Cheryl Pawelski (born April 11, 1966 in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

) is an American record producer and record-company executive. Since 2010, she has been one of the founder/owners of

Omnivore Recordings Omnivore Recordings is an independent record label founded in 2010. It specializes in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music, on CD, vinyl and digital formats. Omnivore R ...

, a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

-based record label specializing in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music.

Early life

Pawelski is the oldest child of a family from Milwaukee. Her father worked in manufacturing and is a longtime musician who regularly volunteered as a piano player at a Milwaukee hospital. Her grandmother worked at a local department store which sold records, and encouraged Pawelski to begin a music collection at an early age. Another had pursued a career as a singer before working in banking, and also encouraged her to seek a musical career. Pawelski attended Pius XI High School in Milwaukee, and graduated from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

in 1989. After college but before moving to Los Angeles to begin her career in the music industry, Pawelski worked at a Milwaukee record store, Radio Doctors, to learn about record labels and distribution. A musician herself, Pawelski played in several bands.

Career

Prior to co-founding Omnivore Recordings, Pawelski held positions at EMI-Capitol Records,

Concord Music Group Concord Music Group was an American independent music company based in Beverly Hills, California, with worldwide (including the U.S.) distribution through Universal Music Group. The company specialized in recordings and music publishing. On Apri ...

and

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company (formerly Rhino Records Inc.) is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded ...

, and worked as a consulting producer for EMI-Capitol Music, Warner Strategic Marketing/Rhino, Rhino Handmade,

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

, Sony Legacy,

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, BMG and others. Pawelski has supervised recordings, reissues and boxed sets for a wide variety of artists including

The Band The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

The Staple Singers The Staple Singers were an American Gospel music, gospel, soul music, soul, and Rhythm and blues, R&B singing group. Pops Staples, Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group w ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

, Richard Thompson,

Townes Van Zandt John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter.

Wilco Wilco is an American Rock music, rock band based in Chicago. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its fir ...

, Hank Williams Sr. and

Warren Zevon Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer and songwriter. His most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money" and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner". All t ...

. She has also produced or overseen several reissues of film soundtrack albums, including '' Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me'', ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

'', ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent and Nicholas Colasanto (in his final film role). The film ...

'', '' Shutter Island'', '' Up in the Air'' and ''

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

''. Pawelski’s board work has included positions as both a governor and a trustee of

The Recording Academy National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...

, as well as board work or advisory board positions for The Blues Foundation, Women In Vinyl, The Producers and Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy, The Center For Recorded Music, , Farm Aid Development Advisory Council, and Joey’s Song. An inveterate collector of music and memorabilia, Pawelski holds a vast personal archive. A portion of her LP collection formed the core of the exhibit ''Spaced Out! The Final Frontier In Album Covers'', which opened at Experience Music Project in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, and also showed at The Museum at Bethel Woods in New York. The exhibit featured 117 space-themed albums released from 1940 to 1969.

Other work

Pawelski wrote the foreword for Derrick Bang's 2020 book ''Crime and Spy Jazz on Screen, 1950-1970: A History and Discography'', published by McFarland.

Awards and nominations

Pawelski has won four Grammy Awards for Best Historical Album: In 2014, for producing Hank Williams' '' The Garden Spot Programs, 1950'', in 2021 for co-producing Mister Rogers' ''It’s Such A Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers'', in 2023 for co-producing

's ''

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Wilco, originally self-released on September 18, 2001, on their website, and in retail stores on April 23, 2002, through Nonesuch Records. Recording sessions for the a ...

(20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition)'', and in 2024 for co-producing ''Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos''. She received Grammy nominations for the box sets ''Rockin' Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly'', '' Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets: 1965–1968'' and '' Woodstock 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm''. Pawelski won a 2017

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

in the category of Historical Album of the Year, for producing the

Bobby Rush Bobby Lee Rush (born November 23, 1946) is an American politician, activist, and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for for three decades, ending in 2023. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter ...

box set ''Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History Of Bobby Rush''. Pawelski won ''Blues Blast Magazines Blues Blast Music Award for Best Historical or Vintage Recording in both 2020 and 2021, for, respectively,

Johnny Shines John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist. Biography Shines was born in Frayser, Tennessee, today a neighborhood of Memphis. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent m ...

' ''The Blues Came Falling Down, Live 1973'' and

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

's ''Southern Child''. In 2022, Pawelski was the recipient of the Diederich College of Communication's Professional Achievement Award, given annually to Marquette University alumni.

Personal life

In 2008, Pawelski married Audrey Bilger, a literature professor and (since 2019) president of

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

References

External links

Cheryl Pawelski official websiteCheryl Pawelski at Omnivore Recordings website"The World Of Rosetta Tharpe: A Turning The Tables Playlist": 2019 article by Pawelski for NPRInterview with Pawelski for The SessionsHenry Rollins interviews Cheryl Pawelski (2020)Center For Recorded Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pawelski, Cheryl 1966 births Living people American music industry executives Record producers from Wisconsin Businesspeople from Wisconsin Grammy Award winners People from Milwaukee Marquette University alumni American women record producers Businesspeople from Milwaukee