Bob Ezrin | |
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| Birth name | Robert Alan Ezrin |
| Born | March 25, 1949 |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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| Years active | 1970–present |
Robert Alan Ezrin OC (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's career in music had spanned four decades and his production work continued into the 21st century, with acts such as Deftones and Thirty Seconds to Mars. [1] Ezrin is the winner of three Juno Awards. [2] [3] [4] In 2011, he was awarded the Special Achievement Award at the 2011 SOCAN Awards held in Toronto. [5] On 29 December 2022, Ezrin was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, the second-highest civilian honour in Canada.
Ezrin was born in Toronto, Ontario, on March 25, 1949 to Jewish parents. He resided in the Forest Hill area of Toronto. [6]
As of 2014, Ezrin continued to work as a record producer, arranger and songwriter, in addition to being involved with a variety of other projects in digital media, live production, film, television, and theatrical production. [7] [8] [9]
Ezrin has worked on recordings with numerous major artists, including Pink Floyd, Phish, Alice Cooper, KISS, Balloonatic, Deep Purple, Lou Reed, The Kings, Hanoi Rocks, Taylor Swift, Peter Gabriel, Bonham, K'naan, 2Cellos, Kristin Chenoweth, Rod Stewart, Nine Inch Nails, The Jayhawks, Thirty Seconds to Mars, The Darkness, Jane's Addiction, Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, Berlin, Kansas, Julian Lennon, Joe Bonamassa and Deftones, among many others. Ezrin also recorded the very first demos for Toronto band Max Webster. [10]
Ezrin has been described by Alice Cooper as "our George Martin". [11] Following his first ever production work on an album with Love it to Death in 1971, Ezrin embarked on a long-term collaboration that, by 1973, would see the release of the number one album Billion Dollar Babies , a year after the success of School's Out ; Cooper subsequently became established as one of the biggest acts in the world. [12] After the disbanding of Cooper's group, Ezrin continued his collaboration with Cooper, as the latter embarked upon a solo career. In 1975, Cooper released the Ezrin-produced album, Welcome To My Nightmare . Ezrin worked with Cooper not just as a producer, but also as a co-writer, arranger, and musician. [13]
Ezrin produced the best-selling KISS album Destroyer in 1976. [14] As explained by Peter Criss during an interview in the documentary KISS: Krazy Killer (1994), Ezrin co-wrote, arranged and performed the piano accompaniment to the song "Beth". [15] Ezrin proceeded to produce two other albums with the band -- Music from "The Elder" and Revenge —and remains close to the band's members in the 21st century. [16]
Ezrin has worked with Pink Floyd on a number of occasions, co-producing the albums The Wall , A Momentary Lapse of Reason , and The Division Bell . He has also co-written the songs "The Trial", "Signs of Life", "Learning to Fly", and "Take It Back". [10]
Ezrin also produced the 1988 Kansas album In the Spirit of Things , and received a writing credit for the song "Ghosts" and three other songs.
In May 2009, Ezrin co-produced The Clearwater Concert at Madison Square Garden, celebrating the 90th birthday of musician and activist Pete Seeger. More than 50 guest artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Ben Harper, Joan Baez, Tom Morello, Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris, and Kris Kristofferson, performed at the event. [17] Ezrin also co-produced the PBS broadcast of the event.
Since 2010, Ezrin has co-produced Peter Gabriel's album Scratch My Back ; co-produced The House Rules, by Christian Kane; and produced singles for K'naan, the Canadian Tenors, and young pop sensation, Fefe Dobson, for her album, Joy . [18] Ezrin also reunited with Cooper, working on Cooper's Welcome 2 My Nightmare , on the corresponding live show, and numerous other related projects. [19] He also mixed several projects, including Taylor Swift's Speak Now World Tour Live CD and DVD (2011), and an album by The Darkness (2012). [20]
In 2012, Ezrin remixed KISS's 1976 album Destroyer, which by then had gone Double Platinum. [21] Also, he produced albums for 2Cellos and rock legends Deep Purple. [22] Bob worked with the band Phish on their 2014 release, Fuego . [23] They reunited for the band's next album, Big Boat , released in 2016. [24] Ezrin worked with Andrea Bocelli on Sì , Bocelli's first No. 1 album, both in the UK and USA. [25]
Ezrin produced a live and television extravaganza to reopen the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, US, starring Green Day and U2. [26] He also worked on an album and live opera with L'Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio in Rome, Italy. [27]
In 1993, Ezrin co-founded a computer software company called 7th Level, [28] which developed and published educational and entertainment CD-ROMs, including a series of Monty Python games. [29]
In 1999, Ezrin cofounded Enigma Digital, [30] an internet radio provider, that was eventually sold to Clear Channel; Ezrin was later appointed vice-chairman of Clear Channel Interactive. [31] Ezrin was also Chairman of Live Nation Artists Recordings in 2007 and the first half of 2008.
Ezrin is also co-founder and vice chairman of Wow Unlimited Media.
