Jack Ponti (born February 16, 1958) is an American

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, manager, label executive, and consultant.

Career

Ponti is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, manager, label executive, and consultant who started his career in the music business playing guitar in the rock band The Rest in his native New Jersey in the late 70s. The Rest featured a young

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...

as vocalist, but despite promotion by other successful New Jersey musicians, such as

Southside Johnny John Lyon (born December 4, 1948), better known by his stage name Southside Johnny, is an American singer-songwriter who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Southside Johnny has long been considered the Grandfather of ...

and members of

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, and a demo produced by

Billy Squier William Haislip Squier (, born May 12, 1950) is an American rock musician and singer who had a string of arena rock and crossover hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include " The Stroke", " Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover", " I ...

, did not obtain a recording contract and split up. Jon Bon Jovi went to form his own band

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, which in the following years gained worldwide success and multi-million record sales, while Ponti found a job as songwriter and producer for other rock bands. The late music business legend

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gave Ponti his first production job and the two grew close. In the late 80s and early 90s, Ponti co-wrote songs for

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guilloti ...

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, Trixter, Nelson, Kane Roberts,

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer known for his work in the hard rock bands Rainbow, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Deep Purple. During his career, Turner fronted and played guitar with pop rock ...

Bonfire A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Etymology The earliest recorded uses of the word date back to the late 15th century, with the Catho ...

and other artists. He also produced and wrote albums for

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

and

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam ...

bands

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Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counti ...

Doro Doro may refer to: * Doro (musician), rock singer, former vocalist of the German heavy metal band Warlock ** ''Doro'' (album), a 1990 album by Doro * AKA (rapper) (born 1988), South African hip hop recording artist * Dorothy Bush Koch, often calle ...

and for his own band Surgin', which he had created in 1985 at the insistence of his then managers. Surgin' disbanded after one record, though subsequent compilations have been released of early demos. Surgin' still has a strong following in the AOR community. During the last period of popularity of glam metal, he was deeply involved with American glam metal bands

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and Nelson. In 1991 he retired from the music business for a few years. During this time he built a gym, a martial arts school, and devoted his energies to martial arts and dogs, especially the rare breed Fila Brasileiro. He came back in 1996, approaching the music business as a

talent manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee the day-to-da ...

and record label owner. In 1998, he founded CazzyDog Management and became the manager of R&B artist and

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winner India.Arie who was nominated for a record 7 Grammy awards as a debut artist, a record that is still held by her today. Other clients in the CazzyDog roster included:

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan ...

, Az Yet, Mike E., Pru, and Scarface. Amongst the writer/producers they managed were Carlos (Six July) Broady. N.O. Joe Johnson, Mary Brown, all of the writers under

Teddy Riley Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing genre. Riley credits Barry Michael Cooper with giving the genre its name.Hogan, Paul. "Tedd ...

, and a host of others. In 2004 he founded both Bardic Records and the Platform Group. Both companies were designed to work within the ever expanding "indie" sector. Both ventures were dismantled after a reconfiguration. He is currently the CEO of

Merovingian Music Merovingian Music also abbreviated as MRV or MRV Music, is a non-genre specific record label in Red Bank, New Jersey. The label was founded by Jack Ponti who is also CEO of the company. Shortly after, independent label owners Gregory Edgerton and ...

, a non-genre record label founded in 2006, with strong partnerships within the industry and a roster of pop,

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

, hip hop and heavy metal artists. Merovingian Music currently has joint ventures with both

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and

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and has recently merged with C.E Music, a label owned by

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's Worldwide Pants production company.

Discography

Produced albums

*Surgin' – ''When Midnight Comes'' (1985) *

– ''Shake Your Soul'' (1990) *Baton Rouge – ''Lights out on the Playground'' (1991) *China Rain – ''Bed of Nails'' (1991) *Lance Keltner – ''Lance Keltner'' (1992) *

– ''

Angels Never Die ''Angels Never Die'' is the fourth solo album of the German female hard rock singer Doro Pesch. The album was released in February 1993 and was produced by Jack Ponti and Vic Pepe. The two producers had worked with Alice Cooper on the hit sing ...

'' (1993) *Doro – ''

Machine II Machine ''Machine II Machine'' is the fifth studio album by the German female hard rock singer Doro Pesch. The album was released in March 1995 and mixed by Kevin Shirley and Greg Smith. It is the most mainstream oriented album of the German singer to d ...

'' (1995) *Baton Rouge – ''Baton Rouge'' (1997) *Angry Tears – ''Angry Tears'' (2000) *Holyday Express – ''Greatest Hits'' (2000) *Sinopoli – ''The Eyes Never Lie'' (2002) *Surgin' – ''Tokyo Rose'' (2003) *Surgin' – ''Electric Nights the Final Chapter'' (2003) *''Jack Ponti Presents vol. 1'' (2003) *

Kittie Kittie is a Canadian heavy metal band formed in London, Ontario in 1996. All of their material has been released through independent record labels, which to date includes six studio albums, one video album, four extended plays, thirteen singles ...

– ''

Funeral for Yesterday ''Funeral for Yesterday'' is the fourth album released by the heavy metal music group Kittie. The album was released on February 20, 2007 (April 3 in Canada) via the band's own label, X of Infamy Records, with distribution through EMI. The album ...

'' (2007) *

Otep Otep is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2000. They have released two EPs, eight studio albums, and one live album. They are currently signed with Napalm Records. The band has sold over 500,000 albums worl ...

– '' Smash the Control Machine'' (2009) *

Runner Runner ''Runner Runner'' is a 2013 American crime thriller film directed by Brad Furman, written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien and starring Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton and Anthony Mackie. The film was released in the United S ...

– ''

'' (2011)

Singles written or co-written

– "Shot Through the Heart" from the album ''

'' (1984) *

Glen Burtnik Glen Burtnik (born Glenn Burtnick; April 8, 1955) is a singer, songwriter, entertainer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a former member of Styx. Burtnik is originally from North Brunswick, New Jersey, in the Middlesex County part of th ...

– "Follow You" from the album ''Heroes & Zeroes'' (1987) *

– "Somebody's Waiting" from the album ''

'' (1987) *

– "Sweet Obsession" from the album ''

Fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

'' (1987) *Bonfire – "Hard on Me" from the album '' Point Blank'' (1989) *

– "The Kid Goes Wild" from the album ''

'' (1989) *

– "The Price of Love" from the album ''Lights out on the Playground'' (1991) *

– " Hey Stoopid", " Love's a Loaded Gun" from the album '' Hey Stoopid'' (1991) *

– "Enough for You", "Bad Blood" and "Last Day of My Life" from the album ''

'' (1993) * Eric Gales Band – "Paralyzed" from the album ''Picture of a Thousand Faces'' (1993) *Doro – "Ceremony" and "In Freiheit Stirbt Mein Herz" from the album ''

'' (1995) * Nelson – "We Always Want What We Can't Get" from the album ''Imaginator'' (1996) * Melvin Taylor & The Slack Band – "Bang That Bell" from the album ''Bang That Bell'' (2000)

References

External links

JackPonti Boozing Society website

Merovingian Music website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponti, Jack 1958 births Living people Record producers from New Jersey Songwriters from New Jersey American rock guitarists American male guitarists American chief executives People from Red Bank, New Jersey American music managers Guitarists from New Jersey 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters