Jonathan Poneman is an American record executive and co-founder of two record labels:

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

and

Hardly Art Hardly Art is an American independent record label based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in early 2007 by Sub Pop Records, Hardly Art is run by three full-time employees and is distributed by the Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) and Sub Pop ...

Early life and education

The third child of Harold and Beverly Poneman, Jonathan Poneman was born October 9, 1959 in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

and grew up in the suburb of

Ottawa Hills Ottawa Hills is a village in Lucas County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,517 at the 2010 census. The village was developed on both sides of the Ottawa River (Ohio) and serves as a bedroom community and suburb of Toledo. The Ottawa H ...

. He got his first job, pumping gas at a local filling station at the age of 14. After being kicked out of high school in 11th grade, Poneman moved to

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

and graduated from Arcadia High School in 1977. He moved to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

in the same year.

Career

In 1983, Poneman began volunteering at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

's student-run radio station, KCMU, a forerunner to

KEXP KEXP-FM (90.3 MHz) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys for the Seattle metropolitan area. The station is owned by the non-p ...

, and important champion of local independent music.

Mark Arm Mark Arm (born Mark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for the grunge band Mudhoney. His former group, Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along with Malfunkshun, So ...

Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1988, following the demise of Green River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison and drummer Dan Peters. Orig ...

, photographer Charles Peterson,

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yamamo ...

guitarist

Kim Thayil Kim Anand Thayil (born September 4, 1960) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of the Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he co-founded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984. Cornell and Thayil rem ...

, and Poneman's eventual business partner

Bruce Pavitt Bruce S. Pavitt (born March 7, 1959) is the Chicago-born co-founder of independent record label Sub Pop. He attended Evergreen State College where he hosted a show on Evergreen's KAOS radio station before founding Sub Pop. History After briefly ...

also worked regular air shifts at the station. At a 1985 KCMU benefit show Poneman had booked, he first saw Soundgarden perform at the Rainbow Tavern near the University of Washington and was especially impressed by the band's singer,

Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell (né Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American singer and musician best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist and songwriter for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. H ...

. In 1987, Poneman contributed $2,000 of his own money to help get Soundgarden's debut single, ''"Hunted Down" / "Nothing to Say"'' and EP, ''

Screaming Life ''Screaming Life'' is the debut EP by the American rock band Soundgarden, released in October 1987 through Sub Pop Records. ''Screaming Life'' was later combined with the band's next EP, ''Fopp'' (1988), and released as the '' Screaming Life/Fopp ...

'', released on Pavitt's fledgling Sub Pop label. On April 1, 1988, Poneman and Pavitt pooled together $19,000 which gave Poneman a 50% stake in the business, to open Sub Pop Records as a full service record label in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. Poneman was the first record label executive to sign

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

to a record contract. In 2007, Poneman started an offshoot label called

. As of 2020, Poneman remains at the helm of Sub Pop Records and splits his time between Seattle,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and

Lipce Reymontowskie Lipce Reymontowskie (until 1983 Lipce) is a village in Skierniewice County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Lipce Reymontowskie. It lies approximately south-west of Skie ...

, Poland.

Health

In 2013 he was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Awards

In 2014, Poneman was the recipient of the Independent Spirit Award, presented by the

Music Business Association The Music Business Association (Music Biz), formerly known as the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), is a not-for-profit trade association based in Nashville, Tennessee that seeks to promote sustained financial growth and bolst ...

. In 2019 he was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Association of Independent Music (

A2IM The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, North ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poneman, Jonathan Living people 1959 births