Bob Ezrin

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Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's career in music had spanned six decades and his production work continued into the 21st century, with acts such as Deftones and Thirty Seconds to Mars.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ezrin is the winner of three Juno Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2011, he was awarded the Special Achievement Award at the 2011 SOCAN Awards held in Toronto.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 29 December 2022, Ezrin was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, the second-highest civilian honour in Canada.

Early life

Ezrin was born in Toronto, Ontario, on March 25, 1949 to Jewish parents. He resided in the Forest Hill area of Toronto, and graduated from the University of Toronto Schools in 1967.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Music and production career

As of 2014, Ezrin continued to work as a record producer, arranger and songwriter, in addition to being involved with a variety of other projects in digital media, live production, film, television, and theatrical production.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ezrin has worked on recordings with numerous major artists, including Pink Floyd, Phish, Alice Cooper, KISS, Balloonatic, Deep Purple, Lou Reed, The Kings, Hanoi Rocks, Taylor Swift, Peter Gabriel, Bonham, K'naan, 2Cellos, Kristin Chenoweth, Rod Stewart, Nine Inch Nails, The Jayhawks, Thirty Seconds to Mars, The Darkness, Jane's Addiction, Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, Berlin, Kansas, Julian Lennon, Joe Bonamassa and Deftones, among many others. Ezrin also recorded the very first demos for Toronto band Max Webster.<ref name="Bob Ezrin – Credits">Template:Cite web</ref>

Ezrin has been described by Alice Cooper as "our George Martin".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following his first production work on an album with Love it to Death in 1971, Ezrin embarked on a long-term collaboration that, by 1973, would see the release of the number one album Billion Dollar Babies, a year after the success of School's Out; Cooper subsequently became established as one of the biggest acts in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the disbanding of Cooper's group, Ezrin continued his collaboration with Cooper, as the latter embarked upon a solo career. In 1975, Cooper released the Ezrin-produced album, Welcome To My Nightmare. Ezrin worked with Cooper not just as a producer, but also as a co-writer, arranger, and musician.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ezrin produced the best-selling KISS album Destroyer in 1976.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As explained by Peter Criss during an interview in the documentary KISS: Krazy Killer (1994), Ezrin co-wrote, arranged and performed the piano accompaniment to the song "Beth".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ezrin proceeded to produce two other albums with the band -- Music from "The Elder" and Revenge—and remains close to the band's members in the 21st century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ezrin has worked with Pink Floyd on a number of occasions, co-producing the albums The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and The Division Bell. He has also co-written the songs "The Trial", "Signs of Life", "Learning to Fly", and "Take It Back".<ref name="Bob Ezrin – Credits"/>

Ezrin also produced the 1988 Kansas album In the Spirit of Things, and received a writing credit for the song "Ghosts" and three other songs.

In May 2009, Ezrin co-produced The Clearwater Concert at Madison Square Garden, celebrating the 90th birthday of musician and activist Pete Seeger. More than 50 guest artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Ben Harper, Joan Baez, Tom Morello, Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris, and Kris Kristofferson, performed at the event.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Ezrin also co-produced the PBS broadcast of the event.

Since 2010, Ezrin has co-produced Peter Gabriel's album Scratch My Back; co-produced The House Rules, by Christian Kane; and produced singles for K'naan, the Canadian Tenors, and young pop sensation Fefe Dobson for her album Joy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ezrin also reunited with Cooper, working on Cooper's Welcome 2 My Nightmare, on the corresponding live show, and numerous other related projects.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also mixed several projects, including Taylor Swift's Speak Now World Tour Live CD and DVD (2011), and an album by The Darkness (2012).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2012, Ezrin remixed KISS's 1976 album Destroyer, which by then had gone Double Platinum.<ref name="http://ultimateclassicrock.com/kiss-destroyer-deluxe-edition-release-date">Template:Cite web</ref> Also, he produced albums for 2Cellos and rock legends Deep Purple.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bob worked with the band Phish on their 2014 release, Fuego.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They reunited for the band's next album, Big Boat, released in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ezrin worked with Andrea Bocelli on Sì, Bocelli's first No. 1 album, both in the UK and USA.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Ezrin produced a live and television extravaganza to reopen the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, US, starring Green Day and U2.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also worked on an album and live opera with L'Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio in Rome, Italy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other ventures

Entrepreneurship

In 1993, Ezrin co-founded a computer software company called 7th Level,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which developed and published educational and entertainment CD-ROMs, including a series of Monty Python games.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1999, Ezrin co-founded Enigma Digital,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> an internet radio provider, that was eventually sold to Clear Channel; Ezrin was later appointed vice-chairman of Clear Channel Interactive.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ezrin was also Chairman of Live Nation Artists Recordings in 2007 and the first half of 2008.

