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIn Memoriam: 2026 Deaths<\/h2>\n