Jay Landers is an American

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, A&R executive,

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

and writer of

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

best known for his work with

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

, and

Hilary Duff Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including seven Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, four Teen Choice Awards and two Young Artist Awards. She began her act ...

. Landers' A&R and executive producer projects have been nominated for more than 30

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, and

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. He has held the position of A&R at

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its r ...

Universal Music Group 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

EMI 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 ...

Early life

Landers was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. His father, Hal Landers, was a

, record label executive and co-owner of

Dunhill Records Dunhill Records was started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distributed b ...

and Mums Records. Jay Landers describes how his father influenced the different roles in his career: ''"He taught me not to be limited by one title or job. I learned to follow whatever areas of the business which seemed to hold the most promise or which were the most interesting".'' Landers formed a rock band in high school and started a weekly music newsletter called "Disc-ussions". He started working part-time for

Don Cornelius Donald Cortez Cornelius (September 27, 1936 – February 1, 2012) was an American television show host and producer widely known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance and music show ''Soul Train'', which he hosted from 1971 until 1993 ...

and

Dick Griffey Richard Gilbert Griffey (November 16, 1938 – September 24, 2010) was an American record producer and music promoter who founded SOLAR Records, a RAS acronym for "Sound of Los Angeles Records". The label played a major role in developing a f ...

, stapling concert posters on telephone poles. Landers also worked at his father's publishing company as a

song plugger A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

. The Landers family lived in the Beverly Hills Post Office area in a World War II-era, Arts and Crafts style bungalow that was renovated by architect Steven Erhlich. In 2004, Jay Landers bought the house back, living there with his wife until 2018.

Career

Work as publisher

Landers entered the music business as a

, pitching songs to record producers including

Russ Titelman Russ Titelman (born August 16, 1944, Los Angeles, California) is an American record producer and songwriter. He has to date won three Grammy Awards. He earned his first producing the Steve Winwood song " Higher Love", and his second and third f ...

Lenny Waronker Lenny Waronker (born October 3, 1941) is an American record producer and music industry executive. As the president of Warner Bros. Records, and later, as the co-chair of DreamWorks Records, Waronker was noted for his commitment to artists and hi ...

and

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (born June 18, 1942) is an American record producer. He began as a performer in his adolescence while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970 ...

. Landers pitched songs at The Entertainment Company which lead to recordings by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

Stephanie Mills Stephanie Dorthea Mills (born March 22, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to stardom as "Dorothy" in the original seven-time Tony Award winning Broadway run of the musical ''The Wiz'' from 1974 to 1979. The song " Home" from t ...

Angela Bofill Angela Tomasa Bofill (born May 2, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter of Cuban- Puerto Rican origins. A New York native, Bofill began her professional career in the mid-1970s. Bofill is most known for singles such as, "This Time I'll Be Sweete ...

, among others. In an interview with the Malibu Times, Jay Landers explained his experience as an A&R man working with artists including Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Sting, Julio Iglesias and Josh Groban: ''“I’ve had (...) a front row seat watching some of the greatest artists in the world do their thing. To sit there and be able to hear their voice in its purity without any echo or instrumentation is a great thrill. Working in A&R means finding the right song for the right artist and also the right artist for the right project. For artists that don’t write their own songs, guys like me still have value because we help them find their material."''

Columbia Records

In 1986, Landers stepped into the role of Director A&R & Soundtracks at

. In 1993, he became the A&R for the Barbra Streisand album ''

Back to Broadway ''Back to Broadway'' is the twenty-sixth studio album by American singer Barbra Streisand, released in 1993. The album was Streisand's second collection of songs from Broadway musicals, after 1985's ''The Broadway Album''. It debuted at number 1 ...

''. Upon his promotion to Vice President of A&R, Landers relocated to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, continuing his work with Streisand,

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson (born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the 1983 hit "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack. Bryson ...

, and others. Landers brought the songs “

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

” from the Disney film and “

A Whole New World "A Whole New World" is the signature song from Disney's 1992 animated feature film ''Aladdin'', with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. A duet originally recorded by singers Brad Kane and Lea Salonga in their respective roles as t ...

” from ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...

'' to

after Barbra Streisand turned them down.

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

and Peabo Bryson's “Beauty and the Beast” charted at No. 9 on

Billboard's Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in 1992. “A Whole New World,” by Bryson and Regina Belle reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1993. Both songs won

and

. Landers was the music supervisor on the 1992 film ''

A League of Their Own ''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The film stars Tom Hanks, Geena Dav ...

'', directed by

Penny Marshall Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...

and starring

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

and

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

, with the opening song written by

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

EMI

In 1992, Landers reunited with

Charles Koppelman Charles Koppelman (March 30, 1940 – November 25, 2022) was an American musician, music producer, and businessman. He held executive positions at EMI and Steve Madden, and he was Chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. At the time of his d ...

, then

Chairman, joining the company as Senior Vice President of A&R. Landers continued his role as executive producer of Columbia artists Streisand, Diamond, and

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

. Landers was A&R on Frank Sinatra's final studio album ''

Duets A duet is a musical composition or piece for two performers. Duets or The Duets may also refer to: Films and television * ''Duets'' (film), a 2000 film, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Giamatti and Huey Lewis * "Duets" (''Glee''), a 2010 episod ...

