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Jon Landau (born May 14, 1947) is an American music critic, manager, and
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 ...
. He has worked with Bruce Springsteen in all three capacities. He is the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and received that institution's Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2020.


Early life

Born in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, Landau grew up in
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
and then in
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
before his family moved to the
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
suburb of Lexington, Massachusetts when he was 12. He attended Lexington High School and then
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...
, where he earned a degree in history with honors. Aligning himself with the growing underground culture of late-1960s Boston, Landau carved out a niche while writing for the music magazine ''
Crawdaddy The Crawdaddy Club was a music venue in Richmond, Surrey, England, which opened in 1963. The Rolling Stones were its house band in its first year and were followed by The Yardbirds. Several other notable British blues and rhythm and blues acts a ...
''. A failed performer yet a passionate, devoted fan, Landau championed the straightforward rock and roll that he loved, and wrote scathing reviews of what he saw as the overblown, pretentious San Francisco scene. As a critic, Landau wrote for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' from its first issue and for other publications. In Volume 1, Number 1 of ''Rolling Stone'', published on November 9, 1967, Landau compared Jimi Hendrix and his debut album, '' Are You Experienced'', to Eric Clapton and
Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
's debut album, ''
Fresh Cream ''Fresh Cream'' is the debut studio album by the British rock band Cream. The album was released in the UK on 9 December 1966, as the first LP on the Reaction Records label, owned by producer Robert Stigwood. The UK album was released in both ...
'' (both released months before, and both Hendrix and Cream having made huge American splashes as live performers that summer). The next few issues saw Landau staking out more traditional R&B and soul territory with profiles of Aretha Franklin, and
Sam and Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", "The S ...
, plus a posthumous
Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
appreciation.


Bruce Springsteen connection

Landau's 1974 article in '' The Real Paper'', Writing ahead of a weekly newspaper's May 22, 1974 publication date: "I'm 27 today...." wherein he claimed, "I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen," is credited by Nick Hornby and others with fostering Springsteen's popularity. Landau was then hired by Springsteen, and is cited as co-producer on Springsteen studio records from 1975's ''
Born to Run ''Born to Run'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on August 25, 1975, by Columbia Records. As his effort to break into the mainstream, the album was a commercial success, peaking at number three ...
'' through 1992's ''
Human Touch ''Human Touch'' is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. The album was released on March 31, 1992, the same day as '' Lucky Town''. It was the more popular of the two, peaking at number two on the US ''Billboar ...
'' and ''
Lucky Town ''Lucky Town'' is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. The album was released on March 31, 1992, the same day as Springsteen's '' Human Touch'' album. ''Lucky Town'' peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' ...
''. Landau is considered to have influenced Springsteen artistically as well as professionally.


Other music projects

Other artists that Landau has managed or produced include MC5,
Livingston Taylor Livingston Taylor (born November 21, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. Born in Boston and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he is the brother of singer-songwriter James Taylor, singer-songwriter Kate Taylor, singer ...
, Jackson Browne, Natalie Merchant, Alejandro Escovedo,
Train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...
, and Shania Twain. Landau has been responsible for the liner notes for ''The Atlantic Albums Collection'' by Aretha Franklin (2015), ''Soul Manifesto: 1964-1970'' by
Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
(2015), and ''The Complete Atlantic Albums Collection'' by
Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...
(2017).


Personal life

Landau was once married to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' film critic (and later book reviewer) Janet Maslin. He later married Barbara Downey, a former ''Rolling Stone'' editor. They have two children, Kate, also an artist manager, and Charles. Landau and his wife own an art collection that includes work by Titian, Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Donatello, Ghiberti, Géricault, Delacroix, and Corot. He also owns one of the largest private collections of Courbet. With the exception of his family and his work, the collection, featuring Italian painting and sculpture of the 13th through 17th centuries and mid-19th-century French romantic realist painting, is reportedly Jon’s greatest interest in life. In 2011, Landau had a growth in his brain surgically removed. The surgery resulted in the loss of sight in one eye.Remnick, David. ''The New Yorker''
"We Are Alive,"
July 30, 2012.


References


External links


All Music.com ProfileBlog on Huffington Post
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landau, Jon 1947 births Living people American music critics American music managers Record producers from New York (state) Record producers from Massachusetts Brandeis University alumni Bruce Springsteen People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn People from Lexington, Massachusetts Rock critics Rolling Stone people