Volume 3, Issue 13 |
| Toby Gad |
IAE: Please tell us where you’re from and what influenced you to pursue a career in
songwriting?
TG: My nationality is Danish, but I was born in Germany and spent the first 30 years of my life there. My
parents had a Jazz band and when my brother and I were around 4 and 5 years old we would pick up their
instruments and pretend to be musicians. My brother and I started writing songs at a very early age and when
we were around 6 years old, during the intermissions of our parents’ gigs; we would play and made pocket
money this way. [laughs]
IAE: You scored your first Billboard chart topper with Milli Vanilli; tell us how you were able to
write for such a popular group?
TG: My brother and I had a band and we were writing for other artists. A friend of ours said that this
producer named Frank Farian was looking for songs for Milli Vanilli, so we sent them our songs and he picked
3 of them. After that, I went on to make a lot of German records but in my heart I wanted to make records in
English. But it took me a while to move to the U.S., and I didn’t leave Germany until I was about 30 years old.
When I first got to New York City it was very brutal trying to make a living writing songs. About 2 to 3 years
later, I finally got my first song recorded in America, which was with Willa Ford called “A Toast to Men”, and
then with Jaci Velasquez called “Unspoken.” Then I met my manager, David Sonenberg, and started making
money in America. I learned that people don’t like to pay you when you don’t have a manager. [laughs]
IAE: How did you meet your manager?
TG: David (Sonenberg) was managing Willa Ford when I first worked with her, so that’s how I met him. He
really wanted me to work with him, but at first I was reluctant. So for a year we were observing each other and
meeting every now and then. People don’t really start working with you until you sign an agreement, so I signed
with him and he really started working on my behalf.
Outside of talent and work ethic, I think it’s very important to have a fan base within the industry. You need
publishers who listen to your songs, a manager to handle the business end for you, and lawyers to negotiate
your contracts. I only focus on the creative side and leave the business to David. Whenever I write a song I
send it to my publishers and my manager to get their feedback. If they all agree the song is great, then we
start pitching the song.
IAE: You produced and co-wrote ‘If I Were A Boy’ for Beyonce. How did you get that song to her
and what was it like having such a huge hit on your hands?
TG: I really wanted to work with Beyonce and I kept bugging my publisher, Paul Morgan, at Cherry Lane
about it when I found out she was working on her pop album. Paul connected me to Max Gousse, and at the
time Max was working for Beyonce’s father at Music World Entertainment. Over the course of a year I met with
Max 3 to 4 times and always played him my new songs, and kept telling him that I really wanted to work with
Beyonce. A few months after our last meeting, Max called me out of the blue and told me to put my whole week
on hold because Beyonce wanted to work with me. I put my whole week on hold and got to spend one-anda-
half days with her, which was amazing. I played her two songs that I had already written and one of them was “If
I Were a Boy,” which was a song that I co-wrote with an artist named BC Jean. Beyonce instantly jumped and
said, “Toby, you’re not going to believe this but I want to record this song right now.” Two hours later we had
all the vocals done and it was amazing. She’s incredible in the studio.
IAE: What happened with you in terms of your publishing deal?
TG: The first publishing deal I had was with Sony/ATV, and I signed that while I was still in Germany. Two
years after signing my publishing deal I left Germany for New York City. Two years after I got to America, I
connected with Jim Vellutato who handled the West Coast division of Sony/ATV, and he set me up with Fergie.
At that time, Fergie had just left the group Wyld Orchid to do a solo album. We had one day to work together
and we wrote “Big Girls Don’t Cry”. She joined the Black Eyed Peas, and then released a solo album a few
years later, and that’s when “Big Girls Don’t Cry” was released. After that, a lot of doors flew open for me.
My second publishing deal was with Cherry Lane and that deal ended with “If I Were A Boy”. After that deal
ended everybody wanted to sign me. [laughs] When I got my third publishing deal I decided to split the
territories and do a deal with BMG for Europe only and EMI for America. I highly recommended doing that
because you have original publishers in every territory and they’ll work much harder for you.
IAE: A lot of songwriters are trying to break into the international market. What’s your advice on
that?
TG: Different territories work with different songs. If a producer or writer wants to break internationally, first
I would recommend that they visit those territories to get an idea of the different cultures. For instance, I had a
lot of records in the Asian market, and in those markets they listen for different things. They prefer the
melodies much more than we do here in the States.
