Peter Eric Zizzo (born February 22, 1966) is an American songwriter, music producer, musician and writer. Zizzo is also a stage and television actor, having appeared in the Showtime series ''Billions'' in 2021. Zizzo has written hits for artists such as

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

, Avril Lavigne,

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

Marit Larsen Marit Elisabeth Larsen (born 1 July 1983) is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. She began playing violin aged five and played it until the age of eight. She gained international fame during her teenage years as a member of the pop duo M2M with ...

, O.A.R,

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz ( ; born June 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single "The Remedy (I Won't Wo ...

Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

, M2M,

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

Clay Aiken Clayton Holmes Aiken (''né'' Grissom; born November 30, 1978) is an American singer, television personality, actor and political activist. Aiken finished second place on the second season of ''American Idol'' in 2003, and his debut album, '' Me ...

Howie Day Howard Kern Day (born January 15, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter. Beginning his career as a solo artist in the late 1990s, Day became known for his extensive touring and in-concert use of sampler (musical instrument), samplers and effect ...

Kate Voegele Kate Elizabeth Voegele ( ; born December 8, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She made her musical debut in 2003, with the release of her extended play ''The Other Side''. She performed numerous local live shows to promote the ...

Jackie Evancho Jacqueline Marie Evancho ( ; born April 9, 2000) is an American singer who gained wide recognition at an early age, singing primarily crossover music#Classical crossover, classical crossover covers. Since 2009, she has issued nine albums, a pla ...

Pixie Lott Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Turn It Up (Pixie Lott album), Turn It Up'' (2009), reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.5 millio ...

Vanessa Carlton Vanessa Lee Carlton (born August 16, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her debut album, '' Be Not Nobody'' (2002), was released by A&M Records and peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' 200. It spawned the hit song " A Tho ...

, and many others. He has been considered instrumental in developing the careers of artists Avril Lavigne, Vanessa Carlton in the US, and Pixie Lott in the UK. Recordings of his songs have collectively sold in excess of 100 million copies worldwide. Zizzo has also produced songs for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and the

Nick Jr. Channel The Nick Jr. Channel, sometimes shortened to Nick Jr., is an American pay television, pay television channel owned by the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. An offshoot of Nickelodeon ...

, including the shows ''

Middle School Moguls ''Middle School Moguls'' is an American animated television miniseries created by Gina and Jenae Heitkamp. The series stars Laurie Hernandez, Daniella Perkins, Haley Tju and Jade Pettyjohn. The series premiered on September 2 on Nickelodeon, ...

'', ''

The Fresh Beat Band ''The Fresh Beat Band'' (originally known as ''The JumpArounds'') is an American live-action musical children's television series created by Scott Kraft and Nadine van der Velde for Nickelodeon. The series stars Yvette González-Nacer, Thoma ...

'', ''

Blue's Clues & You! ''Blue's Clues & You!'' is an interactive educational children's television series developed by Traci Paige Johnson and Angela C. Santomero for Nickelodeon. Combining live-action and animation, it is a revival of the 1996–2006 ''Blue's Clu ...

'' and the Nickelodeon revival of ''

Winx Club ''Winx Club'' is an animated television series co-produced by Rainbow S.p.A., Rainbow and, later, Nickelodeon. It was created and directed by Italian animator Iginio Straffi. It premiered on 28January 2004, becoming a ratings success in Ita ...

''. For ''Winx Club'', he composed many of the episodic songs as well as the single "We Are Believix," which was sung by ''

Victorious ''Victorious'' (stylized as ''VICTORiOUS'') is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon, debuting on March 27, 2010, and concluding on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. The series revolves around aspi ...

'' star

Elizabeth Gillies Elizabeth Egan Gillies (born July 26, 1993), also known as Liz Gillies, is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a teenager and made her Broadway theatre, Broadway debut in the Musical theatre, musical ''13 (musical), 13'' (200 ...

. In 2013, Zizzo won the

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for his music on ''The Fresh Beat Band''.

Early life

Born in New York to musical parents, Zizzo was initially a teen rock guitar prodigy, featured in ''Guitar Player'' magazine. As a songwriter, he got his first cut, "March", by The Weather Girls, at age 18. He attended college at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, graduating with a Bachelor's in English. Shortly thereafter, he won BMI's "Best New Songwriter" award on the heels of his first hit, the dance track "Whispers" by

Corina Corina is a female given name of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek origin, derived from κόρη (''korē'') meaning "girl, maiden".Ric Wake Ric Wake is an Anglo-American record producer who has won two Grammy Awards. During his tenure as staff producer with Sony Music Entertainment, he has worked with vocalists such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Lucero, CoCo Lee, Taylor D ...

on records by

and

. It was through Wake's company that he signed his first developing artist, Billy Porter, whose A&M debut ''Untitled'' was largely written and produced by Zizzo, and featured "Love Is On The Way", the central ballad from the hit film ''

The First Wives Club ''The First Wives Club'' is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Hugh Wilson, based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith. The film stars Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton as three divorcées who seek retributi ...

''. Porter went on to win a Tony award for his starring role in Broadway's '' Kinky Boots''.

Entrepreneurial ventures

In his role of Artist Development, Zizzo discovered, developed, produced, and helped launch prominent artists such as

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...

, Pixie Lott, and more recently, ''People'''s "One To Watch, 2017" Hailey Knox. Zizzo has also spoken and led seminars at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

and other music industry events. Zizzo's songs and productions have sold over 100 million copies worldwide.In 2010, Zizzo's production and writing on BeBe and CeCe Winans' ''Still'' won a Grammy for Best Gospel Album. Zizzo has also written and produced songs for several shows on

, including ''

'', ''

'', and the title music for ''

'' (a reboot of ''

Blue's Clues ''Blue's Clues'' is an American interactive educational television, educational children's television series created by Traci Paige Johnson, Todd Kessler, and Angela Santomero, Angela C. Santomero. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block ...

''). His work on ''The Fresh Beat Band'' in 2013 won him an Emmy Award for best musical composition. He was nominated again the following year for Outstanding Original Song for "Spring Has Sprung", from the show ''Peter Rabbit''. Zizzo is also an author of short fiction and has written several screenplays, one of which, ''Timmy Tilson'', placed in the finals in The Creative World Awards international screenplay competition.

Partial discography

Acting career

In 2009, Zizzo played a character named after himself in the

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh ( ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. A pioneer of modern Independent film, independent cinema, Soderbergh later drew acclaim for formally inventiv ...

film ''

The Girlfriend Experience ''The Girlfriend Experience'' is a 2009 American slice-of-life drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, and starring then- pornographic actress Sasha Grey. It was shot in New York City, and a rough ...

'' starring adult film star

Sasha Grey Marina Ann Hantzis (born 1988), known professionally as Sasha Grey, is an American actress, model, writer, musician, and former pornographic film actress. She began her acting career in the pornographic film industry, winning 15 awards for h ...

. The film was written by Zizzo's lifelong friends

Brian Koppelman Brian William Koppelman (born April 27, 1966) is an American television and film writer, producer and director. Koppelman is the co-writer of ''Ocean's Thirteen'' and ''Rounders (1998 film), Rounders'', a producer of films including ''The Illusion ...

and

David Levien David Levien (born December 9, 1967) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Showtime's '' Billions'', along with Brian Koppelman. Some of his credits include ''Ocean' ...

, who also named a character after him in the poker classic ''

Rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a cylindrical end. The players score b ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zizzo, Peter 1966 births Living people Musicians from New York City Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni 20th-century American guitarists Record producers from New York (state) American male songwriters