Gordon Pogoda is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, lyricist, and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

based in Los Angeles. In 2018, he signed a publishing deal with BMG Music. Previously, he had publishing deals with

EMI Music 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 conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

, Universal Music and Warner Chappell Music.

Biography

Pogoda earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. After working for a few years at an engineering firm, he decided to leave his engineering career behind and pursue his lifelong dream of songwriting, which he began at age 15 (he began playing piano at age 13.) Pogoda has had songs featured in several media. In film, he had two songs featured in the Academy Award-winning picture ''

Little Miss Sunshine ''Little Miss Sunshine'' is a 2006 American tragicomedy road film and the feature film directorial debut of the husband–wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer Michael Arndt. The film sta ...

'', one in the film '' Josie and the Pussycats'', one in the '' Disney'' film '' Get a Clue'' and several others. In television, Pogoda's songs have been featured in ''

Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), a ...

'' with "If Cupid Had a Heart", and '' Sex and the City'', '' CSI: Miami'', '' ER'', '' Will and Grace'', '' King of the Hill'', ''

Samantha Who ''Samantha Who?'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from October 15, 2007, to July 23, 2009. The series was created by Cecelia Ahern and Donald Todd, who also served as producers. Although highly rated during its first ...

'' and '' Medium''. Due to all his success in television and film, three albums of all Gordon Pogoda songs were released digitally. One is titled "Gordon Pogoda Songs From Film & TV", a 13-song various-artist set including "If Cupid Had a Heart" (featured in 17 TV shows and films such as ''

'' and ''

''). The second album is titled "If Cupid Had a Heart" and features all songs performed by guest vocalist Julie Griffin. And his latest album is called "The Indie Pop Collection". Pogoda most recently had a #1 song on the UK iTunes Vocal Songs chart - "Dancing in the Driver's Seat" by Sonia, and also a song on a #8 album in the UK - the song "Beautiful Battlefield" by

Steps Step(s) or STEP may refer to: Common meanings * Steps, making a staircase * Walking * Dance move * Military step, or march ** Marching Arts Films and television * ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong * ''Step'' (film), US, 2017 Literature * ...

on their album Tears on the Dancefloor: Crying at the Disco. His remix of "Beautiful Battlefield" (subtitled "Gordon Pogoda Dance Remix") is featured on Steps' 4-CD boxed set "Singles Collection", out July 27, 2018, as the closing song. He also wrote two songs recorded by European '' Pop Idol'' winner Patrick Jurdić, and had the number two song of the year in Russia for pop/rock artist Sergey Lazarev, and a top 5 hit for Tereza Kerndlová in the Czech Republic, which was selected to represent the Czech Republic in the

2008 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcastin ...

. A song "I Wish I Could Pretend" written in collaboration with the Latvian composer Lauris Reiniks came in second place to represent Ireland in the

2009 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song " Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

. He had a platinum record with the Australian group Scandal'us, three platinum and gold records with the Greek group Hi-5, and a platinum record for Finnish girl band

Tiktak Tiktak, also known as Tik N' Tak, was a Finnish music group consisting of six musicians from northern Helsinki. The band was formed in Pohjois-Helsingin Bändikoulu (''Northern Helsinki Band School'') and signed to Universal Music in 1999, when t ...

. In the United States, Pogoda wrote a top 10 hit on the U.S. Contemporary Christian singles chart for sister group Aurora, and a single for Natalie Grant. Pogoda has also had songs used for Disney films, CDs, TV shows & DVDs.

Songs in notable films and television shows

Songs on notable albums

References

* Official Gordon Pogoda website
Gordon Pogoda website

External links

Official Gordon Pogoda website

Gordon Pogoda Interview for Pitch Music Center

Gordon Pogoda Interview for Eurovision Song Contest Today

Gordon Pogoda Interview for MyHitOnline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pogoda, Gordon Living people American male composers 21st-century American composers American male songwriters 21st-century American male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)