David Kershenbaum is an American

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 ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, born in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. He has worked with many artists including Duran Duran,

Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason". Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released ...

, Joe Jackson,

Laura Branigan Laura Ann Branigan (July 3, 1952 – August 26, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her signature song, the platinum-certified 1982 single "Gloria", stayed on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a ...

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending p ...

, Cat Stevens,

Elkie Brooks Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1946) is an English rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 198 ...

, and

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

. As a producer he has earned 75 international gold and platinum albums. His work has yielded multiple Grammys and an Oscar nomination.

At A&M Records

Kershenbaum has been an executive at three major record companies. Kershenbaum's first album at

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

was

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

's ''

Diamonds & Rust ''Diamonds & Rust'' is the sixteenth studio album (and eighteenth overall) by American singer-songwriter Joan Baez, released in 1975. The album covered songs written or played by Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, The Allman Brothers, Jackson Browne and ...

''. Kershenbaum signed the British musician Joe Jackson and was responsible for the production of four of his albums, including '' Night and Day'' (1982), which became the artist's most successful album, earning two Grammy nominations and a worldwide top 5 single, " Steppin' Out". Produced by Kershenbaum, Jackson's debut album '' Look Sharp!'' helped establish Jackson as a cornerstone of

new wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...

At Elektra Records

Kershenbaum produced

's first two albums, ''

'' (1988) and '' Crossroads'' (1989), plus her fifth album, '' Telling Stories'' (2000). Chapman's debut album sold over 17 million copies and earned three Grammy awards and six nominations including "Best Producer of the Year", "Best Song of the Year", "Best New Artist", and "Best Album of the Year".

At Capitol Records

Kershenbaum worked with Duran Duran on their album ''

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

'' (1982) at Capitol Records. Duran Duran had released the album on

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

in the United Kingdom and quickly attained four UK top 20 singles. Before Kershenbaum's involvement, the sales of ''Rio'' were not particularly strong in the United States, and Capitol Records (EMI's American branch) was at a loss about how to sell the band. However, after an EP of Kershenbaum's dance remixes of songs from ''Rio'' (released as '' Carnival'') became popular with DJs during the autumn of 1982, the band arranged to have most of the album remixed by Kershenbaum. After it was re-released in the U.S. in November, with heavy promotion as a dance album, ''Rio'' begin to climb the American charts. Following the success of the Kershenbaum remixes, Capitol changed its marketing strategy on Duran Duran from New Romantic to dance band. This resulted in multi-platinum sales and the hit song "

Hungry Like the Wolf "Hungry Like the Wolf" is a song by English new wave band Duran Duran. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album ''Rio'' (1982). The song was released on 4 May 1982 as the band's fi ...

". The album went gold in the US on March 1, 1983, and platinum on April 26, eventually reaching double platinum status. It peaked at number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US (on June 5, 1983), and remained on the charts for 129 weeks.

Career as an entrepreneur

Kershenbaum established his own group of companies encompassing five recording studios, a film music supervision division, and a music publishing company. Under this banner, he produced and recorded many projects including a

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...

album for Sony and a platinum LP by

Joshua Kadison Joshua Kadison (born February 8, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and writer, who was born in Los Angeles, California. He is perhaps best known for the top 40 hits " Jessie" and " Beautiful in My Eyes" from his debut album '' Pai ...

. As a partner and co-president of Morgan Creek Music Group, Kershenbaum acted as executive producer for the song "

(Everything I Do) I Do It for You "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. Written by Adams, Michael Kamen, and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the power ballad was the lead single for both the soundtrack album from the 1991 film '' Rob ...

" by Bryan Adams, from the film '' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves''.JIM MAZZA
As a music supervisor, Kershenbaum has worked on many films. At Morgan Creek Pictures, he supervised music for many movies, including ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the ''Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinder ...

'' soundtrack, which has sold 1,800,000 copies. Other films he worked on include ''

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

'', '' Road House'', ''

Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sm ...

'', '' White Sands'', and '' 200 Cigarettes''.

References

External links

*
Producer David Kershenbaum Launches MusicProsHollywood.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kershenbaum, David Record producers from Missouri People from Springfield, Missouri Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)