Jay Faires
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jay Faires (born 1963 in Huntsville, Tennessee) is president of Music at Lionsgate Entertainment. Jay Faires founded and ran Mammoth Records.
Jay Faires has enjoyed over 15 years of success in the music industry. In 1989, Faires assembled a group of investors to create Mammoth Records, an independent label that enjoyed a great string of success with artists including Squirrel Nut Zippers, Juliana Hatfield, Victoria Williams, Frente, Joe Henry, The Wiseguys, Seven Mary Three, Machines of Loving Grace, The Melvins, and Jason & The Scorchers. The company was sold to The Walt Disney Company in 1998, with Faires retaining many of the copyrights from the publishing side. These copyrights became the basis for a new venture in the independent publishing world called BNYM Publishing which brought Faires more in touch with the area of film music, as it created licensing opportunities in film, television, and advertising that can now be measured in the multi-millions of dollars. In fact, Faires owned or controlled companies have sold over 100 million dollars of music since 1989.
In 2004, Faires was brought in by premier independent film distributor Lionsgate as a music consultant. Faires has supervised a revamping of the entire music department, including the areas of music supervision, organization of existing catalogue, and the implementation of new strategies for using music in the promotion and exploitation of Lionsgate film projects. He and his team now oversee the musical needs for the film production and acquisition slate, TV, theatrical marketing, home video and international. In 2005, Faires was appointed President of Lionsgate Music and Publishing. Since Faires has joined Lionsgate, they have received an Academy Award nomination for Bird York’s “In the Deep” from Best Picture winner Crash and Faires has been instrumental in the unprecedented cross promotions associated with Akeelah and the Bee and Employee of the Month starring Jessica Simpson and Dane Cook.
Upcoming projects include Bug starring Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon and Harry Connick, Jr., with music from Chris Cornell, Serj Tankian, and Scott Weiland.
The recent film Pride starring Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac features new music from John Legend and classics from the production team Gamble and Huff.
Coming this summer is 'Good Luck Chuck starring Jessica Alba and Dane Cook.
Recent television projects include David Blaine’s Drowned Alive for ABC and Tommy Hilfiger’s The Cut for CBS, where Faires was the first to license the Rolling Stones for a main title theme with “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
Upcoming television music includes the new season of Showtime's Weeds. Weeds has previously seen the performing appearance of Snoop Dogg, and the multiple re-castings of the Weeds opening theme “Little Boxes” by Elvis Costello, Death Cab for Cutie, Regina Spektor and others.
Faires is currently married to Debbie Matenopoulos, host of E!'s The Daily 10.
