Glen Ballard

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Glen Ballard
Birth nameBasil Glen Ballard Jr.
Born (1953-05-01) May 1, 1953 (age 70)
Natchez, Mississippi, U.S.
Genres R&B, rock, pop
Occupation(s) Songwriter, lyricist, record producer
Instrument(s) Keyboards, synthesizer, guitar
Years active1971–present

Basil Glen Ballard Jr. [1] (born May 1, 1953) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer. He is best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's 1995 album Jagged Little Pill , [2] [3] which won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album and Album of the Year, and was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. He is also well known for his collaborations with composer Alan Silvestri, with whom he most notably wrote the musical adaptation of Back to the Future (with film screenwriter Bob Gale also returning to write the book). He was involved in the recording and writing of Michael Jackson's albums Thriller , Bad and Dangerous . [4] As a writer, he co-wrote songs including "Man in the Mirror" (1987) [4] and "Hand in My Pocket" (1995). He is the founder of Java Records. He won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for "Believe" ( The Polar Express ).

Contents

In 2011, Ballard founded his own production company known as Augury, focused on developing music-driven projects in film, television, and theater. [5] He was involved in the development of the eight-part TV series The Eddy , centering around a jazz club in Paris, which aired on Netflix in May 2020. [6]

Discography

He has performed on or produced the following:

Film and television

Ballard wrote the screenplay for Clubland , a music-driven film about an aspiring musician in Los Angeles. He has written songs in half a dozen films, including The Slugger's Wife , Navy Seals , The Polar Express , and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm .

Ballard was involved in the development of the TV series The Eddy , broadcast by Netflix in May 2020. Ballard also co-wrote the music for the series and served as an executive producer. [6] [7] He wrote new songs with Alan Silvestri for the 2022 live-action film adaptation of Disney's Pinocchio . [8]

Musical theatre

Ballard co-wrote the music and lyrics for Ghost the Musical with David A. Stewart and Bruce Joel Rubin, which opened in London's West End on July 19, 2011, and opened on Broadway in the spring of 2012.

On January 31, 2014, it was announced that a stage musical of the film Back to the Future was in production. [9] The show, which is being co-written by original writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, premiered in Manchester, on February 20, 2020. [10] Ballard teamed with Alan Silvestri to compose a new score, with the addition of original songs from the film, including "The Power of Love", "Johnny B. Goode" and "Earth Angel". [11]

In 2019, a stage musical based on the music from Jagged Little Pill (and with the same name) opened on broadway following a successful limited engagement in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with Ballard having provided much of the lyrics. The show ran for a month of previews and 3 months of performances before closing due to COVID-19; it reopened in October 2021 before officially closing only two months later in December. At the rescheduled Tony Awards for 2020, the show garnered 15 nominations in total, though only won two awards, in addition to winning the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. A subsequent Australian production, as well as a US tour followed shortly after, as well as the announcement of a London transfer.

Further reading

See also

Related Research Articles

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Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian and American singer and songwriter. She is known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. Morissette began her music career in Canada in the early 1990s with two dance-pop albums. In 1995, she released Jagged Little Pill, an alternative rock-oriented album with elements of post-grunge. This album sold more than 33 million copies globally, propelling her to become a cultural phenomenon. It earned her the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1996 and was adapted into a rock musical of the same name in 2017. The musical earned fifteen Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. Additionally, the album was listed in Rolling Stone's 2003 and 2020 editions of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" guide. The lead single, "You Oughta Know", was also included at #103 in their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

<i>Jagged Little Pill</i> 1995 studio album by Alanis Morissette

Jagged Little Pill is the third studio album by Canadian singer Alanis Morissette, released on June 13, 1995, through Maverick and her first album to be released worldwide. It marked a stylistic departure from the dance-pop sound of her first two albums, Alanis (1991) and Now Is the Time (1992). Morissette began work on the album after moving from her hometown Ottawa to Los Angeles, where she met producer Glen Ballard. Morissette and Ballard had an instant connection and began co-writing and experimenting with sounds. The experimentation resulted in an alternative rock album that takes influence from post-grunge and pop rock, and features guitars, keyboards, drum machines, and harmonica. The lyrics touch upon themes of aggression and unsuccessful relationships, while Ballard introduced a pop sensibility to Morissette's angst. The title of the album is taken from a line in the first verse of the song "You Learn".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">You Oughta Know</span> 1995 single by Alanis Morissette

"You Oughta Know" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, released as the lead single from her third studio album, Jagged Little Pill (1995), on July 6, 1995. After releasing two studio albums, Morissette left MCA Records Canada and was introduced to manager Scott Welch. Morissette began working on new music after moving from her hometown of Ottawa to Toronto, but made little progress. In Los Angeles, she met producer Glen Ballard, with whom she wrote songs including "You Oughta Know".

<i>MTV Unplugged</i> (Alanis Morissette album) 1999 live album by Alanis Morissette

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Head over Feet</span> 1996 single by Alanis Morissette

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<i>Jagged Little Pill Acoustic</i> 2005 studio album by Alanis Morissette

Jagged Little Pill Acoustic is a studio album by Alanis Morissette. It is a largely acoustic retrospective version of her highly successful third album, Jagged Little Pill (1995); the songs are stripped-down versions of the originals, though producer Glen Ballard has augmented them with studio production effects to create an alternative pop album. The album was released by Maverick Records in the United States on June 13, 2005, available only at North American Starbucks outlets until July 26, 2005, when it was made available in other retail stores. This limited availability led to a dispute between Maverick Records and HMV Canada, who retaliated by removing from sale Morissette's other albums for the duration of Starbucks' exclusive month-long sale. The album's single in the U.S. was "Hand in My Pocket". The cover artwork is a sepia-toned tribute to the cover of the original Jagged Little Pill.

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References

  1. ↑ Hilburn, Robert (August 5, 2001). "A Calm Hand at the Controls". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 5, 2001.[ dead link ]
  2. ↑ Pareles, Jon (November 1, 1998). "Alanis Morissette Explores The Healing Power of Song". The New York Times .
  3. ↑ Tyrangiel, Josh (April 10, 2000). "Music: Two-Hit Wonders". Time . Archived from the original on February 25, 2007.
  4. 1 2 "Michael Jackson's lyrics tell a hard story". MSNBC. June 29, 2009. Archived from the original on September 16, 2010.
  5. ↑ Dale Kawashima (August 27, 2015). "Renowned Writer/Producer Glen Ballard Talks About His Hits With Alanis Morissette And Michael Jackson, And His New Projects". Songwriter Universe. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  6. 1 2 Gompertz, Will (May 2, 2020). "The Eddy: Will Gompertz reviews Netflix drama directed by Oscar-winning Damien Chazelle". BBC News . Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  7. ↑ "The Eddy, critics' reviews". Metacritic . April 28, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  8. ↑ Scott, Fiona (November 26, 2021). "GLEN BALLARD Discusses THE ROSE Musical and PINOCCHIO Live-Action Remake on the Eleven Podcast". BroadwayWorld.com.
  9. ↑ "Back to the Future musical announced". BBC News. January 31, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Back to the Future: 80s movie gets musical makeover". The Guardian . January 31, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Back to the Future musical set for West End in 2015". WhatsOnStage.com . January 31, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
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