Thaddeus Gustav Dixon (born January 14, 1984), also known as The Music Man, is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ...

, music director, and musician. He co-produced and co-wrote Meghan Trainor's certified platinum single "

Better When I'm Dancin' "Better When I'm Dancin'" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor for the soundtrack to the film ''The Peanuts Movie'', based on the popular comic strip of the same name created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Trainor co- ...

," originally recorded for The Peanuts Movie

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. Dixon has also worked as a music director and drummer for

Bryson Tiller Bryson Djuan Tiller (born January 2, 1993) is an American singer and rapper. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he began his career in 2011 with a mixtape entitled ''Killer Instinct Vol. 1''. Tiller initially gained mainstream success in 2015 follow ...

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname.

and other artists. He has been featured on

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

s including '' Making His Band'' and ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...

''. In addition, he has performed at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

and

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

Early life and education

Dixon was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, the only child of Gus and Denise Dixon. He began playing

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

at 4 years old and honed his skills as a church musician. He attended Detroit High School for Fine & Performing Arts, and played at local concerts for gospel artists including Kirk Franklin. After graduating high school, Dixon moved to East Lansing, Michigan to attend

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

(MSU) on a jazz studies scholarship. He took on professional gigs while pursuing his degree, and graduated in 2006 with a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

Career

Dixon began his professional career as a touring drummer with The Spinners. Thereafter, he performed with artists including Ne-Yo,

Sean Kingston Kisean Paul Anderson (born February 3, 1990), better known by his stage name Sean Kingston, is an American-Jamaican singer and rapper. He is known for his hit songs " Beautiful Girls", "Fire Burning", " Take You There", and his collaboration wit ...

Mulgrew Miller Mulgrew Miller (August 13, 1955 – May 29, 2013) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. As a child he played in churches and was influenced on piano by Ramsey Lewis and then Oscar Peterson. Aspects of their styles remained in ...

Roy Hargrove Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...

and Steve Nelson. He later appeared on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's " Making His Band", a reality TV show where musicians competed for positions in Sean Combs' touring band. He was a drum finalist, however another musician was ultimately selected. Dixon then worked with acts including Deitrick Haddon, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony,

Dawn Richard Dawn Angeliqué Richard (born August 5, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter. She started her career after auditioning for ''Making the Band 3'' in 2004. During this time, Richard became a member of girl band Danity Kane, from 2005 to 2009, a ...

and

Timothy Bloom Timothy Bloom is a two time Grammy Award winning American alternative soul singer-songwriter and record producer. Career He began his career as a songwriter and producer, writing and producing Grammy Award-winning songs for both Ne-Yo ("Say ...

. He also performed with his own jazz ensemble, The Thaddeus Dixon Quartet. He then relocated to Berkeley to work as an instructor in the music department at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

for two years. Dixon later became the music director for recording artist Cody Simpson. He then managed music direction for Meghan Trainor,

, Khalid and

Brent Faiyaz Christopher Brent Wood (born September 19, 1995), known professionally as Brent Faiyaz, is an American R&B singer. He rose to prominence after he was featured on the GoldLink single "Crew" alongside Shy Glizzy in 2016, which was certified 6× ...

. He also produced music for Meghan Trainor, Talib Kweli,

Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon The Chef, or simply Raekwon (), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success ...

, Timothy Bloom,

Deborah Cox Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before ...

Teedra Moses Teedra Shenita Moses (born December 17, 1976) is an American R&B and soul singer. Early life Moses was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She later moved to Los Angeles with her mother and three siblings after her parents separated. ...

and

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Sean Combs, D ...

among others. In October 2018, he released his debut single, "Letter To My X's" featuring KR.

Production credits

2011

Deitrick Haddon - ''Church on the Moon'' * (Drums) 21:03 - ''Evolved...from Boys to Men'' * (Drums) ''Disney Jazz, Vol. 1: Everybody Wants to Be a Cat'' * (Drums) Robert McCarther - ''Stranger in Town'' * (Drums) Rick Roe - ''Minor Shuffle'' * (Drums)

2013

Talib Kweli - '' Gravitas'' * "Violations" feat.

(Producer)

2014

- ''Timothy Bloom'' *"Your Future" (Composer, Drums, Producer, Programming)

- ''California Vibes'' * "Can’t Be Luv" (Producer) Abrina – ''My Playground (EP)'' * "Blowin" feat. Jeremih (Producer)

2015

'' The Peanuts Movie Original Soundtrack'' *"

" (Backwards Vocals, Producer, Text)

- ''Work of Art'' *"More Than I Knew" (Producer)

- '' Cognac & Conversation'' * "All I Ever Wanted" feat.

(Composer, Engineer, Producer) * "Cognac & Conversation" feat.

(Composer, Engineer, Producer) Coco Jones * "Let Em Know" (Producer)

2016

Thaddeus Dixon feat.

and Talib Kweli * "All About You" (Producer)

Taeyeon Kim Tae-yeon (; born March 9, 1989), known mononymously as Taeyeon, is a South Korean singer. She debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one ...

– ''Rain'' * "Secret" (Composer, Arrangement) MÄDA * "Lights Off" (Producer) * "Without U Baby" (Producer)

2017

MÄDA - ''Our Love (EP)'' * "I Still Love You" feat.

Dreezy Seandrea Sledge (born March 28, 1994), better known by her stage name Dreezy, is an American rapper and singer. She signed with Interscope Records in 2014 where she released the studio albums '' No Hard Feelings'' (2016) and ''Big Dreez'' (2019) ...

(Producer)

2018

Thaddeus Dixon feat. KR * "Letter To My X's" (Primary Artist, Composer, Engineer, Producer)

References

External links

Thaddeus Dixon Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Thaddeus Living people Record producers from Michigan Songwriters from Michigan American audio engineers Musicians from Detroit Jazz musicians from Michigan African-American jazz musicians American music educators Michigan State University alumni 1984 births Educators from Michigan African-American songwriters 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people