Joe Solo

Joe Solo (born as Douglas Allen Klein on September 19, 1966) is an American record producer, songwriter, film /TV composer and musician. He has done work for many artists including Macy Gray, Fergie, and Rami Jaffee of The Wallflowers. He has also done substantial work for Atlantic Records, Sony Records, Universal Records, as well as NBC, MTV, HBO, and CBS.

Early years
Joe Solo was born and raised in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb, Shaker Heights. At age 6 his father began teaching him basic music theory on the piano. When he turned 8 he received his first guitar and took classical guitar lessons. Soon after, he began composing and performing his own musical pieces. When he was 13 he began to learn rock guitar from then James Gang band member Bill Jeric. His interest in recording sound began at age 15 when his parents bought him his first four track recorder. He attended Shaker Heights High School, where he took college level music composition classes and played lead guitar in numerous bands. At 16 years old he attended a summer session at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. After high school, he attended Hofstra University where he majored in marketing. After the first semester, Solo decided to pursue a career in the music industry and moved to Los Angeles.

As an Artist
Once in Los Angeles, Joe began attending the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. It was there that he was introduced to many local bands and he began writing and performing for an array of bands in the area. Soon after, he formed his own band that came to be known as Solodancer. The band played many venues in L.A. are, but broke up in the pre-production stage of their first album. After the breakup, Joe began writing and producing all the material for a new solo album entitled Encounter, which was released and distributed in 1997. After finishing the album, Joe became increasingly focused on the production side of the music business. In the Summer of 2009, he began recording the guitar based electronic instrumental record "Braincloud".

As a Producer
While finishing up work on Encounter, Joe was simultaneously co-writing with and producing the now multi-platinum artist Macy Gray. In 1995, Joe was asked to be the musical director and co-produce her debut album Thing of Beauty on Atlantic Records. Joe’s work with Macy Gray landed them a song on the soundtrack for the Ed Burns film, No Looking Back. The project gave him the opportunity to work with Porno for Pyros producer, Matt Hyde, as well as co-write and produce projects with Ozomatli's Wil-Dog Abers and Wallflowers' keyboard player, Rami Jaffe. In August 2001, the song Sweet Baby, written by Joe and Macy, was released to a world wide audience. Sweet Baby reached billboard and MTV’s top 20 list within two weeks of release. At this time, Joe signed an exclusive publishing contract as a songwriter and producer with Paramount's Famous Music.

Joe Solo Productions, Inc.
Solo, who is a longtime contributor to ASCAP, is a writer, record producer, and developer of emerging artists under his own production company Joe Solo Productions, Inc. As both a composer and songwriter, Solo and Joe Solo Productions, Inc. have many film and TV credits. As a result of Solo's understanding of both orchestral composition and contemporary music styles, in 2007, Solo was commissioned to compose and produce the orchestral tributes to The Used and Cradle of Filth, titled Strung Out on The Used: The String Quartet Tribute and Scorched Earth Orchestra Plays Cradle of Filth: The Orchestra Tribute, which were both released on Vitamin Records. Solo also produced a Prince tribute album which was recorded with children's toy musical instruments which Vitamin never released. Although uncredited, he developed Shiny Toy Guns, producing and co-writing their single "Le Disko".

Developing Macy Gray
Solo and Gray began collaborating in 1985, when both were just getting their feet wet in the LA music scene. "We met in a Beverly Hills diner," says Solo. "Macy was a cashier. I had the obligatory '80s guitar-player hairdo, and when I went to pay, she immediately pegged me as a musician. She said she was a singer and songwriter looking for a guitarist who could write songs. We hooked up the next morning. I listened to her for just 10 seconds and I knew I was in it for the long haul. Solo added chords and rhythm to Gray's lyrics and melodies, and then helped to transform those songs into full-blown arrangements. They ended up with a wealth of songs, including the hit Sweet Baby featured on Gray's 2001 release, The Id. The critically acclaimed single, which was produced by Rick Rubin and featured singer Erykah Badu, topped the Billboard charts. On Macy Gray's 2007 album Big Solo and Macy teamed up once again to co-write the song "I'm So Glad You're Here". The song was produced by The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am and featured guest vocals by Fergie.

He has a song, "Sea of Love", which he and Gray wrote together, coming out on her next release in 2010.

As a Film/TV Composer
Solo has also done extensive work doing film score libraries for film/TV and networks including Fox Sports, BMG's Killer Tracks. His music has been on television shows including MTV's True Life program, NBC's Las Vegas, ESPN's Extreme 16 & Core Culture, and in commercials for Pepsi / Mountain Dew, Honda, So You Think You Can Dance, Motorola's Razor phone and the Apple iPhone.

Miscellaneous
Solo was the music director for Michael Jackson's 45th birthday party at his Neverland Ranch.

Solo was childhood friends with R&B singer Gerald Levert (son of The O'Jays leader Eddie Levert)

In 11th grade he was known as the "token white guitar player" in a funk band led by Bobby Harris Jr. (Son of The Dazz Band's saxophonist Bobby Harris).

Solo was the first person to perform inside the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2007 Solo was inducted into the Shaker Heights Alumni Hall of Fame.

In 2012 Solo founded The Music Success Workshop, where he travels around the country giving weekend workshop and one-on-one training on how to be successful in the music industry. He is also a professional speaker on the music industry having been a featured guest at The NAMM Show, ASCAP's I Create Expo, Musician's Institute, Billboard's Film & TV Music Conference and the University of California.