Quite often the lyrics will get changed into Japanese, Korean, or Chinese and sometimes fragments of English
are kept. The perception of music is different in Asia than it is here; the same goes for Germany. While in
England there’s a little more attitude in the music. If American writers want to branch out, then I recommend that
they travel and learn their cultures.
IAE: Tell us about your record label and who are some of your artists?
TG: The record label is called KITE Records and it’s a joint venture with David Sonenberg, William
Derella, and myself. David manages me, The Black Eyed Peas and Fergie. He’s been in the business for a
long time and I trust him with all the business decisions. The label is independent so we record an album with
our artists and once it’s complete, we look for the major label that’s the best fit for the artist.
Right now we have 4 artists. Jessica Jarrell, who is 16 years old. She was with Island/Def Jam but we’re looking
for another label for her. The second artist is Susan Justice who was at Warner Bros., but is now with Capitol
Records. The third artist is Chelsea Williams and she’s with Interscope.
And our fourth artist is a 13 year old kid from Australia named Jordan Jansen. We just started working with him.
(see Issue 12 for Jordan Jansen feature) Besides the label, I have two publishing joint ventures, where I sign
writers and producers that I like. One is Gad Songs/EMI and I just signed a young producer named Dylan Page
who is a very talented musician. He wrote a song on Greyson Chance’s album. I’m always looking for
producers and writers that I have great chemistry with and I can help them go on to do great things.
IAE: What advice would you like to give songwriters who have a huge catalog of songs that
have not been placed with anyone?
TG: Writing is only half of it. You really need to have a network and find friends in the industry. You need
to have publishers that love your work and will go out there and pitch your songs. You also have to meet with
every record company at least twice a year. I go to New York twice a year and meet with everyone there. By
going into labels, you learn a lot about writing because you’ll be playing your songs to an audience that’s very
critical, and that feedback will help you write better songs. Now, I’m at a point where most A&R’s come to my
studio to hear my songs, but I used to have to go to all the record labels and play my songs in their offices.
IAE: What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
TG: Katy Perry! I was emailing back and forth with her for the longest time before she had a hit. I always
put her on the back burner for more established artists and never made time for her. Now I feel like she’s
paying me back by not making time for me. [laughs] That’s not a good thing. Artists will remember when you
don’t make time for them or take them serious. I wished I would have worked with Katy back then.
songwriting?
TG: My nationality is Danish, but I was born in Germany and spent the first 30 years of my life there. My
parents had a Jazz band and when my brother and I were around 4 and 5 years old we would pick up their
instruments and pretend to be musicians. My brother and I started writing songs at a very early age and when
we were around 6 years old, during the intermissions of our parents’ gigs; we would play and made pocket
money this way. [laughs]
IAE: You scored your first Billboard chart topper with Milli Vanilli; tell us how you were able to
write for such a popular group?
TG: My brother and I had a band and we were writing for other artists. A friend of ours said that this
producer named Frank Farian was looking for songs for Milli Vanilli, so we sent them our songs and he picked
3 of them. After that, I went on to make a lot of German records but in my heart I wanted to make records in
English. But it took me a while to move to the U.S., and I didn’t leave Germany until I was about 30 years old.
When I first got to New York City it was very brutal trying to make a living writing songs. About 2 to 3 years
later, I finally got my first song recorded in America, which was with Willa Ford called “A Toast to Men”, and
then with Jaci Velasquez called “Unspoken.” Then I met my manager, David Sonenberg, and started making
money in America. I learned that people don’t like to pay you when you don’t have a manager. [laughs]
IAE: How did you meet your manager?
TG: David (Sonenberg) was managing Willa Ford when I first worked with her, so that’s how I met him. He
really wanted me to work with him, but at first I was reluctant. So for a year we were observing each other and
meeting every now and then. People don’t really start working with you until you sign an agreement, so I signed
with him and he really started working on my behalf.
Outside of talent and work ethic, I think it’s very important to have a fan base within the industry. You need
publishers who listen to your songs, a manager to handle the business end for you, and lawyers to negotiate
your contracts. I only focus on the creative side and leave the business to David. Whenever I write a song I
send it to my publishers and my manager to get their feedback. If they all agree the song is great, then we
start pitching the song.
IAE: You produced and co-wrote ‘If I Were A Boy’ for Beyonce. How did you get that song to her
and what was it like having such a huge hit on your hands?
