Musical Chameleon

Background:

A veteran songwriter/record producer, Glen Ballard is probably best remembered as the producer of Alanis Morissette’s blockbuster Jagged Little Pill (1995), which won several Grammy Awards, including for Best Rock Album and Album of the Year. The self-described “musical chameleon” has worked with some of the well-regarded names in the industry such as Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, George Strait, just to name a few, and is credited with launching the debuts of actor-singer Jack Wagner (All I Need, 1984), Wilson Phillips (self-titled, 1990), among others. Moreover, the accomplished song writer has composed countless hit tracks, including “One Step,” “What’s on Your Mind,” “All I Need,” “You Look So Good in Love” and “Man in the Mirror.”

As for films, the award-winning producer made his debut as a screen writer in the disappointing music-driven Clubland (1998), in which he also served as a producer. He has written soundtracks for such popular films as Shallow Hal (2001), xXx (2002) and The Matrix Reloaded (2003).


Mississippi Native

Childhood and Family:

In Natchez, Mississippi, Glen Ballard was born on May 1, 1953. He began to learn the piano as a toddler and soon added the guitar to his endeavors. When he was 10, Glen wrote his first song and by the time he was in the fifth grade, he had performed with local rock groups. Growing up, Glen showed interest in diverse musical styles. His favorite included Jerry Lee Lewis, southern rhythm and blues singer Irma Thomas, Memphis-based soul singer Al Green, as well as almost all of the great jazz and blues singers coming out from New Orleans. He also idolized the Beatles.

After high school, Glen enrolled at the University of Mississippi, majoring in English, political science, and journalism. He graduated with honors and had the choice of attending both graduate and law schools. Instead of continuing his studies, he packed his bags and relocated to the West coast to become a professional song writer.


Jagged Little Pill

Career:

Arriving at Los Angeles in 1975, Glen Ballard was soon recruited by Elton John’s organization. He got his start as a lower level assistant and later played piano for Kiki Dee. He was writing continually and scored his first charted single in 1978 with Dee’s “One Step.” Lured by the victory, Ballard was signed by MCA Music Publishing as their professional song writer. Although he was only getting $100 a week, he was engaged full-time with the work he adored.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Ballard could be seen composing a number of songs, such as George Benson’s hit “What’s on Your Mind,” which was produced by Quincy-Jones. Impressed by Ballard’s potential, Jones then took the talented Ballard under his wing, a partnership that provided Ballard several good opportunities to further launch his career. With help from his mentor, Ballard was able to put his song, “Try Your Love Again,” on James Ingram’s 1983 debut album, It’s Your Nigh.

Teaming up with Clif Magness, he co-wrote and produced two singles for Patti Austin called “Shoot the Moon” and “Its Gonna Be Special,” and by the time Austin’s album emerged in 1985, Ballard was writing and producing full time for Quincy Jones, at Quest Records. Still with Magness, Ballard also wrote the track “All I Need” for actor-singer Jack Wagner’s 1984 album of the same name. The hit song reached No. 2 on Billboard’s pop chart.

Encouraged by his achievement, Ballard decided to work independently. He composed a No. 1 hit for George Strait, “You Look So Good in Love,” which became country song of the year in 1986. The same year, he also co-wrote “Man in the Mirror,” which appeared on Michael Jackson’s acclaimed installment to Thriller, Bad. The Quincy Jones-produced hit also featured Ballard’s synthesizer arrangement and keyboards.

After working on Paula Abdul’s Forever Your Girl (1989) and Barbra Streisand’s Till I Loved You, Ballard experienced his production breakthrough with the release of Wilson Phillips’ smash self-titled debut in 1990. From there, he joined forces with such new comers as Curtis Stigers in 1991 and Trey Lorenz in 1992. Additionally, he performed on or produced Shadows And Light (1992), Alone In A Crowd (1993), Greatest Hits: Songs From An Aging Sex Bomb (1993), Lea Salonga (1993) and Love Come Down: The Best Of Evelyn “Champagne” King (1993).

It was in 1995 that Ballard delivered his most outstanding work to date when he collaborated with the multi-Grammy winner Alanis Morissette on Jagged Little Pill, serving as a co-writer and producer. This blend of talent resulted in three Grammies on five Grammy nominations. Subsequent efforts included albums by Brendan Lynch and the Corrs, and through Capitol Records, Ballard also formed his own label, Java, in 1997.

Two years later, he produced and wrote the screen play for the feature film Clubland, an ill-received music-driven about an aspiring musician in Los Angeles. The Mary Lambert-directed starred Jimmy Tuckett, Brad Hunt, Rodney Eastman and Buddy Quaid, to name a few. In addition to Clubland, Ballard has composed songs in a number of films such as The Slugger’s Wife (1985), Navy Seals (1990), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), Titan A.E. (2000), The Mummy Returns (2001), Shallow Hal (2001), xXx (2002), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), and more recently Must Love Dogs (2005) and Andy Fickman’s She’s the Man (2006). 2005 also saw Ballard rejoined Morissette for Jagged Little Pill Acoustic.


Awards:
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