Michael Zager

Michael Zager (born 3 January 1943, Passaic, New Jersey) has produced, composed, and/or arranged original music in a wide range of musical idioms, including commercials, albums, network television, and as a source for theme music for films.

Zager has produced Grammy Award winning artists: Whitney Houston, Cissy Houston, Gladys Knight, Peabo Bryson, Luther Vandross, Deniece Williams, Jennifer Holliday, Joe Williams, Arturo Sandoval, Herb Alpert, Olatunji, and The Spinners. He also co-wrote the Patti Day hit "Right Before My Eyes" with Alexander Forbes. Some of Zager’s original scores and original studio recordings of Whitney Houston, The Spinners, and the Michael Zager Band, reside in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Zager was a member of Ten Wheel Drive from 1968-1973.

Discography

• Do It With Feeling as Michael Zager's Moon Band Featuring Peabo Bryson (1976)
• Let's All Chant as Michael Zager Band (1978)
• Life's a Party as Michael Zager Band (1978)

Awards

Zager has awards for producing, composing and/or arranging, include thirteen gold or platinum records; Golden Boot Award (France); Europe 1 Award (France); Olé Award (Spain); two BMI Citations of Achievement, given for most performed songs on radio in a given year; a Grammy Award nomination for "Cupid" / "I’ve Loved You for a Long Time", performed by the Spinners; and nomination for producer of the year by the Golden Music Awards, in Nashville, Tennessee. Besides composing "I've Loved You For A Long Time", Zager also composed the medley songs for two other Spinners' records, namely, "Forgive Me, Girl" to complement "Working My Way Back To You" and "Nothing Remains The Same" to complement "Yesterday Once More".

Zager produced Daniel Ray Edwards, who was nominated for best new artist by the Golden Music Awards; as well as "You Win Again", which was nominated for single of the year. His record label was also nominated for Best Independent Record Label of the Year. His television awards include a Platinum Video Award for the ABC Television Network series: ABC Funfit with Mary Lou Retton, and a daytime Emmy Award for the same show.

Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, and many more have sampled his songs. Zager has composed and/or arranged more than 400 commercials. His clients have included Dr Pepper, MCI, Master Lock, Cablevision, Buick, Acura, IBM, Crystal Light, Budweiser, Crest, Kodak, Maxwell House, Clearasil etc. Zager’s advertising awards include a Clio Award, three International Film Festival awards, three Art Directors Club awards, and a Mobius Advertising award. For many years he produced the American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement Awards in New York.

Appointments

Zager holds the positions of the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in Performing Arts and professor of music at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. He previously taught at the Mannes College of Music, a division of New School University, in New York. He is a graduate of the University of Miami and the Mannes College of Music, a Fulbright Specialist, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Florida Chapter of The Recording Academy (Grammy Awards). Michael Zager was a Fulbright Senior Specialist Scholar at the College of Music at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand (a prestigious college of music in Thailand) during the summers of 2006 and 2008 and was brought back as a Payap-sponsored scholar/consultant for the 2009 summer to advise Payap University's new Recording Studio on commercial music production.

Publications

He is the author of Writing Music for Television and Radio Commercials (A Manual for Composers and Students) published by The Scarecrow Press, and Music Production, also published by Scarecrow Press.

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart