Jack Robinson (songwriter and music publisher)
Encyclopedia
Jack Robinson is a songwriter
and a music publisher.
, Washington. He grew up in a musical family; his father was an amateur violin
ist, his mother a professional singer. Robinson's three uncles and his aunt were professional musician
s. His father, Bert, was English
, his mother, Rena, Canadian
. He studied journalism
and American literature
at the University of Washington
.
He began his professional career as a journalist in Seattle, then moved to Bellingham
; Washington, D.C.
; San Francisco
, California
; Carson City
, Nevada
; and finally, after serving in the United States Marines, Robinson moved to Paris
, where he worked as a foreign correspondent
with the United Press International
.
Robinson became a disc jockey
on Radio Luxembourg
. He dropped his news work to become a professional manager (directeur artistique) in an American publishing company which, among others, had just signed The Rolling Stones
and The Who
. The job of a professional manager is to take songs from the publishers' catalog and to find new writers and present songs to artists
and record producer
s. Robinson then decided he would become a record producer. It was at that time he met and began working with Georges Chatelain
who had formed the most advanced studio in France
with Bernard Estardy. Chatelain took the time to not only explain the technical side of a recording studio
, and showed Robinson sound recording and reproduction
techniques. Robinson, Chatelain and Estardy went on to produce seven Top 10 hits
with their artists Gilles Marchal
and Martine Habib.
Not satisfied with producing records
in French
, Robinson co-produced King Harvest
that had been signed by fellow producer Pierre Jaubert. Their recording of "Dancing in the Moonlight
" became a Top 10 hit in America
and has remained a standard
for over 30 years. "Dancing In the Moonlight" became the theme song
for Fidelity Investments
television
commercials
for three years.
In 1973 Robinson founded Robin Song Music, his publishing company which is now in partnership with the French office of Peermusic. He went on to write lyrics
to the music
of the French singer/composer David Christie. Together their songs have sold more than 30 million records around the world. Their biggest hits: "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)
", "Love Me Like a Lover" and "Rendezvous" (Tina Charles); "Saddle Up" (David Christie); "Strut Your Funky Stuff" (Frantique
); "(If You Want It) Do It Yourself" (Gloria Gaynor
); and "Do or Die" (Grace Jones
). Robinson also wrote the original, English
lyrics to Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
's hit, "Irresistible".
In 1997 he co-produced Meredith Brooks
' album, See It through My Eyes
.
Robinson continues to write for the Gibson Brothers
and newcomers like Thiae, a teenager from Madagascar
, who is being groomed by American producer Michael McGregor, Robinson's current co-writer. On the agenda are a musical
comedy
and several album
projects. Robinson co-wrote two of the tracks on MP3
, the 2008 album release by M. Pokora
.
Robinson has two grown children, both pianist
s.
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and a music publisher.
Life and career
Robinson was born in SeattleSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, Washington. He grew up in a musical family; his father was an amateur violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, his mother a professional singer. Robinson's three uncles and his aunt were professional musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s. His father, Bert, was English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, his mother, Rena, Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He studied journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and American literature
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
.
He began his professional career as a journalist in Seattle, then moved to Bellingham
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
; Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
; San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
; Carson City
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
; and finally, after serving in the United States Marines, Robinson moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he worked as a foreign correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
with the United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
.
Robinson became a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
on Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
. He dropped his news work to become a professional manager (directeur artistique) in an American publishing company which, among others, had just signed The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
and The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
. The job of a professional manager is to take songs from the publishers' catalog and to find new writers and present songs to artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
s. Robinson then decided he would become a record producer. It was at that time he met and began working with Georges Chatelain
Georges Chatelain
Georges Chatelain was born at 36 rue Ballu in Paris. This address is where the world renowned musical celebrities Nadia and Lili Boulanger lived and worked. Georges became an author/ composer and musical producer and, in 1966, founded what was the most advanced recording studio of its time in...
who had formed the most advanced studio in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
with Bernard Estardy. Chatelain took the time to not only explain the technical side of a recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
, and showed Robinson sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
techniques. Robinson, Chatelain and Estardy went on to produce seven Top 10 hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
with their artists Gilles Marchal
Gilles Marchal
Gilles Marchal is a French songwriter and singer who reached the height of his career during the 1970s....
and Martine Habib.