TG: I really wanted to work with Beyonce and I kept bugging my publisher, Paul Morgan, at Cherry Lane
about it when I found out she was working on her pop album. Paul connected me to Max Gousse, and at the
time Max was working for Beyonce’s father at Music World Entertainment. Over the course of a year I met with
Max 3 to 4 times and always played him my new songs, and kept telling him that I really wanted to work with
Beyonce. A few months after our last meeting, Max called me out of the blue and told me to put my whole week
on hold because Beyonce wanted to work with me. I put my whole week on hold and got to spend one-anda-
half days with her, which was amazing. I played her two songs that I had already written and one of them was “If
I Were a Boy,” which was a song that I co-wrote with an artist named BC Jean. Beyonce instantly jumped and
said, “Toby, you’re not going to believe this but I want to record this song right now.” Two hours later we had
all the vocals done and it was amazing. She’s incredible in the studio.
IAE: What happened with you in terms of your publishing deal?
TG: The first publishing deal I had was with Sony/ATV, and I signed that while I was still in Germany. Two
years after signing my publishing deal I left Germany for New York City. Two years after I got to America, I
connected with Jim Vellutato who handled the West Coast division of Sony/ATV, and he set me up with Fergie.
At that time, Fergie had just left the group Wyld Orchid to do a solo album. We had one day to work together
and we wrote “Big Girls Don’t Cry”. She joined the Black Eyed Peas, and then released a solo album a few
years later, and that’s when “Big Girls Don’t Cry” was released. After that, a lot of doors flew open for me.
My second publishing deal was with Cherry Lane and that deal ended with “If I Were A Boy”. After that deal
ended everybody wanted to sign me. [laughs] When I got my third publishing deal I decided to split the
territories and do a deal with BMG for Europe only and EMI for America. I highly recommended doing that
because you have original publishers in every territory and they’ll work much harder for you.
IAE: A lot of songwriters are trying to break into the international market. What’s your advice on
that?
TG: Different territories work with different songs. If a producer or writer wants to break internationally, first
I would recommend that they visit those territories to get an idea of the different cultures. For instance, I had a
lot of records in the Asian market, and in those markets they listen for different things. They prefer the
melodies much more than we do here in the States.
Quite often the lyrics will get changed into Japanese, Korean, or Chinese and sometimes fragments of English
are kept. The perception of music is different in Asia than it is here; the same goes for Germany. While in
England there’s a little more attitude in the music. If American writers want to branch out, then I recommend that
they travel and learn their cultures.
IAE: Tell us about your record label and who are some of your artists?
TG: The record label is called KITE Records and it’s a joint venture with David Sonenberg, William
Derella, and myself. David manages me, The Black Eyed Peas and Fergie. He’s been in the business for a
long time and I trust him with all the business decisions. The label is independent so we record an album with
our artists and once it’s complete, we look for the major label that’s the best fit for the artist.
Right now we have 4 artists. Jessica Jarrell, who is 16 years old. She was with Island/Def Jam but we’re looking
for another label for her. The second artist is Susan Justice who was at Warner Bros., but is now with Capitol
Records. The third artist is Chelsea Williams and she’s with Interscope.
And our fourth artist is a 13 year old kid from Australia named Jordan Jansen. We just started working with him.
(see Issue 12 for Jordan Jansen feature) Besides the label, I have two publishing joint ventures, where I sign
writers and producers that I like. One is Gad Songs/EMI and I just signed a young producer named Dylan Page
who is a very talented musician. He wrote a song on Greyson Chance’s album. I’m always looking for
producers and writers that I have great chemistry with and I can help them go on to do great things.
IAE: What advice would you like to give songwriters who have a huge catalog of songs that
have not been placed with anyone?
TG: Writing is only half of it. You really need to have a network and find friends in the industry. You need
to have publishers that love your work and will go out there and pitch your songs. You also have to meet with
every record company at least twice a year. I go to New York twice a year and meet with everyone there. By
going into labels, you learn a lot about writing because you’ll be playing your songs to an audience that’s very
critical, and that feedback will help you write better songs. Now, I’m at a point where most A&R’s come to my
studio to hear my songs, but I used to have to go to all the record labels and play my songs in their offices.
IAE: What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
TG: Katy Perry! I was emailing back and forth with her for the longest time before she had a hit. I always
put her on the back burner for more established artists and never made time for her. Now I feel like she’s
paying me back by not making time for me. [laughs] That’s not a good thing. Artists will remember when you
don’t make time for them or take them serious. I wished I would have worked with Katy back then.
| Toby Gad - GRAMMY Nominated Producer/Songwriter |
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