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Toby Gad

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Toby Gad
Toby Gad in 2013
Toby Gad in 2013
Background information
Birth nameTobias Gad
Born (1968-04-12) 12 April 1968 (age 56)[1]
Munich, Germany
OriginDanish, German, American
GenresPop, rock, R&B, dance
Occupation(s)Producer, songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)Piano, guitar, bass, programming
Years active1986 – present
LabelsGad Songs/Kite Music

Tobias "Toby" Gad (born 12 April 1968) is a Los Angeles-based German music producer/songwriter, best known for co-writing John Legend's biggest hit "All of Me" and for co-writing and producing "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie and "If I Were a Boy" by Beyoncé.[2] Other notable works include "Skyscraper" for Demi Lovato, "Who You Are" for Jessie J, "Untouched" for The Veronicas, "A Year Without Rain" for Selena Gomez & the Scene, "Don't Hold Your Breath" for Nicole Scherzinger, "Love You More" for JLS, and "I Do" for Colbie Caillat.

In the 3rd quarter of 2014, Gad was ranked the #3 songwriter in America by Billboard, following up fellow hitmakers Ryan Tedder and Pharrell Williams.[3]

Biography

Childhood and early musical experience

Born into a musical family in Munich in 1968, Gad was influenced by both parents who were established figures in the Munich music scene with their group, The Jazz Kids.[2] His Danish father is a clarinet player and a pilot. His German mother is a psychotherapist and composer/pianist who tours the UK and Europe with Brian Carrick's jazz band, the Algiers Stompers.[4][5]

Gad was expected to study banjo and join the Jazz Kids, but he took to playing the piano instead. At age 7, he and his brother Jens had formed their own band, the Gad Rollers, and played original rock'n'roll compositions during intermissions of their parents' gigs.[2][6]

Early career successes

Although too young to get into most clubs at age 13, Toby and Jens were no strangers to the live music scene in Munich. Weekly gigs in bars, concerts in open-air summer festivals and shows in legendary live clubs such as the Domicile spread the word, and Munich hit producer Tony Monn showed interest in the brothers. Monn handed over his state-of-the-art recording studio to Toby and Jens whenever he was out of town. Monn's generosity provided a learning environment for Toby and Jens to delve into songwriting and producing.[6]

In 1986, when Frank Farian, a multi-platinum German producer (No Mercy, Boney M, Milli Vanilli) was looking for new talent, a mutual friend turned him on to the Gad brothers' material.[7] The next day, the boys flew to Frankfurt and thus started a seven-year collaboration with Farian. One week later, they found three of their songs on Milli Vanilli's debut album, which later went multi-platinum.[2][6]

Farian produced Toby and Jens' first album Q' as artists', which was followed by a live tour. Funk legend George Clinton would later hear the record and invited Toby and Jens to perform two songs on stage with his P-funk band.[2][4]

Commercial breakthrough

In 1990, Toby Gad met Mauritian singer Jacqueline Nemorin. This became the beginning of a 10-year collaboration between the two. Together with Farian, Gad produced Nemorin's first album The Creole Dance on BMG.[2][4]

In 1994, Gad signed on with manager Klaus Frers (Daydream Music Supervizing) and produced Nemorin's second album for EMI Europe. It was also Frers who moved the duo into music production for dozens of successful TV shows, commercials and movie soundtracks. Gad and Nemorin wrote and produced the title-song for the movie Neverending Story III, the music for two popular daily TV talk-shows that stayed on air for four years, and the single "The Magic of the Fall", which went on to win the BDA Gold Award in L.A. for best TV trailer concept. In 1998, Gad was hired by Spanish producer Rafael Perez to work on Enrique Iglesias' third album.[4] That same year, Gad signed a deal with Joost Van Os, former head of Polygram.[2]

Move to New York City

Following much success in his home country, Gad relocated to New York City, opening Strawberrybee studio in Midtown Manhattan.[2] The album title song and hit single "Unspoken" of Christian platinum artist Jaci Velasquez, written by Gad, Madeline Stone and O.Hatch, managed to stay half a year in the Christian Billboard top 20 single charts and was re-released on the Billboard #2 album, WOW Greatest Hits 2004.[8][9]

Meanwhile, Gad had several successes back overseas. "Damn I Think I Love You" stayed at #1 for seven weeks and became the most sold single of 2001 in the Netherlands. The #1 StarMaker album with two of Gad's songs went triple platinum. Sita's debut single "Happy" was at #1 for two weeks and remained in the top five for two months. The song was also released in the US on the Wild Thornberries soundtrack, followed by the #1 album of Sita.[2]

