David Kershenbaum

This article covers only those aspects of the subject that are related to the career of Duran Duran.
A much more complete treatment can be seen in the David Kershenbaum article at Wikipedia.

David Kershenbaum is an American record producer, A&R man and entrepreneur, serving as an executive in three major record companies. He was born in Springfield, Missouri.

Kershenbaum's productions are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars of record sales around the world and his touch has aided some of the biggest names in the business: Duran Duran, Tracy Chapman, Janet Jackson, Joe Jackson, Bryan Adams, Supertramp, Cat Stevens, Tori Amos, Josh Kadison, and Blessid Union of Souls. As a producer he has earned 75 international gold and platinum albums. His work has yielded multiple Grammies and an Oscar nomination.

Work with other artists

His first album at A&M was the major platinum success for Joan Baez, Diamonds and Rust; later, while vice-president/A&R, he signed Janet Jackson. He also signed multi-platinum artist Joe Jackson and produced four of his albums, including the classic Night and Day with the Top 5 single, "Stepping Out". . According to Rolling Stone reviews: "...In the studio, Kershenbaum kept the arrangements unfettered and virtually free of instrumental overdubs, a tactic that emphasized the wound-up riffing of Jackson's three-piece backing band and silhouetted the contours of the his painstakingly crafted pop songs, with their crisp syntax and high-concept refrains."

He also produced the album Tracy Chapman which sold over 17 million copies and made $200 million in revenues; in over 17 countries, the single "Fast Car" was number one for weeks. The LP earned six Grammy nominations including "Best Producer Of The Year", "Best Song Of The Year", "Best New Artist" and "Best Album Of The Year", and won three. "Chapman's melodies are wandering and slippery, and she sings them with unexpected phrasings that often call to mind a throatier, deeper-voiced Joni Mitchell. Most of the tracks are modern folk songs, and producer David Kershenbaum frames them in ways that never lose sight of that fact. He never lets you forget that this is Chapman's story and Chapman's sensibility."

"Tracy Chapman is an absolutely unique artist with the voice from Heaven and a sense of writing that deeply affects those who hear her songs.- David Kershenbaum"

Work with Duran Duran

Kershenbaum was called in to remix the wildly successful Duran Duran album Rio for Capitol Records. Duran Duran released their Rio album, which quickly scored four UK Top 20 singles. However, before Kershenbaum's engagement into this project "...the Rio album did not do well in the United States at first. ...and Capitol Records (EMI's American branch) was at a loss about how to sell them. After Carnival (an EP of Kershenbaum's dance remixes) became popular with DJs in the fall, the band arranged to have most of the album remixed by David Kershenbaum. Only 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 work also resulted in many awards and Multi-platinum sales and smash hit "Hungry Like the Wolf".

“David really had that attention to detail that gave the tracks that FM smoothness –made them bigger, more sonically detailed"- John Taylor (bassist and heartthrob-in-chief of the hit machine Duran Duran).

"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 there for 129 weeks -- almost two and a half years.

"Kershenbaum's track record shows a pattern of working with unknown artists that with his guidance have gone on to become superstars. He is a "song man" with a great talent for new artist development and music presentation. Many artists who have worked with Kershenbaum say that he knows exactly how to focus an artist and bring the best out of their work."

Kershenbaum later 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 Kenny Loggins LP for Sony and the groundbreaking artist The Williams Brothers for Warner Brothers, and Josh Kadison. The album Blessid Union Of Souls/I Believe reached #1 in the country on Top-40 radio.

As a partner and co-president of Morgan Creek Music Group, Kershenbaum brought home the music for the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves acting as Executive Producer of "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams. This song went on to become the biggest single in the history of the music business at that time, outselling singles by The Beatles and Elvis Presley. The song won many industry accolades including Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy awards. As a music supervisor with Morgan Creek Pictures, he supervised and executive produced all of the music for the large slate of pictures, including The Last of the Mohicans, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Road House, Navy Seals, White Sands and 200 Cigarettes.

Kershenbaum is the founder and creator of Music Pros Hollywood " "Kershenbaum says that he created Music Pros Hollywood in response to a time in which digital downloads have changed the music business entirely, major record labels are considered ineffective or barely surviving, and radio is no longer the major focus. He adds that Internet marketing and personal artist development are paramount in achieving success."

External links

1. The official David Kershenbaums Web Site
2. Official website of Music pros Hollywood (MPH)
3. Make a Star Newsletter. October 3, 2003
4. David Kershenbaum:Cenhancing the Artist
5. David Kershenbaum at SxSW 2008
6. New York Times, Friday, March 21, 2008 David Kershenbaum's filmography
7. Producer David Kershenbaum Launches MusicProsHollywood.com
8. David Kershenbaum Appeared at the Hollywood Guitar Center event
9. Duran Duran Article by: David Medsker, 10/09/2006
10. The Joe Jackson Archive. Biography. The Joe Jackson Chronicle
11. SOURCE: Sonoma Mountain Entertainment
12. The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits
13. POP VIEW; BACKUP WHERE IT BELONGS. The New York Times
14. Joe Jackson biography