One of the World's Top-Selling and Most Highly Acclaimed Music Producers Rejoins WMG; Work With Paramore Helps Band's Latest Album, "brand new eyes," Debut at No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 2 in the U.S.; Other Successful Collaborations Include Work With Black Sabbath, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Dave Matthews Band, Fleetwood Mac, Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Kid Rock, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, My Chemical Romance and ShinedownNEW YORK, NY, Oct 07, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG) today announced that it has
named Grammy Award-winning music producer, Rob Cavallo, to the newly
created position of Chief Creative Officer. As such, Cavallo will
provide WMG with his exclusive services as a producer and an A&R
executive.
One of the top-selling producers in the world, Cavallo has produced
or had creative involvement in albums that have sold more than 125
million units over the past 16 years, nearly 30 million of those
units in the last five years alone. In 1998, Cavallo was awarded the
"Producer of the Year" Grammy and was nominated for the same award in
1999 and 2004. Cavallo has also won Grammys for his producing work
with Green Day, including "Best Rock Album" for "American Idiot" in
2004 and, in 2005, "Record of the Year" for "Boulevard of Broken
Dreams." His work has amassed six Grammy awards, an Oscar, a Golden
Globe and numerous nominations.
Cavallo produced Paramore's latest album, "brand new eyes," which
debuted at No. 2 this week in the U.S. following last week's No.1
debut in the U.K. Cavallo's other recent work includes Kid Rock's
multi-Platinum-certified, "Rock N Roll Jesus," Shinedown's
Gold-certified, "The Sound of Madness," and "Decode," Paramore's hit
single from the multi-platinum "Twilight" soundtrack. He also
produced upcoming albums from Uncle Kracker and Meat Loaf, and the
first single from "American Idol's" Adam Lambert for the movie,
"2012," as well as seven tracks on Lambert's upcoming debut album.
In making the announcement, Lyor Cohen, WMG's Vice Chairman and
Chairman and CEO, Recorded Music, Americas and the U.K., said: "Rob is
one of the most successful producers of our time and is not only a
natural fit for our company but will also serve as a terrific
resource for our artists and labels and, on a selective basis, for
outside projects with other artists and labels. Having worked with
Rob on numerous albums in a variety of genres, I have seen first-hand
the creative brilliance he brings to the studio and the passion he
brings to every project. I am excited we'll have the ability to
benefit from his exceptional talents and look forward to a long-term
collaboration that will benefit many WMG recording artists."
"WMG has been my musical home since I started as an intern in 1987,
and I am so proud to be working there again," said Cavallo. "The
company's artist- and art-first approach to the business is unmatched
and their artist roster is a deep and exciting pool of talent that I
am excited to add to, work with and help develop more fully.
Throughout the years I've done some of my finest work with WMG and I
have been consistently impressed with the company's ability and
willingness to drive success by supporting the creative process and
giving artists and producers the freedom they need to achieve
greatness. In the end, it's the people that make the difference, and
I am so proud to be in the WMG family."
"Having enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Rob at Warner
Bros., I am thrilled about having him rejoin the company in this
broader role," said Tom Whalley, Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros.
Records. "Rob's been a vital creative partner for so many of our
artists and working alongside the team at Warner Bros. he's delivered
many blockbuster albums and soundtracks. I am looking forward to a
strong lineup of future projects together."
"Few producers have worked with such a broad range of artists and
continued to achieve creative excellence time after time the way that
Rob has," said Christian Tattersfield, CEO Warner Music UK and
Chairman, Warner Bros. Records UK. "His feel for each artist's
creative vision has resulted in some incredible, genre-defining
music, so I'm pleased to be able to offer our UK acts the opportunity
to draw upon Rob's creativity and experience. I look forward to
working closely with Rob."
Said Craig Kallman, Chairman and CEO of The Atlantic Records Group,
"Rob's great gift as a producer is his innate ability to create a
nurturing environment that allows artists to do their best work.
Rather than imposing his own sound on a project, he is brilliant at
identifying and bringing out the unique qualities that set an artist
apart from the pack, regardless of genre. Over the last few years,
Rob has used his talent and insight to make great records with a
diverse group of our artists, including Kid Rock, Phil Collins,
Shinedown, Paramore and Uncle Kracker. I'm thrilled to join Lyor, Tom
and Christian in welcoming Rob to his new and expanded role at WMG."