Success in America

After 3 years in New York without any success, Gad was given the chance to work with MTV host Willa Ford. Their single "A Toast to Men" became a #40 radio single, appearing in the hit movie Barbershop 2.[10]

Gad, with David and William Derella from DAS, worked out a co-publishing deal with Cherrylane Music Publishing and record deals for several of Gad's artists. In August 2005, Interscope Records released Texan teen Kaci Brown's album Instigator, entirely developed, produced and co-written by Gad.[6] R&B group Fatty Koo has an album on Columbia Records on which every song is produced and co-written by Toby.[4][11][12][13] He produced and co-wrote songs on the album of the Australian twins The Veronicas, who scored the biggest US newcomer record deal of the year on Warner Bros. Records/Sire Records and went double platinum in Australia.[14][15]

Meleni and Gad co-wrote the song "Drop It On Me" on Ricky Martin's 2005 album Life. Another artist that Toby developed for years, Lola, released her single "No Strings" on Warner Bros. Records/Sobe, which spent 4 months on the Billboard Dance charts, peaking at #2.[16]

In 2006, Gad opened a second studio with five interns, expanding his production company Strawberrybee Music and his publishing company, Gad Songs.[6] Gad produced the entire Blue Note Records album of Elizabeth Withers, who starred in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, and contributed a song on Fergie's platinum-selling album The Dutchess. He also collaborated with then 13-year-old Emmy nominated actress/singer Keke Palmer on her 2007 debut album on Atlantic Records and produced a song for the second season of hit Disney sitcom Hannah Montana.[17]

As an innovative producer and songwriter, Gad has been interviewed multiple times about how he writes and how he records and mixes using Logic Pro. He has been featured in Mix Magazine, the Recording Mag, Pro Sound and more.[7][18][19][20][21][22][23]

In 2008, Gad and Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" was Grammy nominated for Best Female Vocal Performance[24][25] and won ASCAP 'Song of the Year'.[20][26][27][28] The song twice broke the record for most airplay on US radio and spent a total of 21 weeks in various Billboard US charts at #1, including one week #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.[29][30] Over 87 worldwide compilation albums feature the song. Gad scored his second worldwide #1 hit with Beyoncé's "If I Were a Boy", which Gad produced and co-wrote.[27] "If I Were A Boy" reached #1 in nine countries and hit top-ten in over 20 countries around the world.[31] Gad's third platinum number one hit was the indie-electro pop anthem "Untouched" by Aussie duo The Veronicas. The song sold platinum in the US and reached #1 in Ireland and Mexico.

Move to Los Angeles

In summer 2009, Gad relocated his recording studio to Los Angeles.[4][6] The new studio, located in the Hollywood Hills, features several music production rooms and a video editing room. In Los Angeles, Gad continued collaborating with stars such as American Idol finalists Kris Allen, Allison Iraheta and Jessica Sanchez.

In 2009, Gad also launched his own record label, Kite Records, which is a collaboration between himself, David Sonenberg/DAS Management, and Island Def Jam Music Group as well as Gad Films which features exclusive behind the scenes footage of Gad working in the studio with stars such as Miley Cyrus and The Veronicas.[32][33][34] In 2011, Gad co-wrote "All of Me" for John Legend, which, after three years of dormancy[35] made its way to #1 on the Top 100 for three weeks and was certified 8 times platinum.[35][36]

In 2014, Gad co-wrote 11 songs with Madonna for her album Rebel Heart, producing four of the songs.[37][38]

In 2015, Gad executive produced and co-wrote much of Leona Lewis' fifth studio album, I Am.[39][40] He co-wrote and produced Prince Royce's "Lucky One" on Double Vision, co-wrote John Newman's "I'm Not Your Man" from Revolve, and co-wrote and produced "First Heartbreak" for Grammy-nominated[41] artist Tori Kelly's Unbreakable Smile. Gad also produced and co-wrote the international charity single "Love Song to the Earth" which featured a long list of popular artists, including Paul McCartney, Fergie, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Sean Paul, Nicole Scherzinger, and more.[42][43][44][45] He also produced the 2015 album of Chloe Temtchine, Be Brave, which was described by the New York Post as "a moving collection of pop songs that document her struggle for survival, but also her recovery."[46][47][48]

Single peak positions

U.S. single peaks

The following select singles charted inside the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 or Billboard Dance Charts:

UK single peaks

The following singles charted inside the top 40 of the UK Download or UK Singles Chart:

