Bob_Ezrin

Bob Ezrin

Bob Ezrin (born 1949 in Toronto, Ontario) is a musician and record producer.

Professional background

Bob Ezrin attended Oakwood Collegiate Institute High School in Toronto, graduating in 1967.

As a record producer, Ezrin first attained fame in the 1970s, producing classic albums for Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, and Kiss. Perhaps the most well-known work Ezrin produced is Pink Floyd's The Wall. He has been described as having an intense personality, and as the "Francis Ford Coppola" of record producers. His production style tends to employ arranging techniques from classical music. On his first solo album, Peter Gabriel felt that the track "Here Comes the Flood" was over-produced by Ezrin and thus Gabriel created a far simpler rendition which can be found on Robert Fripp's album, Exposure. He is noted as an innovator and technical groundbreaker, having been one of the earliest adopters of multi-machine recording and computer sequencing, sampling, and editing. In the 1980s and '90s Ezrin worked with numerous artists including David Gilmour, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Rod Stewart, Hanoi Rocks, Heroes del Silencio, Julian Lennon, Bonham, The Jayhawks and Kula Shaker. Ezrin has continued to produce successfully into the late 1990s and 2000s, working with such artists as 30 Seconds to Mars, Catherine Wheel, Jane's Addiction, The Darkness, The Villebillies, Nine Inch Nails, Puya, Deftones, Army of Anyone, U2 and Green Day, and most recently Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio.

In 1993, he co-founded a computer software company called 7th Level which developed and published educational and entertainment CD-ROMs including a highly popular and groundbreaking series of Monty Python games. In 1999, he co-founded Enigma Digital, a pioneer internet radio provider. It was eventually sold to Clear Channel, where he became vice-chairman of Clear Channel Interactive. Ezrin was also Chairman of Live Nation Artists Recordings in 2007 and the first half of 2008.

Working with @radicalmedia in New York City, Ezrin co-produced the documentary film Fade to Black, starring Jay-Z, which was released in November 2004.

Ezrin was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame during the Juno Awards in April 2004 and into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in March, 2006. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Los Angeles Mentoring Partnership, Vice President of the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a founder of MusiCan, CARAS' music education initiative and, along with U2's the Edge and Henry Juszkiewicz the CEO of Gibson Guitar Corporation, a co-founder of Music Rising (www.musicrising.org), an initiative to replace the musical instruments that were destroyed or lost in the gulf coast region due to the hurricanes and flooding of 2005. He is also a past Trustee of NARAS.

In 1982, Ezrin briefly appeared as the host of Enterprise, a City-TV panel show replacing Dr. Morton Shulman's The Schulman File. He has been a keynote speaker at numerous music, entertainment and business conferences as well as a guest lecturer at various universities and colleges around North America. He has also been a frequent interviewee for documentary films and television.

Ezrin is now a partner in Big Picture Entertainment in Nashville, TN and continues his work in the studio as well as on film, television and theatrical productions with various partners.

Ezrin is married and has six grown children and two dogs.