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Bob Ezrin

 
Artist:

Bob Ezrin

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  • Active: '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s
  • Genres: Rock
  • Instrument: Producer

Biography

Bob Ezrin was among the most commercially successful producers of the 1970s, helming hit albums for acts including Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd. His career began with Cooper's 1971 breakthrough effort Love It to Death, which spawned the singer's first hit, "Eighteen." Killer followed later that same year, and in the wake of 1972's School's Out Cooper ascended to become one of the era's biggest new stars; his success made Ezrin a highly sought-after commodity as well, and in addition to producing the follow-up Billion Dollar Babies, in 1973 he also helmed Lou Reed's classic Berlin, Poco's Crazy Eyes and Flo & Eddie's self-titled LP. Ezrin's collaboration with Cooper extended into the 1980s, and no doubt brought him to the attention of the similarly theatrical Kiss, for whom he produced 1976's smash Destroyer. Peter Gabriel's self-titled solo debut appeared the next year, and in 1979 he scored one of his biggest hits to date with his work on Pink Floyd's The Wall. After reteaming with Kiss for 1981's Music from 'The Elder,' he resurfaced in 1984 with David Gilmour's solo About Face. Both Berlin's Count Three and Pray and Rod Stewart's dismal eponymous effort followed in 1986. Ezrin maintained a relatively low profile in the years to follow, most notably producing Pink Floyd's reunion efforts A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell. In the 1990s he co-founded 7th Level, Inc., serving as the interactive multimedia entertainment company's Chief Executive Officer. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia:

Bob Ezrin

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Bob Ezrin
Birth name Robert Alan Ezrin
Born 1949
Origin Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres Rock
Occupations Record producer
Years active 1970–present
Associated acts Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd

Robert Alan "Bob" Ezrin (born 1949 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian born music producer, known for his work with artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2004.

Contents

Professional background

In a career as a music and entertainment producer that has, as of 2010, spanned 40 years, Bob Ezrin has worked on recordings with artists including: Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Roberta Flack, Peter Gabriel, Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, Kansas, Rod Stewart, Berlin, Hanoi Rocks, Nine Inch Nails, The Jayhawks, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Darkness, Jane's Addiction, Julian Lennon and The Deftones.

Recently, Ezrin has produced a live and TV extravaganza to reopen the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, starring Green Day and U2 and has worked on an album and live opera with L'Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio in Rome, Italy. As well, he co-produced Peter Gabriel's new album, Scratch My Back, and has been working with Christian Kane on his new album and with the Canadian Tenors and young pop sensation Fefe Dobson.

He is currently producing the new The Feeling album, which is due for release in 2010.[1]Pre-production was recently done in Nashville, while recording will begin in London in March, 2010.

In May of 2009, Ezrin co-produced The Clearwater Concert at Madison Square Garden celebrating the 90th birthday of legendary musician and activist, Pete Seeger, and starring over 50 guest artists including Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Ben Harper, Joan Baez, Tom Morello, Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson. He was also co-producer of the PBS broadcast of the event.

Bob Ezrin has been described by Alice Cooper as "our George Martin". Having defined the group's sound on his first album as a producer, Love it to Death in 1971, Ezrin embarked on a long-term collaboration that by 1973 would see the release of the number one Billion Dollar Babies album a year after the success of School's Out and Alice Cooper established as the biggest act in the world. After the group separated, Ezrin continued his collaboration with Alice as a solo artist in 1975 with Cooper's ground breaking Welcome To My Nightmare. Ezrin worked with the Alice Cooper group (and later with Alice as a solo artist) not just as a producer but also co-writer, arranger and musician.

Ezrin produced KISS's best selling album, Destroyer, in 1976. 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. He went on to produce two other albums with the band and remains close to them to this day.

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 their songs "The Trial", "Signs of Life", "Learning to Fly" and "Take It Back".

Ezrin created new theatrical, television and live events with @Radical.Media in New York including Jay-Z's feature film, Fade to Black.

In 1993, he co-founded a computer software company called 7th Level which developed and published educational and entertainment CD-ROMs including a highly popular and groundbreaking series of Monty Python games. In 1999, he co-founded Enigma Digital, a pioneer internet radio provider. It was eventually sold to Clear Channel, where he became vice-chairman of Clear Channel Interactive. Ezrin was also Chairman of Live Nation Artists Recordings in 2007 and the first half of 2008.

Ezrin was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in April, 2004, and into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in March, 2006. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Los Angeles Mentoring Partnership, Vice President of the The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a founder of MusiCounts, CARAS' music education initiative and, along with U2's the Edge and Henry Juszkiewicz the CEO of Gibson Guitar Corporation, a co-founder of Music Rising (www.musicrising.org), an initiative to replace the musical instruments that were destroyed or lost in the gulf coast region due to the hurricanes and flooding of 2005. He is also a past Trustee and Governor of NARAS.

In 1982, Ezrin briefly appeared as the host of Enterprise, a City-TV panel show replacing Dr. Morton Shulman's The Schulman File. He has been a keynote speaker at numerous music, entertainment and business conferences as well as a guest lecturer at various universities and colleges around North America. He has also been a frequent interviewee for documentary films and television.

In 2007, Ezrin joined the Board of Advisors of Tonic, an online media site that produces and aggregates content around goodness.

Ezrin is now a partner in Bigger Picture Group in Nashville, TN and continues his work in the studio as well as on film, television and in theatrical productions. In 2008 he co-founed Beat Kangz electronics, a music technology start up focused on rap music equipment.[2]

In 2009 Ezrin, along with Garth Richardson, started Nimbus School of Recording Arts in Vancouver, BC.[3]

He is married and has five grown children.

List of albums produced by Ezrin

  • Escape From Earth
    • Three Seconds East - (2004)
  • The Kings
    • The Kings Are Here - 1980
    • Amazon Beach - 1981
  • Soundtrack
    • "Babe: Pig In The City - Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture" - 1998

See also

References

External links


 
 
Learn More
Alice Cooper: Prime Cuts (1991 Music Film)
Read My Lips (1978 Album by Tim Curry)
Throbs (Rock Band, '90s)

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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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