Discography

Main article: Toby Gad discography

References

  1. ^ Gad V-Blog 12 April 2008 (Veronicas, Sinai, RobFusari, G.Chamb) YouTube; accessed 11 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Moore, Jayne "Writer/Producer Toby Gad Has Breakthrough Success, Co-Writing #1 Hit "Big Girls Don't Cry" With Fergie'", 'Songwriters Universe'.
  3. ^ Profile, billboard.com; accessed 9 May 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Toby Gad - American Dream". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  5. ^ "The Toby Gad Interview". BlogTalkRadio. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Toby Gad Record Producer". Pro Music Magazine - Inside the Music Business. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  7. ^ a b I Am Entertainment Magazine (Nov–Dec 2011). "Toby Gad Interview". Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-19 – via Toby Gad Archives.
  8. ^ "Toby Gad » Jaci Velasquez". www.tobygad.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  9. ^ "Jaci Velasquez - Chart history | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  10. ^ "Barbershop 2: Back in Business'", imdb.com; accessed 11 May 2015.
  11. ^ Levy, David (May 12, 2006). "The Tale of a Dream-Come-True" (PDF). Apple Pro/Music. Apple. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  12. ^ "Toby Gad » Fatty Koo". www.tobygad.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  13. ^ Apple Pro Music (2006). "Spontaneous Combustion" (PDF). Apple Pro/Music. Apple. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  14. ^ "Toby Gad » The Veronicas". www.tobygad.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  15. ^ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2006 Albums". www.aria.com.au. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  16. ^ "Lola - Chart history | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  17. ^ Tiger Beat (January 2006). "How To Be A Star". Toby Gad Archives. Tiger Beat Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  18. ^ Rychner, Lorenz (February 2007). "Recording Magazine" (PDF). Toby Gad Archives. Recording Magazine: The Magazine for the Recording Musician. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  19. ^ Gad, Toby (May 2007). "Studio Design 2007: What Works for Me" (PDF). Toby Gad Archives. Recording Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  20. ^ a b Gad, Toby (October 2007). "A Song is Born" (PDF). Toby Gad Archives. Recording Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  21. ^ Harvey, Steve (May 2010). "Gad Refines Workflow" (PDF). Pro Sound News.com. Pro Sound News. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  22. ^ X Magazine (November 2010). "The Pop Job: Songwriter to the Stars - Toby Gad 34". Toby Gad Archives. X Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
  23. ^ Gad, Toby (October 2011). "How to Write a Song". Toby Gad Archives. Recording Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  24. ^ "Grammy 2008 Winners List". MTV News. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  25. ^ The New York Times (2008-02-09). "2008 Grammy Award Winners and Nominees". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  26. ^ "Song of the Year". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  27. ^ a b tobygad (2010-06-14), Toby Gad on The Brian McKnight Show, retrieved 2016-02-18
  28. ^ Moore, Jayne (2005). "SongwriterUniverse Magazine" (PDF). Toby Gad Archives. SongwriterUniverse Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  29. ^ "Fergie Scores Third Solo No. 1 On Hot 100 | Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  30. ^ "Fergie - Chart history | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  31. ^ "Beyoncé - Chart history | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  32. ^ Christman, Ed (August 2011). "6 Questions with Toby Gad". Toby Gad Archives. Billboard Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  33. ^ "Thank You For The Music: Toby Gad". This Must Be Pop. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  34. ^ "Ypulse Interview: Toby Gad, Music Producer | Ypulse". www.ypulse.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  35. ^ a b "John Legend Delves Into 'All of Me': Video Q&A + Photo Shoot Behind-The-Scenes | Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  36. ^ "John Legend - Chart history | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  37. ^ "Toby Gad - MadonnaTribe". news.madonnatribe.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  38. ^ "Toby Gad » Madonna". www.tobygad.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  39. ^ musicldjs (2015-08-09), Leona Lewis Interview at 104.3MYfm, retrieved 2016-02-18
  40. ^ "Toby Gad » LEONA LEWIS". www.tobygad.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  41. ^ "Tori Kelly". The GRAMMYs. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  42. ^ "Where are all the climate change songs? - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  43. ^ "Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi & More Sing a 'Love Song to the Earth' to Support Climate Action | Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  44. ^ "Love Song to the Earth". http://lovesongtotheearth.org/. Retrieved 2016-02-19. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  45. ^ "Hear McCartney, Bon Jovi, Fergie Team for 'Love Song to the Earth'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  46. ^ Phull, Hardeep (July 26, 2016). "She's tethered to an oxygen tank, but her singing career is soaring". New York Post.
  47. ^ Bryant, Miranda (July 28, 2016). "Singer who has to take oxygen tank everywhere due to rare disorder". Daily Mail. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  48. ^ "Chloe Temtchine - In Time Music, Inc.," tobygad.com
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