Mark Portmann is a musician, songwriter, and record producer who has worked with

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

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...

. Portman began to learn classical piano as a child, but beginning at

Coconut Creek High School Coconut Creek High School is a high school located in Coconut Creek, Florida, which teaches grades 9–12. Coconut Creek High serves: southern Coconut Creek, and parts of Margate, North Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach. The school is a part of th ...

he turned to pop music and jazz. He went to the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

on a scholarship, studying composition, and attended the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

. In 1988, he became a keyboardist in the jazz group

The Rippingtons The Rippingtons are an American contemporary jazz group, mainly relating to the genres smooth jazz, jazz fusion, jazz pop, and crossover jazz. Formed in 1985 by guitarist and band leader Russ Freeman, their career has spanned more than three de ...

and left the group four years later. In 1997, he released a solo album on

Zebra Records Zebra Records is an American independent jazz/fusion record label originally based on Encino, Los Angeles. In 1985, it reached a distribution agreement with Enja Records to distribute their music in the United States, including the music of David ...

titled ''No Truer Words''. Songs co-produced by Portmann were nominated for

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Latin Music Awards in 2003 and 2010.

References

External links

Official website
Living people University of Miami alumni American jazz keyboardists The Rippingtons members Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-jazz-keyboardist-stub