A & R: Pete Ganbarg of Pure Tone Music. Pete also A & R’s for Chris Daughtry and Taylor Hicks. Visit Pure Tone’s website and Pete’s myspace.
Debut single: “Break Anotha,” co-written by Ryan Tedder, Sam Watters, and Blake Lewis. Premiered on AOL’s Popeater blog on 10/30/07. Official radio add date: 11/20/07.
Other known/possible tracks: “Know My Name,” co-written by Josh Hoge and Ryan Tedder; leaked 10/29/07. “She’s Gonna Give In,” written/produced by Ryan Tedder. “Whatcha Got To Lose,” co-written by Blake Lewis and Chris Richardson, produced by JR Rotem. “Love Takeover,” produced by JR Rotem.
COLLABORATORS
Ryan Tedder - Timbaland’s protege. Per a news item on americanidol.com, Ryan is V. CENTRAL TO THE PROJECT. Visit Ryan’s myspace to read about his previous and current projects. His page says he completed ten songs with Blake. In addition to writing and producing for other artists, Ryan fronts his own band OneRepublic. Timbaland’s album Shock Value features a hot remix of their song “Apologize” and OneRepublic’s debut album will be out 11/20/07!
Mike Elizondo - produced eight of twelve tracks on Maroon 5’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long (including standouts like “Won’t Go Home Without You” and “Wake Up Call”). He has also worked with Eminem, Dr. Dre, Fiona Apple, Nelly Furtado, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Natasha Bedingfield, Gwen Stefani…and the list goes on. According to a statement on musician Aaron Sterling’s website, Mike worked with Blake in early July.
Sam Hollander - also uses the moniker S*A*M. He worked as a producer on Gym Class Heroes’ album As Cruel As School Children, featuring their smash “Cupid’s Chokehold.” He has written for Boys Like Girls (including their hit song “The Great Escape”). Sam’s myspace lists other artists he’s collaborated with.
BT - best known for his work in the electronic and dance genres. He has produced for mainstream artists such as Tori Amos and *N SYNC (”Pop” - heh). Check out his website for more info. It’s rumored that BT will be working with Blake on “She Loves The Way.”
J.R. Rotem - producer/budding music mogul. In 2006, he started his own label, BelugaHeights. The first artist signed by the label was Sean Kingston. J.R. produced his album, which features the most ubiquitous song of the summer “Beautiful Girls.” J.R. also teamed up with songwriter Evan “Kidd” Bogart to create Rihanna’s breakthrough single “S.O.S.” According to this article, J.R. and Evan will be working together again on Blake’s album. Visit J.R.’s and Evan’s myspaces for more. Here is an additional myspace for Evan.
Steph Jones - singer/songwriter/model. Sample some tunes on his myspace. He may possibly be a co-writer on one of Blake’s songs with Ryan Tedder (see video - “She’s Gonna”??).
Rich Cronin - singer/songwriter/producer and former frontman of boyband LFO. He can currently be seen on VH1’s Mission: Man Band. According to this blurb from The Boston Globe, he’s writing songs for Blake with Louie Bello. Visit Rich’s and Louie’s myspaces for more info about their work.
Chris Richardson - duh. CRich’s Idol pals like to talk up his songwriting skills. Can he live up to the hype? While on tour, he’s reportedly been busy writing songs for Blake, Jordin, and Phil. He wrote a song with Blake, titled “Whatcha Got To Lose” that was rumored to be the first single for a while.
Josh Hoge - singer/songwriter with another Idol connection in Elliott Yamin, who he’s recently been touring with. Josh posted the following statement on an Elliott Yamin fansite:“Just wanted to pop in and say that I wrote 2 songs that he (Blake) just recorded for this record! I just got the versions of his and they sound amazing!!! Keep your fingers crossed that they make it, and you’ll hopefully be hearing them soon!” Sarah talked with Josh at an Elliott concert on 10/28/07 and found out that Josh’s song called “Know My Name” will in fact be on Blake’s album! Sample Mr. Hoge’s sound on his myspace.
David Hodges - songwriter and former member of the band Evanescence. He has written for/with other Idols, including Kelly Clarkson (”Because Of You”; “Addicted”) and Chris Daughtry (”What About Now”).
Sean Hurley - bassist for the band Vertical Horizon. He also co-wrote Robin Thicke’s “Lost Without U” and played bass on Thicke’s albums Beautiful World and The Evolution Of Thicke.
