George Tobin

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Tobin's North Hollywood studio in 1990 George-tobin-studio-1990-06-27.jpg
Tobin's North Hollywood studio in 1990

George Tobin is an American record producer who has produced albums for a long list of musical artists including Robert John, Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes, Kicking Harold, and PC Quest. He is best known, however, for discovering, managing, and producing the teenage singer Tiffany and showcasing her in malls across the country. From the 1980s, Tobin owned a large recording studio complex in North Hollywood, California, which was frequently rented by people making demo tapes and radio commercials. Tiffany was recording a demo at the studio at age 12 when Tobin heard her and decided that she could be a star; soon, he was managing and producing her. [1] Under Tobin's management, Tiffany released two very successful albums ( Tiffany and Hold an Old Friend's Hand ), and toured for two years with New Kids on the Block. Although Tiffany separated from Tobin's management in 1989, the two briefly reunited to record the 1993 album Dreams Never Die which Tobin produced. Ultimately, the album only saw release in Asia and Tiffany and Tobin went their separate ways again.

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In the 1990s, he pursued business ventures in Las Vegas, Nevada, including buying radio station KMMK and changing it to KEDG the Edge. By 2005 his businesses, George Tobin Music and Headliner Records, were based in Las Vegas and Boca Raton, Florida. In 2005 Tobin re-released Tiffany's album Dreams Never Die with an additional six tracks taken from early Tiffany recording sessions at Tobin's studio and made it available to a wider audience than it had seen previously.

Selected albums and songs produced by Tobin

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<i>Dreams Never Die</i> 1993 studio album by Tiffany

Dreams Never Die is the fourth studio album by Tiffany, released on November 21, 1993. It represented an attempt to return to pop success three years after her last album, and five years after her last commercially successful one. It was released in various countries of Asia, but not in the United States; she had retained a greater degree of popularity in Asia than in the United States. An American release was planned but never released; it was expected to have some changes from the Asian version, because, as Tiffany said at the time, "A lot of the stuff in the Asia market is a little more pop than what I want to do here. I want to break away from the bubble gum thing... My goal is to do not hard rock, but a semi-rock sound." Earlier in 1993, Tiffany gave a series of performances at the Las Vegas Hilton's casino lounge, which included songs from this album.

<i>Hold an Old Friends Hand</i> 1988 studio album by Tiffany

Hold an Old Friend's Hand is the second studio album by American pop singer Tiffany, released in November 1988. The album was commercially successful, achieving a platinum certification, peaking at #17 on the U.S. charts and yielding one top-ten single and another in the top 40 ; however, it did not equal the multi-platinum success of her debut album, which had two #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

<i>Tiffany</i> (album) 1987 studio album by Tiffany

Tiffany is the debut studio album by American singer Tiffany, released on September 15, 1987, by MCA Records. Prior to signing a recording contract with MCA Records in 1987, Tiffany had begun working with manager and record producer George Tobin several years earlier, possibly with some of the tracks recorded as early as when she was 12 years old. Initially, "Danny" was her first single released from her self-titled studio album; however the single failed to chart. To support the album and create a buzz for herself, Tiffany embarked on a shopping mall tour entitled "The Beautiful You: Celebrating the Good Life Shopping Mall Tour '87". The tour included Tiffany performing in shopping malls across the United States; at first to small audiences but by the end to much larger crowds as her popularity grew.

<i>Romance Dance</i> 1980 studio album by Kim Carnes

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Michael Lynn Piccirillo is an American record producer, songwriter, and musician, who began working professionally in the Los Angeles music business in 1976. In conjunction with production partner George Tobin, and subsequently Gary Goetzman, Piccirillo co-produced 31 albums between 1976 and 1992.

