Michael Omartian

Michael Omartian
Michael Omartian
Born November 26, 1945 (1945-11-26) (age 65)
Origin Evanston, Illinois
Genres Pop, rock, R&B, contemporary Christian music (as artist)
Occupations Composer, musician, record producer
Instruments Piano, organ
Years active 1970–present

Michael Omartian (born November 26, 1945 in Evanston, Illinois) is an Armenian-American[1] singer-songwriter, keyboardist, and music producer. He has been a participant in over 350,000,000 albums and CD’s sold worldwide, as a producer, arranger, artist or musician, during a career that has spanned over 38 years. He is the first producer in recording history to have #1 records in three consecutive decades. Michael is a multiple Grammy Award winner, including Grammy for keyboardist of the year. He spent five years on the A & R staff of ABC/Dunhill Records, as a producer, artist and arranger. He was subsequently hired by Warner Bros. Records as a producer and A & R staff member. Michael moved from Los Angeles to Nashville in 1993, where he served on the Board of Governors of the Recording Academy and has helped to shape the curriculum for the first Master’s Degree program in the field of Music Business at Belmont University.

Michael has produced albums for several pop artists including Rod Stewart, Cliff Richard, Christopher Cross, Michael Bolton, Whitney Houston, the Jacksons, Trisha Yearwood, Clint Black, Donna Summer, Joe "Bean" Esposito, Peter Cetera, Benny Hester, Steve Camp, The Imperials, Amy Grant, and Steely Dan. In 1985 Michael Omartian, along with Quincy Jones, co-produced the # 1 hit "We Are the World" by a supergroup of popular musicians billed as USA for Africa.

In one year alone, he was nominated for ten Grammy Awards, three of which he won for his work on Christopher Cross' debut album:

Contents

Career history

In the late '60s, Omartian helped launch Campus Crusade for Christ's new music outreach group, "The New Folk." In that capacity he arranged much of the music and assisted in training the singers. He was also a founding member of the 1970s disco-funk band Rhythm Heritage, and he also played as a session musician for artists including Koinonia, Steely Dan, The Four Tops, Seals and Crofts and Loggins & Messina.

Omartian has recorded a number of highly polished Contemporary Christian Music albums under his own name, including White Horse, Adam Again, Conversations (an instrumental album) and others. Virtually all of his solo albums are now out-of-print. Omartian produced several Christian albums, most notably for The Imperials albums "Priority" and "One More Song For You" - which were produced in Omartian's basement studio on very tight budgets.

In 2003, Omartian scored an audio book rendition of the Biblical gospels, called "Gospels Come To Life". The audio Bible was read by fellow CCM writer/musician Michael W. Smith, based on musical ideas by Smith. The Spanish version of this audio Bible was narrated by CCM artist, Jaci Velasquez.

Toward the end of 2006 he contributed to an album with Annie Herring (former member of The 2nd Chapter of Acts) called One on One, he plays piano as the solo instrument throughout with Herring providing vocals.[3] One on One was his second collaboration with Herring; the first being the 1983 album Together Live, a collaborative, in-concert effort with Herring's family trio, The 2nd Chapter of Acts, and Omartian's wife, Stormie. The live double-LP album was recorded in 1982 at The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California. The album was also released on in video format.[4]

Omartian is one of the few producers in recording history to have number one records in three consecutive decades – the seventies, eighties and nineties. Others in this group include George Martin (1964, 1970 and 1982) for example.

Discography

Artist

Solo

  • 1974 White Horse (Myrrh Records)
  • 1977 Adam Again (Myrrh Records)
  • 1986 Conversations (instrumental) (Reunion)
  • 1991 The Race (Word/Epic)

Michael and Stormie Omartian

  • 1978 Seasons of the Soul (Michael and Stormie Omartian) (Myrrh Records)
  • 1980 The Builder (Michael and Stormie Omartian) (Seymour)
  • 1982 Mainstream (Michael and Stormie Omartian) (Sparrow)
  • 1982 Omartian Odyssey (compilation album) (Myrrh Records)
  • 1983 Together Live (Michael and Stormie Omartian with 2nd Chapter of Acts) (Sparrow)

Others

  • 1995 Like Brothers (with Pratt & McClain) (Sonrise Music)
  • 1995 Contemporary Mozart (known overseas as "Bon Appetit: Contemporary Mozart Arrangements Volume 2") (K-Tel)
  • 2000 Child of the Promise: A Musical Story Celebrating The Birth of Christ (written by Michael and Stormie Omartian) (Sparrow)

Producer

Video

References

  1. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1609765/story-behind-kris-allens-works-hard-money.jhtml
  2. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Biography: Michael Omartian". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p110689/biography. Retrieved 2 June 2010. 
  3. ^ Herring, Buck. "One on One (Annie's newest release 2006)". https://www.annieherring.com/store/product.php?id=1&osCsid=af318d1408f73c97c7d71083022d9386. Retrieved 4 June 2010. 
  4. ^ "2nd Chapter Of Acts And Michael And Stormie Omartian - Together Live". Discogs]. http://www.discogs.com/2nd-Chapter-Of-Acts-And-Michael-And-Stormie-Omartian-Together-Live/release/1965249. Retrieved 4 June 2010. 

External links

v · d · eGrammy Award for Record of the Year (1980s)
"What a Fool Believes"* performed by The Doobie Brothers (Jeffrey Baxter, John Hartman, Keith Knudsen, Michael McDonald, Tiran Porter, Patrick Simmons)
 · produced by Ted Templeman (1980)		 "Sailing"* performed by Christopher Cross
 · produced by Michael Omartian (1981)
"Bette Davis Eyes"* performed by Kim Carnes
 · produced by Val Garay (1982)		 "Rosanna" performed by Toto (Bobby Kimball, Steve Lukather, David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate, Steve Porcaro)
 · produced by Toto (1983)
"Beat It" performed by Michael Jackson
 · produced by Michael Jackson & Quincy Jones (1984)		 "What's Love Got to Do with It"* performed by Tina Turner
 · produced by Terry Britten (1985)
"We Are the World"* performed by USA for Africa
 · produced by Quincy Jones (1986)		 "Higher Love" performed by Steve Winwood
 · produced by Russ Titelman & Steve Winwood (1987)
"Graceland" performed by Paul Simon
 · produced by Paul Simon (1988)		 "Don't Worry, Be Happy"* performed by Bobby McFerrin
 · produced by Linda Goldstein (1989)
Complete list · (1960s) · (1970s) · (1980s) · (1990s) · (2000s) · (2010s)

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