Ezrin is also co-founder and vice chairman of Wow Unlimited Media.

In 2009, Ezrin, along with Garth Richardson and Kevin Williams,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> co-founded the Nimbus School of Recording Arts in Vancouver.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ezrin stated that his goal was to provide new engineers and producers with the hands-on teaching experience that he believed was no longer available from traditional recording studios.<ref name="long-mcquade.com">Template:Cite web</ref>

Philanthropy

Ezrin is a board member of the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a national initiative that supports music in US schools by donating musical instruments to under-funded music programs. He is also an Advisory Committee member of MusiCounts, the musical education initiative of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, that provides instruments to Canadian school music programs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He is co-founder, with U2's The Edge, of Music Rising, an initiative to preserve the musical culture of the Gulf coast region following the damage caused by the hurricanes and flooding of 2005.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On February 18, 2010, Ezrin helped with the mobilization of the Young Artists for Haiti group. Fifty Canadian artists recorded a rendition of hip hop star K'naan's "Wavin' Flag" for the victims of the Haiti quake.<ref name="Sam">Template:Cite web</ref> The song was reworked by Ezrin to include specific lyrics for Haiti, with proceeds disseminated to Free the Children, War Child Canada, and World Vision Canada. The production raised over US$2 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> K'naan explained in regard to the initiation of the project: "I got a call from Randy [Lennox, president] at Universal [Music Canada] and Bob Ezrin. They had this idea that they wanted to do something lasting, that actually educates young people in Canada about Haiti and not let the fatigue of the subject wash over everybody and everybody just forget Haiti."<ref name="Sam" />

Ezrin is a Chairman Emeritus of the Los Angeles Mentoring Partnership and a past Trustee and Governor of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He is also a member of the Board of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, which promotes, celebrates and facilitates excellence in journalism.

As of 2022, Bob is engaged as a Canadian climate activist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Film and television

In 1982, Ezrin briefly appeared as the host of Enterprise, a City-TV panel show that replaced Dr. Morton Shulman's The Shulman File; he has also been a frequent interviewee for documentary films and television.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ezrin has created new theatrical, television, and live events with RadicalMedia, based in New York, including Jay-Z's feature film, Fade to Black.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2012, Ezrin appeared in Artifact, a documentary film about the modern music business focused on the legal battle between Thirty Seconds to Mars and record label EMI.

He is a co-producer of Melanie Doane's children's music television series Ukulele U.<ref>Stephen Cooke, "Sing along with Melanie: Doane’s Ukulele U encourages youthful music making". SaltWire Network, March 11, 2022.</ref>

Honour and recognition

Ezrin was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in April 2004<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in March 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2011, Ezrin and Young Artist for Haiti won the Juno Award in Canada for "Single of the Year".<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> Also in 2011, he was awarded an "Outstanding Contribution" at the Classic Rock Magazine Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013, he was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ezrin was also honoured in 2013 by The Royal Conservatory of Music,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> being named an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Conservatory.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

In late 2022, Ezrin was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, "For his ongoing contributions to music and entertainment production, and for his sustained advocacy of musical education, journalism and environmental justice."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In February 2025, Ezrin was named as a recipient of the Governor General's Performing Arts Award.<ref>Cassandra Szklarski, "Music producer Bob Ezrin, actor Graham Greene among Governor General's performing arts laureates". Rocky Mountain Outlook, February 20, 2025.</ref>

Personal life

Ezrin is married to Janet Ezrin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ezrin moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in the 1990s. In 2025, having moved back to Toronto from Nashville, he started the process to renounce his U.S. citizenship. In the context of tensions between Canada and the U.S., he told The Globe and Mail that he believed his Canadian honours represented not only recognition for prior work but also a responsibility to stand up for Canada going forward.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Partial discography

See also

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References

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