Hentschel was born in
Sussex. His career began at
Trident Studios in London where he was initially an assistant before rising to become one of the in-house producers. In addition to engineering and production credits, Hentschel also played early synthesizers with a diverse range of bands including
Nazareth,
Pilot and
Byzantium. He played synthesizer on several high-profile recordings, including Elton John's "
Rocket Man" and "
Funeral for a Friend" from the
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album. "Funeral for a Friend" featured an early analogue synthesizer, the
ARP 2500, to create tonal feeling and effect. After leaving Trident in 1974, he produced his own album
Startling Music for Ringo Starr's short-lived record label,
Ring O' Records, consisting of a song-by-song, instrumental cover of Starr's album
Ringo and featuring performances by
Phil Collins,
David Cole,
Ronnie Caryl,
John Gilbert (the son of
Lewis Gilbert) and Starr. He then began a successful collaboration with the band
Genesis which resulted in four albums beginning with
A Trick of the Tail in 1976 and continuing through to
Duke in 1980. In 1975, he recorded 'Oh My My', an instrumental/keyboard version of Ringo Starr's 1973 song. In 1980, Hentschel worked closely with
Mike Oldfield on his album
QE2, with a writing credit for the title track as well as album credits for synthesizers, drums, vocals, and horn arrangement. QE2 would become the best-selling album of 1981 in Germany. In 1982, Hentschel collaborated with lyricist
Don Black on a song cycle album for
Marti Webb to follow her success with
Tell Me on a Sunday. ''
I'm Not That Kind of Girl'' was released in 1983. Despite including the talent of
Phil Collins on drums and
Kiki Dee on backing vocals, it failed to chart and was Webb's last album for
Polydor. In 1988, Hentschel produced and engineered the Grammy Award-winning album
Politics, by the jazz fusion band
Yellowjackets. In the 1980s and 1990s, Hentschel coproduced, engineered, and/or played keyboards and synthesizers on five albums by Police guitarist
Andy Summers: the rock vocal album
XYZ (
MCA Records, 1987) and the primarily instrumental albums
Mysterious Barricades (just Summers and Hentschel,
Private Music, 1988),
The Golden Wire (
Private Music, 1989),
Charming Snakes (
Private Music, 1990), and
Synaesthesia (CMP Records, 1995). Hentschel composed scores for
The Squeeze (1977) along with the
Lewis Gilbert films
Operation Daybreak (1975),
Seven Nights in Japan (1976) and
Educating Rita (1983). Relocating to Los Angeles in 1985, Hentschel established one of the first dedicated
MIDI studios and worked with
Ensoniq on developing instruments and custom sounds. He eventually moved back to Great Britain and continues to produce, compose and arrange on both sides of the Atlantic. Hentschel also worked as an engineer, musician, producer and arranger for a number of
Contemporary Christian music artists including
Out of Eden,
Jennifer Knapp,
Point of Grace and
P.O.D. Hentschel has recently produced prog/harp band
Art in America which was recorded in Los Angeles. He was heavily involved in developing new artists. ==Discography==