He became a freelance engineer in the late ‘70s and produced The Who’s ‘Who Are You’ and Eric Clapton’s ‘Just One Night’. At the time Jon also produced first time artists, The Jags and The Distractions, having chart success with both.

In the ‘80s he turned his attention to North America and produced Corey Hart’s first two albums, which included hits ‘Sunglasses at Night’ and ‘Never Surrender’, both no. 1 records and producing sales of 4 million. He also had success producing Marilyn Martin, Barclay James Harvest, The Pretty Things and Roger Daltrey before signing to Atlantic Records as a recording artist.