In 2009, Ezrin, along with Garth Richardson and Kevin Williams, [32] cofounded the Nimbus School of Recording Arts in Vancouver. [33] Ezrin stated that his goal was to provide new engineers and producers with the hands-on teaching experience that he believed was no longer available from traditional recording studios. [34]
Ezrin is a board member of the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation,[ citation needed ] a national initiative that supports music in US schools by donating musical instruments to under-funded music programs. He is also an Advisory Committee member of MusiCounts, the musical education initiative of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, that provides instruments to Canadian school music programs. [35]
He is co-founder, with U2's The Edge, of Music Rising, an initiative to preserve the musical culture of the Gulf coast region following the damage caused by the hurricanes and flooding of 2005. [36]
On February 18, 2010, Ezrin helped with the mobilization of the Young Artists for Haiti group. Fifty Canadian artists recorded a rendition of hip hop star K'naan's "Wavin' Flag" for the victims of the Haiti quake. [37] The song was reworked by Ezrin to include specific lyrics for Haiti, with proceeds disseminated to Free the Children, War Child Canada, and World Vision Canada. The production raised over US$2 million. [38] K'naan explained in regard to the initiation of the project: "I got a call from Randy [Lennox, president] at Universal [Music Canada] and Bob Ezrin. They had this idea that they wanted to do something lasting, that actually educates young people in Canada about Haiti and not let the fatigue of the subject wash over everybody and everybody just forget Haiti." [37]
Ezrin is a Chairman Emeritus of the Los Angeles Mentoring Partnership and a past Trustee and Governor of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). [39]
He is also a member of the Board of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, which promotes, celebrates and facilitates excellence in journalism.
As of 2022, Bob is engaged as a Canadian climate activist. [40] [41] [42]
In 1982, Ezrin briefly appeared as the host of Enterprise, a City-TV panel show that replaced Dr. Morton Shulman's The Shulman File; he has also been a frequent interviewee for documentary films and television. [43] Ezrin has created new theatrical, television, and live events with RadicalMedia, based in New York, including Jay-Z's feature film, Fade to Black . [44] In 2012, Ezrin appeared in Artifact , a documentary film about the modern music business focused on the legal battle between Thirty Seconds to Mars and record label EMI.
He is a co-producer of Melanie Doane's children's music television series Ukulele U . [45]
Ezrin was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in April 2004 [46] and the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in March 2006. [47]
In 2011, Ezrin and Young Artist for Haiti won the Juno Award in Canada for "Single of the Year". [48] Also in 2011, he was awarded an "Outstanding Contribution" at the Classic Rock Magazine Awards. [49] In 2013, he was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. [50]
Ezrin was also honoured in 2013 by The Royal Conservatory of Music, [51] being named an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Conservatory. [52]
In late 2022, Ezrin was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, "For his ongoing contributions to music and entertainment production, and for his sustained advocacy of musical education, journalism and environmental justice." [53]
Ezrin is married to Janet Ezrin. [54]
David Walter Foster is a Canadian record producer, film composer, and music executive. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. Foster's career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s before focusing largely on composing and production. Often in tandem with songwriter Diane Warren, Foster has contributed to material for prominent music industry artists in various genres since then, and is credited with production on over 40 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100. He has also chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016.
Felicia Lily Dobson is a Canadian singer. Born in Toronto, Ontario, she began performing as a teenager, during which time she received and refused an offer from Jive Records for a recording contract. Dobson signed with Island/Def Jam soon after and released her self-titled debut album (2003), which saw the success of the singles "Bye Bye Boyfriend" and "Don't Go " on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and for which she received two Juno Award nominations.
Destroyer is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on March 15, 1976, by Casablanca Records in the US. It was the third successive Kiss album to reach the top 40 in the US, as well as the first to chart in Germany and New Zealand. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on April 22, 1976, and platinum on November 11 of the same year, the first Kiss album to achieve platinum. The album marked a departure from the raw sound of the band's first three albums.
Welcome to My Nightmare is the debut solo studio album by American rock musician Alice Cooper, released on February 28, 1975. It is his only album for the Atlantic Records label in North America; in the rest of the world, it was released on the ABC subsidiary Anchor Records. Welcome to My Nightmare is a concept album. Played in sequence, the songs form a journey through the nightmares of a child named Steven. The album inspired the Alice Cooper: The Nightmare TV special, a worldwide concert tour in 1975, and his Welcome to My Nightmare concert film in 1976. The ensuing tour was one of the most over-the-top excursions of that era. Most of Lou Reed's band joined Cooper for this record.
Revenge is the sixteenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released on May 19, 1992. It is the band's first album to feature drummer Eric Singer, following the death of former drummer Eric Carr in November 1991 and is the group's last album to feature musical contributions from the latter. Marking a stylistic departure from the pop-influenced glam metal which characterized much of the band's 1980s output for a heavier sound, the album reached the Top 20 in several countries, though it failed to reestablish the group back in the mainstream and its sales were equal-to or less than its predecessors, ultimately only being certified gold by the RIAA on July 20, 1992.
