Recording engineer Dennis Ferrante, whose long list of credits includes work on albums by such diverse artists as John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Lou Reed, Elvis Presley, Waylon Jennings, Duke Ellington, Chet Atkins and the 1910 Fruitgum Company, died June 6 from heart failure, according to Jennifer Carmine of the Shannon Gallery, a close family friend of Ferrante's. Ferrante was surrounded by friends and family when he died, she said. Ferrante had a history of heart problems and a benefit concert was held in 2010 to help get him a new heart.

Ferrante won a Grammy Award in 1999 in the category of Best Historical Album. He was one of the engineers on "The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1927-1973)."

In a 2009 interview, Ferrante talked about his work on albums by Lennon, Nilsson and Yoko Ono. He said the creation of followed John Lennon's standard of work in the studio. John's way of doing music was he would come into the studio with his song. He would run the tune down for the band and after about 45 minutes the band would be ready to put it down. Then we would record any guitar overdubs or other instruments and be ready to put down John's vocal. He didn't like to hear his voice plain so I had to put in his headphones efx's that seemed to me the more he heard, the better he sang. After that we put on the background vocals and whatever little nuiances were needed like May (Pang) saying 'John' in the chorus. After all the parts were put down, we would mix and the rest is what you hear.

About the Nilsson album Pussy Cats, which John Lennon produced, he said the crazy atmosphere was very much apart of the album's creation. John was not one to go into a studio and just fool around. He was there to make music, but the craziness is what it was all about. That state led to musical creativity which in turn made great music.

And he said that despite the free form nature of her music, Yoko Ono knew what she wanted to do before coming into the studio. She has a concept in her mind and I had to bring it to fruition, which at times was very nerve racking.

Recently, Ferrante had played a show at the Cutting Room in New York with former Wings drummer Steve Holley and others. Dennis was a storyteller. I never saw him unkind to anyone. He loved telling stories to you and you would laugh until you cried until your sides hurt about whether it was working with John (Lennon) or he could make light of his heart problems, said Jennifer Vanderslice of Moonglow PR. He'll be so missed by everybody. He was such a joy to be around.