GREG KURSTIN Blazing his own trail from jazz scholar to pop hit-maker By Michael Gallant He’s produced a bevy of wildly successful artists including Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Ke$ha, Tegan and Sara, James Blunt, Dido and the Shins. But Greg Kurstin came to his hit-making career through an unconventional route—as a student of jazz piano. “I loved arranging songs and finding different voicings for chords,” says Kurstin, who studied at New York’s... 

KEITH STEGALL Artist, songwriter, producer—he’s seen success from all sides By Michael Gallant When it comes to country music, few producers have made as profound a mark as Nashville’s Keith Stegall. The multitalented studio master has produced more than 20 platinum albums and sold more than 70 million records. His résumé includes 50 No. 1 hits, four Country Music Association Awards, 10 Academy of Country Music Awards—and the list goes... 

DEF LEPPARD Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell are hard rock’s double-barrel dream team By Russell Hall Chemistry is a delicate thing among the members of any band—but in a hard-rock outfit with a trademark two-guitar attack like Def Leppard, there is another, secondary chemistry that must also be just right. Guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell have for nearly two decades forged a perfect balance between the former’s more technically minded,... 

ADAM ANDERS Glee’s music man runs one of the world’s biggest hit-making machines By Michael Gallant Adam Anders remembers his first season as executive music producer for the hit TV show Glee with a mix of pride and horror. “It was brutal,” he says. He and production partner Peer Åström worked six days a week, often running on a few hours sleep per night. “It was horrendous, but I love doing it,” he says. “And we have a much better... 

JAMES STROUD Bringing a session player’s perspective to Nashville hitmaking By Michael Gallant If you’ve listened to a country radio station anytime in the last 20 years, chances are you’ve experienced the craftsmanship of studio drummer-turned-producer James Stroud. One of Nashville’s most prolific and successful hitmakers, Stroud has produced multiplatinum albums for country giants like Tim McGraw, Toby Keith and Clint Black, and over... 

PETER ASHER Coaxing the best work from pop’s most amazing voices By Jeff Tamarkin When he and singing partner Gordon Waller began enjoying hits in the 1960s as Peter and Gordon, London-born Peter Asher made the most of his opportunity. In the recording studio, Asher kept a close eye on the steps that producers Norman Newell and John Burgess took to make now-classics like “A World Without Love” and “Nobody I Know” sound the way they did.... 

DON WAS For one of rock’s best-known producers, it all comes down to the song By Howard Massey Don Was insists that the magic touch he brings to his production projects—albums by some of rock’s biggest names, many of which have sold in the multimillions—comes through him, not from him. “It requires lightning to strike in order for something amazing to happen,” he says. “Hopefully, it eventually dawns on you that you’re not the source.” Wherever... 

DANIEL LANOIS A master producer vows to raise the standard yet again By Chris Neal Daniel Lanois was riding his motorcycle down a Los Angeles street in June when he was cut off by a car coming from the opposite direction. He veered to miss it, swerved onto the sidewalk—and woke up a few minutes later on his back in a parking lot, suffering from six broken bones, a cracked pelvis and internal bleeding. Lanois spent the next three weeks in intensive care,... 

LARRY KLEIN This innovative producer is more than just a ladies’ man By Jeff Tamarkin What do Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux, Julia Fordham, Melody Gardot, Shawn Colvin, Mary Black, Luciana Souza and Tracy Chapman have in common? Sure, they’re all highly acclaimed female singers. But they also have the distinction of having collaborated with producer Larry Klein. (Two have also been married to him—Mitchell from 1982 to 1994 and Souza since... 

BRYAN-MICHAEL COX He can make a hit record for you—but he’d like a conversation first By Dan Daley For Bryan-Michael Cox, it’s all about the conversation. That’s the first point of contact between the 32-year-old producer and the artists with whom he works. The conversation builds a groundwork of trust and mutual understanding. Then he’ll write a song about something meaningful that comes out of that conversation—like Usher’s 2004...