Clarence Ranjith Jeyaretnam, better known as Clarence Jey, 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 ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

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 ...

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

heritage who has had music chart on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, co-wrote the song "

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day ...

" and worked on various award-winning US television shows including an Emmy-nominated show.

Life and career

Jey spent some of his childhood in Australia, performing with local bands and composing and producing music at his studio in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

where he wrote and produced the theme song and additional music for the 2007 US Emmy-nominated

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were e ...

animation television show, ''

Growing Up Creepie ''Growing Up Creepie'' is an animated television series created by Anthony Gaud, Chris Woods, and Carin Greenberg, and produced by Mike Young Productions. In other countries, the series was simply titled ''Creepie''. The series premiered on Sept ...

''. This led to his relocation to Los Angeles, California. Upon his relocation, he produced music for guitarist and former member of American bands

Poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

and

The Winery Dogs The Winery Dogs are an American rock supergroup formed in 2012 by Richie Kotzen, Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy. Background The idea of the band started out as a project featuring drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist Billy Sheehan, who were aimin ...

Richie Kotzen Richard Dale Kotzen Jr. (born February 3, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. As a solo artist, Kotzen has back catalogue of more than 20 album releases. He was a member of glam metal band Poison from 1991 to 1993, Mr. Big ...

. He has since composed music and written songs for television shows including ''

Lego City Adventures ''Lego City Adventures'' is a computer-animated television series that premiered on Nickelodeon in the United States on June 22, 2019, loosely based on the long-running Lego City toyline theme. The third season of the series was released on Netf ...

'', ''

Common Law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

'', ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

'', '' Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew'' and '' The Newsroom''. Jey's songs and music have been used on commercials including the US retailer

Kohls Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawa ...

and in

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

ads. Jey has also worked in film. In 2014, he produced and composed songs, and was music supervisor for the film ''

Full Love ''Frenchy'' (formerly known as ''Full Love'', ''Soldiers'' and ''The Eagle Path'') is an upcoming action drama written, produced, edited, and directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, who also stars in the film as the main character Frenchy. The film als ...

'', directed by

Jean-Claude Van Damme Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian actor, martial artist, filmmaker, and fight choreographer. Born and raised in Brussels, Belgium, at the a ...

, which premiered at the

Shanghai International Film Festival The Shanghai International Film Festival (, French: ''Festival international du film de Shanghai''), abbreviated SIFF, is one of the largest film festivals in East Asia. "China's biggest film festival" according to the Hollywood Reporter. Nex ...

. Jey worked with the US reality show, ''

Famous in 12 ''Famous in 12'' is an American reality television-social experiment series that aired on The CW. Premiering on June 3, 2014, the series chronicles the Artiaga family as they relocate to Los Angeles in order to seek fame over the course of 12 week ...

,'' on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

network, where he was invited to assist the up-and-coming artist to find her dream. In 2015, Clarence Jey produced music for Grammy winning R&B group,

All-4-One All-4-One is an American male R&B and pop group best known for their hit singles "I Swear", "So Much in Love" and "I Can Love You Like That". The group is composed of Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy, Alfred Nevarez, and Tony Borowiak, all from t ...

's record, "Twenty+", which was released in July, 2015. In 2016, Jey composed music and wrote lyrics for the musical theater show "Jambalaya The Musical", along with his production partner, American songwriter

Jeff Barry Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg; April 3, 1938) is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are " Do Wah Diddy Diddy", " Da Doo Ron Ron", " Then He Kiss ...

. Clarence Jey was involved in part of the music in the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

movie titled ''My Christmas Love'', as well as Australian TV comedy series ''

Please Like Me ''Please Like Me'' is an Australian television comedy-drama series created by and starring Josh Thomas. Thomas also serves as a writer for most episodes. The series premiered on 28 February 2013 on ABC2 in Australia and is now available on Ne ...

''. In 2018, Jey produced a song titled "Wasted" on New Zealand roots reggae band

Katchafire Katchafire are an all Māori New Zealand roots reggae band from Hamilton, New Zealand. History Katchafire formed in Hamilton in 1997, originally as a Bob Marley tribute band.Campbell-Livingston, Cecelia (2013)Katchafire keeping NZ reggae scene ...

's album ''Legacy'', which debuted at number 3 on US

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Reggae Album Chart. 2019 saw Jey and his writing partner

composed and wrote a song for

, a computer-animated television series, produced by

The Lego Group Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aroun ...

, for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

television.

"Friday"

In 2011, Jey was part of

ARK Music Factory Ark Music Factory (formerly Ark Music Production) was a musical composition and production company based in Los Angeles, California. The company was co-founded in 2010 by Patrice Wilson, who partnered with producer/composer and multi-instrumental ...

and was involved in the creation of the song "

", by

Rebecca Black Rebecca Renee Black (born June 21, 1997) is an American singer and YouTuber. She gained extensive media coverage when the music video for her 2011 single "Friday" went viral on YouTube and other social media sites. "Friday" was derided by many ...

, which had over 200 million

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

views and, on March 29, 2011, surpassed

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

's "

Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

" as the most disliked YouTube video, with 1.17 million dislikes. Jey co-wrote and produced the controversial song, which reached the Billboard Hot 100 and iTunes Top 20 in March 2011. The song has received almost universally negative reviews from music critics, for its songwriting, instrumentation, Black's vocals, and the video choreography, while being referred to as 'genius' by media executive,

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...

. "Friday" was covered by the cast of Fox network's show ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'', as well as by comedians

Jimmy Fallon James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' and as the host of the late-night talk show ''The Ton ...

and

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

on Fallon's album ''

Blow Your Pants Off ''Blow Your Pants Off'' is the second album by the American actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon. It was released on June 12, 2012. It features guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder, ...

''.

Awards

2017 saw Clarence Jey being awarded "Tamil American Pioneer", an award which recognizes North American Tamil Pioneers in certain fields by the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, an organization of the North American Tamil community.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jey, Clarence American record producers American people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Tamil musicians Australian record producers Australian male composers Australian composers Australian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Sri Lankan Tamil musicians