Felix Pappalardi was born in the Bronx on December 20, 1939. He is best known as the producer of the psychedelic, blues-inspired rock trio Cream, beginning with their second album, Disraeli Gears. Pappalardi was also the bassist for the American hard rock band Mountain. After Cream disbanded, Pappalardi helped form Mountain, whose hit single "Mississippi Queen" is still heard regularly on classic rock radio stations.
Pappalardi studied classical music at the University of Michigan. Upon completing his studies and returning to New York, he was unable to find work and so became part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene where he made a name for himself as a skilled arranger. From there he moved into record production, initially concentrating on folk and folk-rock acts for artists such as The Youngbloods and Joan Baez. However, it was Pappalardi's late-'60s work with Cream that established his reputation. He contributed instrumentation for his imaginative studio arrangements and he and his wife, Gail Collins, wrote the Cream hit "Strange Brew" with Eric Clapton. Pappalardi died April 17, 1983, of a gunshot wound at the age of 43.
