Michael Zager

Michael Zager (born January 3, 1943, in Passaic, New Jersey) is an American record producer, composer, and arranger original music for commercials, albums, network television, and theme music for films. He teaches music at Florida Atlantic University.

Zager has produced Grammy Award winning artists: Whitney Houston, Cissy Houston, Peabo Bryson, Luther Vandross, Deniece Williams, Jennifer Holliday, Joe Williams, Arturo Sandoval, Herb Alpert, Olatunji, and The Spinners. He also co-wrote the Patti Day song "Right Before My Eyes" with Alexander Forbes.

In 1977, Michael Zager Band's single "Life's a Party" features a young Whitney Houston (age 14) and her mother Cissy Houston on vocals. In 1978, the Michael Zager Band had a huge disco hit anthem with "Let's All Chant".

Zager was a member of Ten Wheel Drive from 1968-1973.[1]

Appointments

Zager graduated from University of Miami and the Mannes College of Music. He taught at the Mannes College of Music, a division of New School University, in New York.

He taught at the College of Music at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, during the summers of 2006 and 2008 and was brought back as a Payap-sponsored scholar/consultant for the 2009 summer to advise Payap University's new Recording Studio on commercial music production.

He holds the positions of the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in Performing Arts and professor of music at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.

He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Florida Chapter of The Recording Academy (Grammy Awards).

He is the author of Writing Music for Television and Radio Commercials (A Manual for Composers and Students) published by The Scarecrow Press, and Music Production, also published by Scarecrow Press.

Discography

See also

References

  1. Viglione, Joe. "Biography: Ten Wheel Drive". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 May 2010.