In the mid 1980s, Cavallo worked as a local musician and engineer in
Los Angeles. He landed his first job under famed producer, engineer
and inventor, George Massenburg, at The Complex. Cavallo first joined
Warner Bros. Records in 1987 as an A&R representative where he was
originally assigned to work with Black Sabbath. In 1989, he signed the
multi-Platinum band Goo Goo Dolls to Warner Bros./Reprise Records and,
in 1993, signed Green Day to the label. He produced Green Day's major
label debut album, "Dookie," his second-ever full album production,
which sold 15 million units worldwide. Since then, he's produced or
executive produced six of the band's albums which have now sold more
than 45 million worldwide units combined. In 1994, he was promoted to
Senior Vice President of A&R for Warner Bros./Reprise, where he
oversaw the label's A&R department and served as an in-house
producer.
In 1997, Cavallo was an instrumental force in reuniting the members
of Fleetwood Mac at Warner Bros. and produced the band's reunion
album, DVD video and TV special, "The Dance," which combined have
sold more than six million units. In 1998, Cavallo joined Hollywood
Records as senior vice-president of A&R, where he signed, developed
and produced a number of artists including a Gold-certified album
from BBMak. That same year Cavallo produced two No. 1 singles for
Warner Bros. on the "City of Angels" soundtrack, Alanis Morissette's,
"Uninvited," which went on to win two Grammy Awards, and Goo Goo
Dolls', "Iris," which was nominated for three Grammys. The soundtrack
has sold more than eight million album units worldwide, the
second-best-selling soundtrack in WMG history.
In 1999, Cavallo worked with Phil Collins on the Disney feature
animated movie, "Tarzan." The lead single, "You'll Be in My Heart,"
won an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe award for best original
song from a motion picture. The song stayed at No. 1 for 19 weeks on
the Billboard Hot AC chart. This was Collins' longest running hit at
that format.
In 2002, Cavallo returned to Warner Bros. Records where he produced
"American Idiot," as well as Green Day's DVD/CD set, "Bullet in a
Bible," which features a live performance of the band. These two
bodies of work have now sold in excess of 15 million units worldwide.
He has since worked extensively as an independent record producer
and, in 2006, served as President of Level 7 Artists, an
entertainment-technology firm he co-founded with Dr. Henry Nicholas
of Broadcom.
In addition, Cavallo has worked on recordings for David Cook, Chris
Isaak, Jewel, Less Than Jake, Sixpence None the Richer, as well as on
numerous movie soundtracks including "Clueless," "Private Parts,"
"Mission Impossible 2," "Runaway Bride," "The Other Sister,"
"Twilight," "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," "Godzilla,"
"Wayne's World," "Varsity Blues" and "The Crow," and produced all the
songs and wrote the score for the film adaptation of the Broadway
musical "RENT."
Cavallo recently completed work on Dave Matthews Band's "Big Whiskey
and the GrooGrux King" (which he recently brought to WMG for
distribution outside of North America). Rob has also just signed the
band Switchfoot to an expanded rights deal with Atlantic Records and
is providing additional production on several songs for the album's
producer, Mike Elizondo.
Cavallo graduated from the University of Southern California where he
received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Composition,
Communications and Sociology. After graduating, he earned a
certificate from the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles where
his studies focused on recording engineering, orchestral arranging
and guitar.
###
About Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group became the only stand-alone music company to be
publicly traded in the United States in May 2005. With its broad
roster of new stars and legendary artists, Warner Music Group is home
to a collection of the best-known record labels in the music industry
including Asylum, Atlantic, Cordless, East West, Elektra, Nonesuch,
Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros. and Word.
Warner Music International, a leading company in national and
international repertoire, operates through numerous international
affiliates and licensees in more than 50 countries. Warner Music
Group also includes Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's leading
music publishers, with a catalog of more than one million copyrights
worldwide.
Contact:
Will Tanous
(212) 275-2244
Email Contact
Amanda Collins
(212) 275-2213
Email Contact
SOURCE: Warner Music Group