Jonathan "J.R." Rotem Tops Charts With Rihanna's "SOS"
This Week's #1 on Billboard's Pop 100, Three Weeks at #1 on Hot 100
Upcoming Work with Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Obie Trice, Mya, R. Kelly, Lil Scrappy, LeToya Luckett, Dogg Pound and more

 

Beverly Hills, CA -- While Jonathan Rotem's work sizzled on the charts this Spring with Lil Kim's "Whoa" and 50 Cent's "Best Friend" remix with Olivia, it was the slow burn of Rihanna's "SOS (Rescue Me)" that is now the fire-hot Summer anthem.
 
After 12 weeks on the Hot 100 chart, "SOS" jumped to the #1 spot in May, making it the second biggest leap to #1 in Billboard history. After enjoying a three-week stint at the top of the Hot 100, the song hit #1 on the Pop 100 chart. "SOS" is currently #5 on both charts.
 
Needless to say, J.R.'s magic touch is in demand more than ever, and his list of Summer releases is mind boggling. His track "In Love With The Moula" on Mobb Deep's new Blood Money LP dropped in May, and his song with Lil Eazy on the Waist Deep Soundtrack hits stores in June.
 
In July, Rotem's production can be found on albums from Obie Trice, Mya, Penelope and LeToya Luckett. More tracks follow on projects from Tha Dogg Pound, Paris Hilton and pop sensation JoJo in August.
 
For more information on Jonathan "J.R." Rotem, go to www.tygereye.net/jonathanrotem  and www.jonathanrotem.com

 

Jonathan J.R. Rotem Bio

 

In 2005, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Game, Snoop Dogg, Rihanna and most of the other top names in the music industry found a new collaborator in producer songwriter Jonathan "J.R." Rotem. His ability to work simultaneously with an A list group of hip hop, pop and r&b artists is testament to the fresh and innovative perspective J.R. brings to the game.

 

Unlike many of his hip hop counterparts, J.R. is the son of Israeli immigrants who moved to South Africa where he was born. At the age of twelve, J.R.'s family relocated to the SF Bay area by way of Toronto

 

where he lived from the age of two. His world was unlike the street kids who spenta lifetime dreaming and angling about how to get into the rap game, but his passion for music was no less intense.

 

As a youngster, J.R.'s parents insisted that his musical interest be honed in a strict, disciplined way. This meant hours of private piano sessions daily where he developed a passion for classical music. On the contemporary front, he found artists like The Beatles, Sting and Queen inspiring, but at a very young age, when he first heard Run DMC's "Raising Hell" album, he became mesmerized by hip hop. But while he loved what he heard musically, he never thought hip hop would become a way of life for him.

 

After high school, J.R. entered the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston where he majored in piano performance with aspirations of scoring films professionally. While enrolled at Berklee, J.R. also immersed himself in the world of Jazz. However, it was only the release of two seminal CD's - Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle - that unleashed J.R.'s inspiration to undertake music production.

 

Now an accomplished and well-versed jazz pianist, J.R. recognized the jazz influences of the samples used in these two hip hop masterpieces, but did not instantly recognize the samples themselves because he was never exposed to the music of Funkadelic, Parliament, James Brown and other 70's Rock/Soul pioneers whose music was now weaving the evolving soundtrack of hip hop.

 

However, he did recognize how the music made people feel and react. In fact, J.R. analogizes the cross over of hip hop to the mainstream in the same way jazz must have felt to the earlier generation of mainstream youths: "I started using the hot hip hop beats of the day in my jazz sets and bought some studio equipment to make beats with." With his passion for hip hop and a new home studio, J.R. combined the discipline honed from years of formal study into making beats. Local rappers took note and quickly snatched up these tracks for $100-$500 a pop - including the likes of Suga-T and D-Shot from the E-40 camp.

 

J.R.'s first big break came when a CD of his beats landed in the hands of veteran Bay Area producers who planned on using J.R.'s talents for an upcoming En Vogue album. Eventually though, this CD ended up with producer Dwayne Wiggins of Tony, Toni, Tone' fame who thought the beats better suited Beyonce and Destiny's Child. When the song "Fancy" made it on to the Survivor CD and a second song "My Song" ended up on a special issue Destiny's Child CD entitled Love Destiny,  J.R. still acknowledges that there will never be a professional highlight quite like placing these first two songs. "The personal high I received from placing these two records on the biggest group in music was all the validation I needed to take the risk of moving to L.A. and really jump starting my career."

 

In Los Angeles , J.R. found acceptance in the music industry much harder than he had expected. He made ends meet by teaching piano lessons with the hope of meeting Dr. Dre and giving him a CD of his keyboard-heavy beats. J.R. began to understand that talent alone would not guarantee his success - but that getting to know the right people would. What J.R. thought would be a big break came when a couple of friends he met ended up recording in a studio next door to Dre. He rushed over and was able to hand Dre a copy of his producer demo. For months, every time his phone rang he hoped it was Dr. Dre on the other line calling to hire him, but this dream eluded him for a while longer.

 

However, J.R.'s second break came when a white Detroit rapper named Vishiss invited him to produce his debut CD on Dreamworks. While recording the CD, Dr. Dre heard one of the songs J.R. had produced for Vishiss through J.R.'s manager Zach Katz, and demanded the song. Vishiss understood the significance of such an offering and let J.R. sell the song.

 

As is often the case in the industry, the Vishiss project was shelved after Vishiss' record company was absorbed into Interscope. It was during this time that Katz transformed J.R.'s career into what it is today. "Zach was the person who really helped me shape my sound. He made a lot of musical suggestions to me and even put me with more experienced producers like Denaun Porter who helped me with more of the technical aspects of producing." Once J.R. hooked up with Katz and began to refine his sound, his career took off like never before.

 

In the year that followed, J.R. produced over 60 records for A-listers like Snoop Dogg, Fabolous, Lil' Kim, Game, Dr. Dre, Rihanna, Mya, Young Buck, Obie Trice, Foxxy Brown, Busta Rhymes, Trick Daddy, Tre Songz, Talib Kweli, and Lil' Flip, to name a few.

 

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