Scott Adam Jacoby (born October 31, 1971) is an American record producer, songwriter, composer, sound engineer, and recording artist.
He is a
Grammy Award
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 pr ...
winner,
and has worked with numerous artists in various genres including
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...
,
Cory Henry
Cory Alexander Henry (born February 27, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, organist, and record producer. A former member of Snarky Puppy, Henry launched his solo artist career in 2018 with ''Art of Love'', his first independent ...
,
Fabolous
John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition while still a senior in high school, when he performed live on American music executive ...
,
Jackie Evancho
Jacqueline Marie Evancho ( ; born April 9, 2000) is an American classical crossover singer who gained wide recognition at an early age. Since 2009, she has issued a platinum-selling EP and nine albums, including three ''Billboard'' 200 top 10 ...
,
Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe Robinson (; born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, rapper and actress. She is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as to her own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. Monà ...
,
Jason Mraz
Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't ...
,
John Legend
John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...
,
José James
José James (born January 20, 1978) is an American vocalist who combines jazz and hip hop.
Biography
José James attended The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. In 2008, he debuted with his first album, ''The Dreamer'', on the Brownsw ...
,
Kane,
Laura Izibor,
Maiysha,
Naturally 7
Naturally 7 is an American music group with a distinct a cappella style they call "vocal play," which, according to group leader Roger Thomas, is "the art of becoming an instrument using the human voice to create the sound." They simulate the s ...
,
Rachel Platten
Rachel Ashley Platten (born May 20, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and author. After releasing two albums independently in 2003 and 2011, she signed with Columbia Records in 2015 and released her mainstream debut single, "Fight Song", w ...
,
Ronnie Spector
Veronica Yvette Greenfield (; August 10, 1943 – January 12, 2022) was an American singer who co-founded and fronted the girl group The Ronettes. She is sometimes referred to as the original "bad girl of rock and roll".
Ronnie formed the ...
,
Sia
Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...
,
Stormzy,
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson ...
and
Vanessa Hudgens
Vanessa Anne Hudgens (; born December 14, 1988) is an American actress and singer. After making her feature film debut in '' Thirteen'' (2003), Hudgens rose to fame portraying Gabriella Montez in the ''High School Musical'' film series (2006 ...
.
In 2007, he founded his own record label
Eusonia Records, and also established Eusonia Studios.
Early life
Jacoby grew up in
Rye, New York
Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...
,
and
earned a degree in
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
from
Skidmore College
Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...
in 1993.
Afterwards, he attended
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...
, but left his studies after two years to pursue a career in music.
[Dillon Rand, "Maiysha, a self-described late bloomer", '']The Montclair Times
North Jersey Media Group is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Woodland Park, New Jersey and owned by the Gannett Company, Inc. It publishes ''The Record'', the ''Herald News'' of Passaic County, the ''Daily Record'' of Morris Count ...
'' (October 8, 2009), p. D9.
Career
In 2003, Jacoby signed a record deal with
Irma Records
Irma Records is an Italian record label founded in Bologna in 1989. It releases alternative acoustic lounge and dance music. It currently has offices in both Bologna, Italy and Tokyo, Japan.
Artists
* Sakai Asuka
*Angelica
*Simon Baker
*Banda ...
to release his debut studio album, ''Before Now'' (in 2004). The album was then licensed to
Columbia Music Entertainment
, often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK C ...
in Japan, and the first single, "I Like You", went to number 1 on the Japanese radio charts.
During this period, Jacoby also worked extensively in sound mixing, including work on the 2006 album, ''
The Carnegie Hall Performance
''The Carnegie Hall Performance'' (2006) is Lewis Black's fifth album, and winner of the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. Several pieces are derived from material that was published in his 2005 autobiography, '' ...
'',
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion, or any other cultural trends.
He hosted the Comedy Central series '' Lewi ...
's fifth album. The album won the
Grammy Award
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 pr ...
for
Best Comedy Album
The Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement in comedy." The award was awarded yearly from 1959 to 1993 and then from 2004 to presen ...
at the
49th Annual Grammy Awards
The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2005 and ending September 30, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at the Staples C ...
, for which Jacoby shared in the Grammy win.
In 2008, Columbia released Jacoby's sophomore studio album, ''After'', which featured guest artists and writers,
Maiysha,
Andrew Wyatt
Andrew Wyatt Blakemore is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Manhattan, New York, he began his career playing in New York bands such as The A.M. and Black Beetle. He gained wider notability as the frontman ...
, Jerome Collins of
Straight No Chaser,
Kevin Michael
Kevin Michael (born Kevin Michael Seward, October 22, 1985, in Chester, Pennsylvania) is an American pop artist that was signed to Downtown Records in 2007, the same year he released his self-titled debut album.
Early life
Born in Chester, Pen ...
, and
Shelly Peiken.
