Rock & Roll High School is an interview series that spotlights some of the most important figures in the history of contemporary music. Interviews by Pete Ganbarg, President of A&R at Atlantic Records.
About Pete Ganbarg:
Pete Ganbarg is President of A&R for Atlantic Records as well as President of ATCO Records, a division of Atlantic. He joined the Atlantic Records Group as Executive Vice President of A&R in late 2008. A 30+ year A&R veteran and member of the board of directors of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Ganbarg has also held senior A&R positions at Arista, Epic, and SBK/EMI. As a publisher, Ganbarg operates Songs With A Pure Tone and Margetts Road Music, joint ventures currently in partnership with Warner Chappell Music. Songs published by Ganbarg include hits by Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, OneRepublic, Lewis Capaldi, Ed Sheeran, Andy Grammer, Lizzo, Beyoncé, and more.
Ganbarg is the recipient of two GRAMMY Awards for his role as producer on the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Dear Evan Hansen and the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Jagged Little Pill. At Atlantic, among the artists and projects that Ganbarg has overseen are GAYLE, twenty one pilots, Halestorm, Jason Mraz, Christina Perri, Melanie Martinez, Skillet, Brett Eldredge, Matchbox Twenty & Rob Thomas, Theory Of A Deadman, and Icona Pop; as well as the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of Hamilton, Mean Girls, Jagged Little Pill, Dear Evan Hansen, and the multi-platinum Billboard No. 1 soundtrack album The Greatest Showman, the latter two of which he also co-produced. Ganbarg began his A&R career in 1989 at SBK Records. In 1997, he joined Clive Davis at Arista Records, where, as Senior Director of A&R, he conceived and A&R’d Santana’s 30x platinum worldwide, nine-time GRAMMY-winning album, Supernatural.
Additionally, he was recently named International Music Person Of The Year for 2023 by the music industry organization MUSEXPO.
At the age of 16, Debbie Gibson signed to Atlantic Records and immediately had a string of Top 5 hits, all self-written and co-produced. Her songs “Foolish Beat” and “Lost In Your Eyes” both hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 (the former of which made her the youngest female artist to write, produce, and perform a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song) and her album Electric Youth spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album chart. She was recognized by ASCAP as Songwriter of the Year, along with Bruce Springsteen, in 1989 and has since sold over 10 million albums. In addition to music, she has starred in Films, TV and on Broadway and in touring musicals, including playing the roles of Eponine in Les Misérables and Sandy in Grease. In 2018, she was named one of Billboard's Top 60 Female Artists of All-Time
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