''.

Walt Disney Records

Landers returned to Los Angeles in 2000 as Senior Vice President of A&R at

, working on varied projects including soundtracks, teen music, Broadway cast albums and

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

music. Landers worked on the soundtracks for 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 ...

films ''

'', ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...

'', ''

The Lizzie McGuire Movie ''The Lizzie McGuire Movie'' is a 2003 American Teen film, teen comedy film directed by Jim Fall. The film serves as the finale of the Disney Channel Lizzie McGuire, television series of the same name, and was the first theatrical film based on ...

'', and ''

The Princess Diaries ''The Princess Diaries'' is a series of epistolary young adult novels written by Meg Cabot, and is also the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The series revolves around Amelia 'Mia' Thermopolis, a teenager in New York who discovers ...

''. Other Disney projects include "

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American computer-animated Monster movie, monster comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, B ...

", "

That's So Raven ''That's So Raven'' is an American television teen sitcom that was created by Michael Poryes and Susan Sherman, and aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between January 2003 and November 2007. The series centers on Raven Baxter (Raven-Sym ...

", the ''Hilary Duff'' album, the Broadway cast album for ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

'', and music for

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

Work with Barbra Streisand

Landers has worked consistently with Barbra Streisand since 1991, and executive produced 31 of her albums. Other roles on Streisand recordings include A&R, music producer, songwriter, and writer of liner notes. Engineer David Reitzas describes Landers' role on Streisand's projects as ''"the middle man between Streisand and the technical crew."'' He is co-writer of the songs "What's On My Mind", "Don't Lie To Me", "Better Angels", "Love's Never Wrong", "The Rain Will Fall" and "Take Care of This House" on her

Walls Walls may refer to: *The plural of wall, a structure * Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname Places * Walls, Louisiana, United States *Walls, Mississippi, United States * Walls, Ontario, neighborhood in Perry, Ontario, C ...

album, a politically themed record inspired by her feelings about Donald Trump. During her '' Back To Brooklyn'' concert, Streisand performed the Cole Porter song “

You're the Top "You're the Top" is a Cole Porter song from the 1934 musical ''Anything Goes''. It is about a man and a woman who take turns complimenting each other. The best-selling version was Paul Whiteman's Victor single, which made the top five. It was the ...

”, with additional new lyrics written by Jay Landers and

Charlie Midnight Charlie Midnight (born Charles Kaufman, 1954) is an American songwriter, record producer, and founder of Midnight Production House. He has been nominated for the 1987 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (Writer, " Living in America" by James Brown), ...

in a wry style, in honor of Streisand performing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, her hometown. Landers was co-writer and

music supervisor A music supervisor is a person who combines music and visual media. According to The Guild of Music Supervisors, a music supervisor is “a qualified professional who oversees all music related aspects of film, television, advertising, video games ...

of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Streisand concert film '' Barbra: The Music, The Mem'ries, The Magic'' and appears in the film.

Work writing liner notes

Landers has written the liner notes for 15 Barbra Streisand albums, 3 Johnny Mathis albums and 3 Bette Midler albums. In an interview with babranews.com, Landers said about his work as liner note writer: ''“I want to share with the listener what it was like to be at the session; it’s really that simple. Shedding light on the brilliance of her treisand’sprocess, hopefully, enhances the enjoyment of the music.'' His goal is to ''“elevate the listening experience, by describing in facts and in more cerebral, impressionistic ways, what the artist and the music was like.”''

Songwriter

Landers has written songs for Streisand,

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

Kristin Chenoweth Kristin Dawn Chenoweth (; born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth; July 24, 1968)Kristin Cheno ...

Katharine McPhee Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. In May 2006, she rose to fame as the runner-up on the fifth season of ''American Idol.'' Her eponymous debut album was released on RCA Records on Janua ...

Big Time Rush ''Big Time Rush'' is an American musical sitcom television series created by Scott Fellows that originally aired on Nickelodeon from November 28, 2009, to July 25, 2013 and is currently available in Paramount+. It focuses on the Hollywood misa ...

Bianca Ryan Bianca Taylor Ryan (born September 1, 1994) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ryan was the first winner of NBC's ''America's Got Talent'' at the age of eleven. Singing two Broadway show tunes along t ...

, and

Ruben Studdard Ruben Studdard (born September 12, 1978) is an American singer and actor. He rose to fame as winner of the second season of ''American Idol'' and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his recording of ...

, in addition to soundtrack work for ''

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 ...

'', ''

'', and ''

''. Landers wrote the lead single “ Don't Lie to Me” for the Streisand album ''

''. He co-wrote “Living In The Moment” end credit song for the film ''The Book Club''. For the Bette Midler holiday album ''

Cool Yule ''Cool Yule'' is a holiday album by Bette Midler released on October 10, 2006, through Columbia Records. Midler's first seasonal release, the album features many standard Christmas tunes as well as a reworking edition of her Grammy-winning hit ...

'', Landers added specially revised lyrics for “From A Distance (Christmas version)”. He also provided lyrics for “Home On Christmas Day” for Chenoweth.

References

External links

Jay Landers artist profile , Grammy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landers, Jay A&R people American entertainment industry businesspeople American music industry executives Record producers from Los Angeles Songwriters from California Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American music publishers (people)