Not satisfied with producing records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Robinson co-produced King Harvest
King Harvest
King Harvest was a 1970s American rock band, best known for their 1973 hit single, "Dancing in the Moonlight".-Background:Formed by a group of four American expatriates in Paris in 1970, King Harvest was best known for its one US hit single, "Dancing In The Moonlight," which was released in 1972...
that had been signed by fellow producer Pierre Jaubert. Their recording of "Dancing in the Moonlight
Dancing in the Moonlight
"Dancing In The Moonlight" is the title song on the 1973 King Harvest album. The track was released as a single in 1972 and it reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. They released other singles but these were never able to match the success of "Dancing in the Moonlight"...
" became a Top 10 hit in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and has remained a standard
for over 30 years. "Dancing In the Moonlight" became the theme song
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
for Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments
FMR LLC or Fidelity Investments is an American multinational financial services corporation one of the largest mutual fund and financial services groups in the world. It was founded in 1946 and serves North American investors. Fidelity Ventures is its venture capital arm...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
commercials
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
for three years.
In 1973 Robinson founded Robin Song Music, his publishing company which is now in partnership with the French office of Peermusic. He went on to write lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
to the music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
of the French singer/composer David Christie. Together their songs have sold more than 30 million records around the world. Their biggest hits: "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)
I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)
"I Love to Love " was a popular single by Tina Charles, from her debut album, I Love to Love; the song was composed by Jack Robinson and James Bolden...
", "Love Me Like a Lover" and "Rendezvous" (Tina Charles); "Saddle Up" (David Christie); "Strut Your Funky Stuff" (Frantique
Frantique
Frantique was an American disco group signed to Philadelphia International Records. They released the albums titled Strut Your Funky Stuff in 1979. The title track from Strut Your Funky Stuff charted on the UK Singles Chart in 1979, peaking at #10 in August.Strut Your Funky Stuff was produced by...
); "(If You Want It) Do It Yourself" (Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits; "I Will Survive" , "Never Can Say Goodbye" , "Let Me Know " and "I Am What I Am" .-Early career:Gaynor was a singer with the Soul...
); and "Do or Die" (Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
). Robinson also wrote the original, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
lyrics to Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, Countess of Polignac is a member of the princely family of Monaco. She is the youngest child of Grace, Princess of Monaco and Rainier III of Monaco, and the sister of Albert II of Monaco and Princess Caroline...
's hit, "Irresistible".
In 1997 he co-produced Meredith Brooks
Meredith Brooks
Meredith Ann Brooks is an American singer/songwriter and guitarist. She is best known for her 1997 hit song "Bitch", for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award.- Early life :...
' album, See It through My Eyes
See It through My Eyes
See It Through My Eyes is an album of recordings by American singer/songwriter Meredith Brooks originally done in the early 1980s. It was released in 1997 by the record company in an attempt to capitalize on her newfound success created from Blurring the Edges.-Track listing:#"Pick It Up" #"The...
.
Robinson continues to write for the Gibson Brothers
Gibson Brothers
The Gibson Brothers are a France based musical group, who had their greatest success during the disco boom of the late 1970s. Their best known hit singles included "Cuba" and "Que Sera Mi Vida"....
and newcomers like Thiae, a teenager from Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, who is being groomed by American producer Michael McGregor, Robinson's current co-writer. On the agenda are a musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
and several album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
projects. Robinson co-wrote two of the tracks on MP3
MP3 (M. Pokora album)
MP3 is M. Pokora's third studio album, which was released March 24, 2008 in France and will be available in 27 countries. The album is available in three editions: original, limited, and collector's...
, the 2008 album release by M. Pokora
M. Pokora
Matthieu Tota in Strasbourg, France commonly known as M. Pokora or Matt Pokora, is a French singer and songwriter.-Early life:...
.
Robinson has two grown children, both pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
s.
External links
- Jack Robinson's official site
- [ Discography - song titles] at Allmusic websiteWebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...