Paul Heck (producer)
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Paul Heck (born January 1, 1976) is a veteran music producer associated with the Red Hot Organization (RHO).
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[edit] Background
Heck graduated in 1989 from Brown University, where he was awarded the John Hope Award for Public Service. To increase awareness and raise funds to combat the epidemic of AIDS around the world, Heck partnered with fellow Brown alumni Chris Mundy (Rolling Stone Senior Writer) and Jessica Kowal (freelance writer for Newsday) to work on several projects for the RHO. Under the aegis of this organization, they have produced several critically acclaimed benefit albums.
Heck has also worked as an A&R for Arista Records and Warner Bros. Records.
[edit] Projects
In all, Heck has been involved in the production of about a dozen RHO compilation albums, which has allowed the organization to raise approximately ten million U.S. Dollars for AIDS prevention and relief.
Heck’s first project with the RHO was No Alternative, a compilation album featuring such prominent rock artists as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sarah McLachlan, and Patti Smith. Later projects focused on populations and geographical areas hardest hit by the epidemic — vast regions of Africa and Latin America.
[edit] Red Hot + Riot
The latest RHO release produced by Heck is Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti. This compilation is an ode of sorts to Nigerian musician and father of Afrobeat – Fela Anikulapo-Kuti — who died of AIDS in 1997. Much like the earlier RHO compilations, this release features a star-studded roster of musicians, including (but not limited to):
- Blackalicious
- Sade
- Femi Kuti
- Mix Master Mike
- Macy Gray
- D'Angelo
- Kelis
- Roy Hargrove
- Res
- Manu Dibango
- Dead Prez
By the end of the year 2002, Red Hot + Riot had made it onto the top ten lists of several prestigious publications, including the New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, the Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Red Hot and RIOT LIVE!: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti will be seen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in Brooklyn, NY on December 1 (World Aids Day) and December 2, 2006. This concert will feature Amadou & Mariam, Cheikh Lo, dead prez, Keziah Jones, Les Nubians, Me'Shell Ndeocello and Yerba Buena.
[edit] Other projects
Heck’s latest endeavor — Music is the Weapon — is a nonprofit organization that hopes to use music and international artistic collaboration as a means of fostering better understanding between cultures, especially between the cultures of the United States and Islamic countries.
As the severity of the AIDS pandemic escalates through Africa at a devastating pace, RHO has spawned Red Hot Africa — a multimedium campaign designed to spread awareness and intesify relief efforts. Through a collage of imagery, music and text, this online documentary will share stories illustrating the AIDS pandemic in Africa as experienced by those who live there.
