The hitmakers: in competitive music industry, producers and writers can be just as important as the stars

Ebony, June, 1990

THE HITMAKERS

A new breed of bright and talented young producers has exploded on the music scene. Armed with multiple talents and successful formulas for producing chart-topping tunes, they are no longer relegated to the fine print on the back of albums. The producers themselves are making headlines, for they are indeed the creative energy behind the stars. They are hitmakers.

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, former Prince proteges, have produced two consecutive blockbuster albums for Janet Jackson. And then there's the dynamic team of Antonio (L.A.) Reid and Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds, whose dozen or so 1989 hit songs propelled them to the top of Billboard's Black music and pop songwriters lists. In Detroit there's Michael J. Powell, the 33-year-old musical whiz who has produced back-to-back megahit albums for sultry singer Anita Baker, as well as songs for Randy Crawford, David Peaston, James Ingram, Gladys Knight, Angela Bofill and The Winans.

Though he's only 23, Teddy Riley is also having a great impact on the recording industry. He has penned and/or produced hits for Bobby Brown, Stephanie Mills, Deja, Heavy D & The Boyz, Boy George, The Winans and The Jacksons.

Riley leads a multitalented sub-group of hot young producers who are doubling as successful recording artists as well. His own group, Guy, released a successful debut LP for which Riley did the writing and producing, in addition to playing all the musical instruments and singing along with fellow members Aaron and Damion Hall. And Angela Winbush, one of the industry's few female producer/writers, is equally proficient and talented performing on stage as she is in the studio churning out hit tunes for Stephanie Mills, The Isley Brothers, Janet Jackson and Evelyn King.

Kashif is another producer who has done well as an artist. He's produced hits for Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, George Benson, Kenny G and Evelyn King, and his current LP, KASHIF, is rising on the charts. "It hasn't always been easy maintaining two distinct, separate careers," he says. "It takes a lot of courage and stamina to do it all."

In past years, few artists "did it all," and record companies seem to have been intent on pushing their stars into the limelight and their producers into the background. Though the producers conceptualized the musical products and pulled all the pieces together, they were not given much credit for their contributions to the product's overall success.

That has begun to change as younger, more audacious and exceptionally talented producers take more control of the entire recording process. Many of them are musicians who can also write, sing and create an "image" for the artist. This new wave of producers with clout is reminiscent of the old Motown method of producing hits, for at Motown the producers and songwriters reigned supreme.

Using this proven method, producer Maurice Starr, 37, literally created the group New Kids On The Block and turned them into a phenomenal pop success. In a move that has created some controversy, he recruited White teens in the Boston area, wrote all the material, choreographed all the moves, and taught them to dance.

Some in the industry feel that the artists are expendable and the producers are the real talents. One such person is Babyface, who with partner LA produced an impressive list of hits for Karyn White, Bobby Brown, The Boys, Sheena Easton, The Jacksons and After 7. "Producers are more important than artists," he says. "Today, an artist can get a deal by going to a producer, who in turn will take them into the record company. The company knows exactly what they're going to get from the producers, and they don't always give an artist a chance."

LeBaron Taylor, vice president/general manager at CBS Records, says that producers and songwriters make a major contribution to the "bottom line" of all record companies. "You cannot have a hit record without good songwriters and producers. They are the very heart of the industry," he says.

Teddy Riley agrees. "We're the ones who spread the new ideas, arrange, record the music, tell the artists what key to sing in," he says. "Before, artists used to get all the light. Now, producers are getting more attention."

And rightfully so. But Riley emphasizes, as do other hitmakers, that producers, regardless of their individual successes, must always keep their egos in check and remember that their particular role is to make the artist sound and look good to sell records. "I don't fit them into my groove," he says. "I fit into their groove, their style."

Powell says that he always tries to make sure the artist is happy and that they sound good. "My philosophy is that the artist is No. 1," he says. "If they don't like your work, they won't call you back."

Narada Michael Walden, the highly respected hitmaker who got a 1987 "producer of the year" Grammy, worked his musical magic on Whitney Houston's first two albums, which sold more than 18 million copies worldwide. Walden, now working on Houston's third soon-to-be-released LP, says his role as producer is similar to that of a movie director. "I have to inspire the artist to give 110 percent," he says. "I am the coach, the director, who helps a Whitney Houston or an Aretha Franklin really give their best. It is like working with a piece of art. I just let Whitney do what she wants and I just shape and sculpt the product."