Hit Maker Scott Erickson's Tunes Travel the Globe: From Tokyo to Mexico and Back Home Again His Sounds Top Charts

PASADENA, CA, August 24, 2010 (Press-News.org) Scott Erickson's music has circled the globe, taking the multi-talented producer/arranger/composer on the ride of his life. Thousands of miles away from his Los Angeles studio, you can hear his theme songs for the 2010 World's Fair in Shanghai. With South African singer Ed Jordan he co-wrote the hit song "When She Smiles." Erickson's credits as a producer created hits in Mexico with two Spanish language albums, "Vivir Asi" and "Vivir Asi, Volume II," for Mexican singing mega-star Mijares - the CD shot to #1, became Warner Music Mexico's biggest seller that year, and both recordings have gone platinum in Mexico. And what could be more all-American than Erickson's slew of entertaining songs for the long running children's show "Barney and Friends," or writing and producing music for several of the Disney theme parks' most popular live shows in Tokyo and Paris. Erickson's song, "On a Summer Night" is the first and last sound you hear when visiting Disneyland's new Midsummer Night's Panic show that opened in Tokyo earlier this month, and the whirl-wind never stops.

Erickson distinguishes himself from songwriters by identifying more with the title "composer for hire." Ninety percent of the songs he's written have been placed, a stellar accomplishment for a guy in his early 40s. So if you want to call him a songwriter... go right ahead. He has an extremely good track record. And his work load is only getting heavier.

With world-wide demand for his skills, he turned his attention to producing the latest release for Mexican singer Yuri. Her chart-topping new release, "Inusual" (Warner Mexico), shipped Gold, is #1 on iTunes in Mexico, and last March she received the Medal Veracruz for performance and artistic development.

"If I can feel an emotional journey in the music once I've completed it, I know I've done my job. But once I've finished something," Erickson muses, "I'm off to the next thing." Ever-busy he's off again, this time producing and arranging a new recording for Mexican artist, Guadalupe Pineda, a very well known AC artist in Mexico. Pineda independent release will be a beautiful collection of romantic ballads and her always successful boleros, a first in this genre for Erickson.

While back at home in Los Angeles, Erickson worked with Michael Johns (American Idol), to record a vocal for a song he co-wrote with good friend Greg Gerosky. The song will be the theme for a new NBC show.
Erickson produces, arranges - and writes songs - with an experienced and flexible style that glides through the most demanding and diverse musical challenges. "What I love most about producing is getting to work with so many other talented musicians," he says. "The musicians I get to work with are the greatest on the planet and make everything I work on better than I could imagine! Being around them is so inspiring... What could possibly be better than working with these musicians I've loved, admired and respected since I was a kid?"

No stranger in the recording studio, Erickson's name can be found among the credits on albums by Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow, The Manhattan Transfer, Johnny Mathis, Bette Midler, Peabo Bryson, and Michael Crawford, He has also worked with the leg¬endary Disney songwriting team The Sherman Brothers as engineer and coordinator on the "102 Dalmations" and "Gepetto" projects, and orchestrator and choral arranger for "Best of Pooh & Heffalumps, Too" (featuring Carly Simon), "Bambi 2" (featuring Alison Krauss) and "Tarzan II: The Legend Begins" (featuring Phil Collins) - all for Disney Toons Studio. Nice work for a guy who recognizes his birthday as the day that Disney's "The Jungle Book" had its theatrical release (October 17, 1967).

To some, life may be a random collision of events, but Erickson' life seems to have been orchestrally arranged. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin and raised all over Washington State, at the age of seven, his piano instructor entered him into a young piano composer contest and he placed 2nd. However, the instrument that truly called his spirit was the drums. He got his first snare drum in fourth grade. By sixth grade he was performing in both the All City Band and Chorus. When the family moved to Eugene, Oregon during junior high, he was evolving into an outstanding classical percussionist, playing in the youth symphony. All the while, his musical taste was blooming across the spectrum of music, especially pop and jazz vocals.

A year apiece at the University of Washington and Washington State University (a time in which he was also a member of the Washington/Idaho Symphony) led to a year of traveling around the globe singing and dancing with the non-denominational musical organization, Up With People. This opportunity gave Erickson an up-close perspective on different cultures where he truly learned just how international the language of music can be.

Settling in Massachusetts for the next three years at the renowned Berklee School of Music, he majored in Music Production, Engineering and Arranging. Never shy, Erickson's zeal for reaching out to artists he loved brought him into contact with vocal quartet The Manhattan Transfer. The friendship resulted in his first professional gig as a copyist of orchestra charts arranged by Corey Allen, "TMT" member Cheryl Bentyne's husband and among Erickson's earliest mentors. Later he earned the privilege of hearing them sing a vocal arrangement he co-created with member Tim Hauser of King Pleasure's "Blues I Like to Hear" from a Stuttgart, Germany stage.

After graduation from Berklee, he moved to Los Angeles. Within weeks of arrival he also penetrated the inner circle of another of his all-time favorite artists, Barry Manilow. Four days into the gig as a production assistant, he was putting his copyist skills to work recopying Manillow's band charts. Fast forward a couple of decades to find Erickson co-producing Barry Manilow's Grammy-nominated hallmark holiday CD, "In the Swing of Christmas."

Erickson's song is only half written, but his life is in full-swing. "My hope is that I can elevate the people that I work with and everyone around me to be their very best," explains Erickson. If I can accomplish that, then I've done my job."

For additional information on Scott Erickson, visit his web site: http://www.ScottErickson.com. For Erickson's Management, contact MyLena Entertainment, email: info@mylenaentertainment.com or phone, 323 284 5308.

Pasadena (CA) based Davis & Associates Public Relations is a boutique agency specializing in all aspects of the entertainment and publishing industries industry, with an emphasis on music (jazz, soul and R&B), fine art & crafts, festivals, fairs, concerts and music tours. For more information, contact us at 626-356-1300.