Gordon Pogoda is an American composer,

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

, and producer based in Los Angeles. In 2018, he signed a publishing deal with

BMG Music Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...

. Previously, he had publishing deals with EMI Music,

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

and

Warner Chappell Music Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalogue consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 65,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries. ...

Biography

Pogoda earned a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

from the

University of Massachusetts-Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, i ...

. 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'', one in the film ''

Josie and the Pussycats Josie and the Pussycats (sometimes simply known as The Pussycats) are a fictional girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense i ...

'', one in the ''

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

'' film ''

Get a Clue ''Get a Clue'' is a 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie starring Lindsay Lohan as Lexy Gold, a teenage high school student who investigates a mystery after one of her teachers goes missing. The film premiered on the Disney Channel on June 28, 200 ...

'' and several others. In television, Pogoda's songs have been featured in '' Hannah Montana'' with "If Cupid Had a Heart", and ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

'', ''

CSI: Miami ''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Dete ...

'', '' ER'', ''

Will and Grace Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wi ...

'', ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

'', '' Samantha Who'' and ''

Medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

''. 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 '' Hannah Montana'' and '' Little Miss Sunshine''). 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 Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* Sonia ...

, and also a song on a #8 album in the UK - the song "Beautiful Battlefield" by Steps 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 ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'' winner

Patrick Jurdić Patrick Jurdić (''also known as'' Patrick Jurdič & Patrick Jurdic) (born 14 December 1985 in Vienna, Austria) is an Austro-Croatian singer who rose to popularity after winning '' Hrvatski Idol 2'', the Croatian version of ''Pop Idol'', shown b ...

, and had the number two song of the year in Russia for pop/rock artist

Sergey Lazarev Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev ( rus, Серге́й Вячесла́вович Ла́зарев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej vʲɪtɕɪˈslavəvʲɪtɕ ˈlazərʲɪf; born 1 April 1983) is a Russian singer, dancer and actor. He is most famous for his sin ...

, and a top 5 hit for

Tereza Kerndlová Tereza Kerndlová (born 6 October 1986 in Brno) is a Czech singer. She rose to fame as a member of the trio Black Milk since 2001. After the trio split in 2005, she started a solo career and released the album ''Orchidej''. She represented th ...

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 Lauris Reiniks (born July 11, 1979 in Dobele, Latvia) is a Latvian pop music singer, songwriter, television host, and actor. Lauris has graduated from Jelgava Music college, studied, although never graduated, communication studies at the Universi ...

came in second place to represent Ireland in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. He had a platinum record with the Australian group

Scandal'us Scandal'us (or Scandal'Us) were the winners of the Australian '' Popstars 2'' in 2001 (successors of Bardot, the winners of the first Australian ''Popstars'' in 2000). They won an ARIA chart award for their No. 1 debut single " Me, Myself & I". ...

, three platinum and gold records with the Greek group Hi-5, and a platinum record for Finnish girl band Tiktak. In the United States, Pogoda wrote a top 10 hit on the U.S. Contemporary Christian singles chart for sister group

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

, and a single for

Natalie Grant Natalie Diane Grant (born December 21, 1971) is an American singer and songwriter of contemporary Christian music. She received the Gospel Music Association's Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year four consecutive years (2006, 2007, 2008 an ...

. 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)