Being with You (song) 1981 single by Smokey Robinson

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Now let me tell you about a coincidental relationship between Smokey at #2 and Kim Carnes who's at #1 again this week. Kim's last hit was "More Love", her remake of an old Smokey Robinson hit. Well, Smokey liked Kim's version so much that he wrote her another song, but when Smokey's producer heard the demo, he told Smokey, "You oughta record it yourself!", and that's the song we just heard in the #2 position. And how ironic it is that Smokey's recording of the song he'd written for Kim Carnes has been kept out of the #1 spot by a Kim Carnes hit for 3 weeks running. - Casey Kasem, American Top 40

<i>Being with You</i> (album) 1981 studio album by Smokey Robinson

Being With You is a 1981 album by American singer Smokey Robinson. It is one of the few Smokey Robinson solo albums that have been released in the CD format. It features the million-selling, Gold-certified single title track "Being With You", which hit #1 on the Cash Box Top 100. It just missed the #1 Pop position in Billboard, peaking at #2, making it Robinson's highest-charting solo hit after leaving The Miracles. It was also #1 for five consecutive weeks on the R&B Chart and for two weeks on the UK Singles Chart.

More Love (Smokey Robinson and the Miracles song)

"More Love" is a 1967 hit single recorded by the American soul group The Miracles for Motown Records' Tamla label. The single, included on the group's 1967 album Make It Happen, later reissued in 1970 as The Tears of a Clown. Kim Carnes' husky 1980 cover of the song hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts.

<i>pc Quest</i> (album) 1991 studio album by pc Quest

pc Quest is the 1991 self-titled first album by the group pc Quest. The album contains two Billboard Hot 100 hit singles. Most of the songs were written by one or both of the songwriting team Tim James and Steven McClintock.

<i>Directions</i> (PC Quest album) 1992 studio album by PC Quest

Directions is the 1992 second album by the Billboard 100 charting group PC Quest. Like their first album, most of the songs were written by one or both of the songwriting team of Tim James and Steven McClintock. Tiffany would later re-record a few of these songs on her 1993 Dreams Never Die album which was also produced by George Tobin.

<i>Highway</i> (Sean Delaney album) 1979 studio album by Sean Delaney

Highway is a solo album by Sean Delaney. Delaney's recording of this album was related to his work on Gene Simmons' and Peter Criss' solo albums. Sean used his studio musicians to record some demo material for Peter Criss that was simply released on Peter's solo album. It has also been suggested (unsubstantiated) that Casablanca president Neil Bogart used the solo album as leverage against Sean for song-writing agreements and compliance with the KISS project.

<i>Back on the Street</i> 1980 studio album by Robert John

Back on the Street is the final major-label album by American singer-songwriter Robert John.

Kim Carnes discography

American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes has released 13 studio albums, one live album, five compilation albums, and 48 singles. She signed with Amos Records in 1971 and released her debut album Rest on Me in the same year. Her self-titled second album was released in the following year. Kim Carnes yielded one single, "You're a Part of Me", which became Carnes' first charting title. The song reached No. 32 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. None of Carnes's albums charted until the release of her fifth studio album Romance Dance (1980). The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard 200, No. 77 on the Canadian Albums Chart and No. 89 on the Australian Albums Chart. Romance Dance produced two hit singles; the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles cover "More Love", which made the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 10, and "Cry Like a Baby", which peaked right outside of the top 40, at No. 44.

<i>Happy Love</i> 1981 studio album by Natalie Cole

Happy Love is a 1981 album by American singer Natalie Cole. Released on July 18, 1981, it was her final album on Capitol Records. The album reached peak positions of number 132 on the Billboard 200 and number 37 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart.

<i>Groove Patrol</i> 1983 studio album by High Inergy

Groove Patrol was the eighth and final album by High Inergy. It was unique among their albums because instead of using a plethora of producers, the entire album was produced by the same production team. It featured the song, "He's a Pretender," that was a Top 30 Dance single on Billboard and one of their few recordings to hit the Hot 100 pop charts. Smokey Robinson also appeared on two songs. The song, "So Right" was also the title track of the group's previous album. "Groove Patrol" peaked at #62 on the R&B charts.

<i>Yes Its You Lady</i> 1982 studio album by Smokey Robinson

Yes It's You Lady is a 1982 album by American singer Smokey Robinson. As 1981's Being with You it was produced by George Tobin in association with Mike Piccirillo and recorded and mixed at Studio Sound Recorders, North Hollywood, California. It was released on the Motown sub-label Tamla.

References

  1. Tuber, Keith (June 1989). "On Top with Tiffany". Orange Coast . 16 (6): 245. ISSN   0279-0483.