Love It to Death is the third studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released on March 9, 1971. It was the band's first commercially successful album and the first album that consolidated the band's aggressive hard-rocking sound, instead of the psychedelic and experimental rock style of their first two albums. The album's best-known track, "I'm Eighteen", was released as a single to test the band's commercial viability before the album was recorded.
Keinan Abdi Warsame, better known by his stage name K'naan, is a Somali-Canadian rapper and singer. He rose to prominence with the success of his single "Wavin' Flag", which was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Besides hip hop, K'naan's sound is influenced by elements of Somali music and world music. He is also involved in various philanthropic initiatives.
DaDa is the eighth solo studio album by American rock singer Alice Cooper, released on September 28, 1983, by Warner Bros. Records. DaDa would be Cooper's final studio album until his sober re-emergence in 1986 with the album Constrictor.
Music from "The Elder" is the ninth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released on the Casablanca Records label in 1981. The album marked a substantial departure from their previous output with the concept and orchestral elements. Music from "The Elder" was the first album with the drummer Eric Carr and the last album to feature guitarist Ace Frehley until their 1996 reunion.
"Beth" is a song by American rock band Kiss, originally released on their 1976 album Destroyer. Featuring drummer Peter Criss on lead vocals, the song was written primarily by producer Bob Ezrin and Stan Penridge. Criss contributed to the demo, "Beck" and is, therefore, listed as one of the writers. Casablanca Records released it as a single in August 1976, after it was released as the B-side of "Detroit Rock City". "Beth" is Kiss's biggest commercial hit in the United States; it reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, received a Gold Record certification from the RIAA, and won the 1977 People's Choice Award for "Favorite Song". In 2003, "Beth" ranked #3 in VH1's 25 Greatest Power Ballads.
Richard Allen Wagner was an American rock guitarist, songwriter and author best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, and Kiss. He also fronted his own Michigan-based bands, the Frost and the Bossmen.
Jack Arnold Richardson CM was a Canadian Juno Award-nominated record producer and Order of Canada recipient. He is perhaps best known for producing the biggest hit records from The Guess Who from 1969 to 1975. He was part of the faculty at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario as an educator in the Music Industry Arts program for almost 20 years, as well as at the Harris Institute for the Arts in Toronto, Ontario. His son is record producer Garth Richardson.
"I'm Eighteen" is a song by rock band Alice Cooper, first released as a single in November 1970 backed with "Is It My Body". It was the band's first top-forty success—peaking at number 21—and convinced Warner Bros. that Alice Cooper had the commercial potential to release an album. The song and its B-side feature on the band's first major-label album Love It to Death (1971).
Brutally Live is a DVD of American rock singer Alice Cooper's concert on 19 July 2000 at the Labatt's Hammersmith Apollo in London, England, released later in the same year. It was re-released in 2003 on DVD accompanied with an audio CD of an edited version of the DVD's soundtrack.
Ben Hillier is an English songwriter and pop-rock record producer who is part of the creative team 140 dB. He produced the notable albums Playing the Angel, Sounds of the Universe and Delta Machine by Depeche Mode, Think Tank by Blur, Some Cities by Doves and Cast of Thousands by Elbow.
"Wavin' Flag" is a song by Somali-Canadian artist K'naan from his album Troubadour (2009). The song was originally written for Somalia and aspirations of its people for freedom. The original single was a hit in Canada and reached number two on the Canadian Hot 100 as the second official single from the album, after the single "ABCs", a minor hit. After an earthquake in Haiti in 2010, a remake of the song by an ad hoc supergroup of Canadian artists, credited as Young Artists for Haiti, became a charity single in Canada, reaching number one on the Canadian Hot 100 in its own right.
Young Artists for Haiti was a movement to engage Canada's young musicians to continue to inspire an ongoing effort and contribution to Canadian charities for their work to help the people of Haiti overcome the devastation from the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that rocked the country on January 12, 2010. More than 50 Canadian artists gathered at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia to record a rendition of renowned hip hop artist K'naan's "Wavin' Flag".
Fuego is the thirteenth studio album by the American rock band Phish, released on June 24, 2014 on the band's own JEMP Records label.
Kevin Ernest Williams is a Canadian music producer, keyboardist, audio engineer, and educational administrator with over 25 years experience within the post-secondary education system. He is the co-founder and partner of Sessionwire Communications Inc.
Garth "GGGarth" Richardson is a Canadian record producer and music engineer. He is the son of music producer Jack Richardson, a pioneer of the music recording industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Garth Richardson has done music engineering work for the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nickelback, and Mötley Crüe, and produced for Kittie, Biffy Clyro, Rage Against the Machine, Mudvayne, Melvins, Shihad, Kensington, and many others. He cofounded the Nimbus School of Recording Arts in Vancouver, British Columbia together with Bob Ezrin and Kevin Williams. The school was named after Richardson's father's production company, Nimbus 9, and offers courses in production, recording, and audio. Richardson has the nickname 'GGGarth' due to his mild stutter.
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