John Kalodner

John Kalodner is a retired American A&R executive. His achievements included signing Foreigner, AC/DC, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins to Atlantic Records in the seventies.

He was headhunted as the first A&R executive for David Geffen's new label Geffen Records in 1980, where he worked with White Zombie, Madness, XTC, Whitesnake, Wang Chung, and Aerosmith. He brought Jimmy Page and Sammy Hagar success as solo artists and was responsible for the musical collaboration Coverdale-Page.

Kalodner also placed songs on soundtracks of such films as Top Gun and Footloose. Kalodner followed Aerosmith to Columbia in the nineties, where he also worked with Cher, Santana, Journey, Manowar, Chicago, Heart, Iron Maiden, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Ted Nugent, REO Speedwagon, Mars Electric and the Black Crowes, among others.

Kalodner's special status was underlined by the fact that he's usually credited on albums for simply being himself. According to Kalodner's web site, the phrase "John Kalodner: John Kalodner" originated with Foreigner's 1978 "Double Vision" album, when the album's producer, Keith Olsen, was wondering just how to credit Kalodner's involvement with the band and the album. In keeping with the double vision theme, Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones came up with idea of doubling Kalodner's name.

Kalodner worked with Billy Idol, Jack Blades, Roadstar, Steve Perry, Cher, and Suzie McNeil (of ) before retiring in 2006. [ [http://www.johnkalodner.com/Billboard070806.html Billboard Article] ]

In other media

*John Kalodner appeared in a few music videos including Aerosmith's "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" as a cross-dresser and "The Other Side" as himself. He was dressed as a bride as a private joke, because he almost always dresses entirely in white. He also appeared in the beginning of the "Eat the Rich" video.
*John Kalodner appeared in the "Flaming Moe's" episode of "The Simpsons", which featured Aerosmith.
*John Kalodner appeared in videos for the band Jackyl, with whom he worked in the late 1990s.
*John Kalodner appeared on the cover of GPS' (a band featuring ex-Asia members) 2006 album "Windows to the Soul" as sitting in front of a TV.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.johnkalodner.com/ Official Site]
* [http://www.crazedhits.com/interview-john-kalodner/ Exclusive Video Interview With Kalodner]