This podcast features truly compelling conversation with the multi-platinum, Grammy award winning producer, songwriter, music executive and artist Rob Fusari.
For those of you that may know know who Rob is, and what he’s done in music… shame on you.
Not only did he discover, collaborate with and develop Lady GaGa (including co-writes on “Again Again,” Beautiful, Dirty, Rich,” “Brown Eyes,” “Disco Heaven,” “Paparazzi” and “Vanity,” in his own right, he’s one of the most significant people in today’s music industry, and has composed and/or produced countless Billboard hits, including:
“No No No” – Destiny’s Child
“Bootylicious” – Destiny’s Child
“Love That Man” – Whitney Houston
“In This Skin” – Jessica Simpson
“Train on the Track” – Kelly Rowland
“Wild Wild West” – Will Smith
“Shadow” – SM Town
And many, many more.
In his discussion with Sync Exchange Podcast host Mark Frieser, Fusari discusses how he began his musical journey as an eight year-old child prodigy playing Carnegie Hall to writing some of pop’s biggest hits, developing his producer shops, his discovery of and work with Lady Gaga, his current projects (The World of Cary Nokey) and the importance of sync to an artist’s career and creative outlook.
Below are some main points of the conversation:
- 00:00:00 – The evolution of a child prodigy to a songwriter.
- 00:05:30 – Connie Francis and Rob’s first collaborator, Irwin Levine
- 00:08:00 – Coming into his own as a music producer.
- 00:10:20 – Co-writing and producing pop’s hottest acts
- 00:22:15 – 9/11 and a change in direction.
- 00:25:10 – Meeting Stephanie Germanotta
- 00:27:10 – Rob’s “Bowie” moment when Gaga sat down to play
- 00:29:04 – A Partnership is born… and looking for a sound
- 00:30:57 – The Eureka Moment – A Sound is Born
- 00:31:22 – The toast of the labels and one of the the worst decisions of LA Reid‘s career
- 00:32:15 – Gaga in limbo – a star without a label
- 00:33:17 – One last call to Vince Herbert
- 00:33:40 – Jimmy Iovine says “I guess if everyone wants to do it, I’ll do it.”
- 00:34:45 – Akon goes Gaga for Gaga
- 00:35:00 – Jimmy Pushes the Button on Gaga
- 00:37:41 – Success is Opportunity meets Preparation
- 00:39:02 – Fallout
- 00:41:00 – New Chapter, New Artist (himself)
- 00:50:33 – Sync and how to approach music supervisors and projects from an artist’s perspective
- 00:56:00 – Visualizing your music in picture versus creating music for picture
- 00:58:50 – Why Sync is important to artists
- 01:00:00 – Breaking through sync
- 01:06:00 – Putting music first
- 01:12:00 – The Music Supervisor POV and their evolving role in the industry
- 01:18:35 – Current Projects – ABC and more