Despite success as a recording artist, Jacoby's primary focus throughout his career has been on writing, production and mixing. To that end, in 2000, he opened Maze Studios with Allen Towbin,
which evolved to become Eusonia Studios in 2010, an "atmospherically inspiring setting" located in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Flatiron District
The Flatiron District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, named after the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Generally, the Flatiron District is bounded by 14th Street, Union Square and Gre ...
.
In 2002, Jacoby established his own music production company, SCOJAC Music Productions. , he was the president and CEO. Described as an "anti-specialist",
he has worked most notably as a writer, producer, engineer, mixer and musician with numerous artists across a wide range of genres.
In 2011, Jacoby scored the
Nicole Beharie
Nicole Beharie is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles in films such as the drama '' American Violet'' (2008), the psychological drama '' Shame'' (2011), the biographical sports drama '' 42'' (2013), and the independent ...
film, ''
My Last Day Without You'', producing the theme song "My Last Day Without You". The song was a nominee at the 2012
Black Reel Awards
The Black Reel Awards, or BRAs, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence of African Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the Afr ...
for
Best Original or Adapted Song. In 2013, Jacoby mixed the Vampire Weekend single "
Unbelievers" with
Emily Lazar
Emily B. Lazar is an American mastering engineer. She is the founder, president, and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge, an audio mastering facility that has operated in New York City's Greenwich Village since 1997. She won a Grammy Award for ...
of The Lodge; the song was a popular track on the album ''
Modern Vampires of the City
''Modern Vampires of the City'' is the third studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. It was released on May 14, 2013, by XL Recordings. The group began to write songs for the album during soundchecks on the supporting concert t ...
'', winner of the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
In 2016, Jacoby produced
Ronnie Spector
Veronica Yvette Greenfield (; August 10, 1943 – January 12, 2022) was an American singer who co-founded and fronted the girl group The Ronettes. She is sometimes referred to as the original "bad girl of rock and roll".
Ronnie formed the ...
's LP ''
English Heart
''English Heart'' is the fifth and final studio album by American recording artist Ronnie Spector, released on April 8, 2016, by 429 Records. The album is a rock and roll record, with Spector covering a variety of classic songs.
Critical recept ...
''. ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' noted that the Spector's record, "helmed by producer Scott Jacoby... couldn't sound more different from her ex's dense, claustrophobic signature sound – and that's how she likes it". Jacoby also produced
Deva Mahal's debut album ''Run Deep'', released March 23, 2018.
On the strength of this release, GRAMMY.com named Mahal their No. 1 in 'Best New Bands' from
South by Southwest 2018.
Eusonia records
In 2007, Jacoby founded Eusonia Records,
an independent record label, originally distributed by Ryko
and later by
RED
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
.
By 2008, Jacoby had signed progressive soul singer
Maiysha to his label, and began collaborating with her on her first album, ''This Much is True''.
Jacoby co-wrote and produced the lead single from this album, "Wanna Be", which was nominated for a Grammy in 2009 in the Best Urban Alternative Performance category.
, the label had four artists on its roster: Jacoby, Maiysha,
SiLyA
Silya Nymoen (Silje Haugum Nymoen, born January 3, 1978) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter based in Oslo. She is the lead singer and songwriter in the band Silya & The Sailors.
Early life
Silya was singing and playing classical piano by age 8. Sh ...
and
Zach Deputy, in addition to releasing the soundtrack for the 2013 film ''
My Last Day Without You''.
In 2010, Jacoby teamed up with his partner James McKinney to run the label. In 2016, Eusonia partnered with the Anguilla Music Academy and the
Grammy Museum The Grammy Museum is any of a group of museums containing exhibits relating to winners of the Grammy Award for achievement in recording.
The museums in this group include:
*The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live, which opened in 2008 in Los Angeles, Califo ...
to create the Music Revolution Project in
Anguilla
Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The terr ...
.
Personal life
Jacoby speaks at music industry events and universities, as both a guest lecturer and a featured speaker.
He has held various positions at the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...
and in 2016 was the presenter of the
Technical Grammy Award
The Technical Grammy Award is a Special Merit Grammy Award presented to individuals or companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field. The award was first presented in 1994 to Dr. Thomas G. S ...
. , he resided in
Greenwich Village, New York City
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village a ...
with his wife and daughters.
Discography
Recording artist
;Studio albums
* ''Before Now'' (2004)
* ''After'' (2008)
;Other projects
* ''Evolution of Creation'' (1996)
* ''Insert'' (2000)
Producer, writer and mix engineer
The following is a select list of albums in which Jacoby has worked on as either producer, co-producer, composer, mixer or engineer, showing song title, year released, performing artist(s), album title and role.
Film and television
The following is a list of films, television series and commercials in which Jacoby has worked on as either producer, co-producer, composer, mixer or engineer, showing title/client, project type, role and year released.
References
Notes
Citations
External links
*
Eusonia RecordsEusonia Studios
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacoby, Scott
1971 births
Record producers from New York (state)
Songwriters from New York (state)
American multi-instrumentalists
American audio engineers
Living people
People from Greenwich Village