Martin Birch, the longtime producer of Iron Maiden and Deep Purple, has died at the age of 71. No cause or date has been announced.

Whitesnake singer David Coverdale announced Birch’s death in a tweet: “Martin was a huge part of my life … helping me from the first time we met through until Slide It In … My thoughts & prayers to his family, friends & fans.”

As an engineer from 1968 to 1972, Birch worked on the debuts of The Faces and Wishbone Ash, Jeff Beck’s Beck-Ola, three Fleetwood Mac albums and Deep Purple’s classics, Fireball, Machine Head and Made in Japan.He added producer to his credits in 1973 with, most notably, Fleetwood Mac’s Mystery to Me and Penguin. As a producer he worked regularly with Whitesnake, Black Sabbath during the Ronnie James Dio era, and beginning with 1981’s Killers, with Iron Maiden.

Birch produced nine of Iron Maiden’s albums—through 1992’s Fear of the Dark—before retiring from the music industry at the age of 42.

RIP Martin Birch. Legendary producer of countless albums by Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden & more.

"My thoughts & prayers go out to his wife Vera & his daughter Haley. He was a genius producer & a very dear friend of Ronnie’s. May he RIP"- Wendy Dio pic.twitter.com/9GTqNs36WC
— Official Dio (@OfficialRJDio) August 9, 2020

Really sad to hear of the passing of Martin Birch. Brilliant producer. Had the pleasure of working with him on the Black Sabbath albums #HeavenandHell and #MobRules. Condolences to Vera and family. #RIPMartin pic.twitter.com/FPZajWRvpN
— Geezer Butler (@geezerbutler) August 9, 2020

It is with a very heavy heart I’ve just had verified my very dear friend & producer Martin Birch has passed away...Martin was a huge part of my life...helping me from the first time we met through until Slide It In...Mt thoughts & prayers to his family, friends & fans...ðŸ’”ðŸ’” pic.twitter.com/J4UyDiG9zR
— David Coverdale (@davidcoverdale) August 9, 2020