Jay Graydon

PLEASE NOTE! ALL INFO ON IMPORTANT NEWS ARE POSTED AT www.jaygraydon.com

JAY GRAYDON and RANDY GOODRUM have now finished their first album as the group JaR!!! If you can imagine Steely Dan meets Airplay and Pages with some jazzy flavors as well, a touch of humor, strong catchy melodies with intelligent lyrical hooks and AMAZING playing and singing - yea, there you have it!!! Read more about it at www.jaygraydon.com

A DVD with the magic 1994 concert (1st night) in Japan from the Japan/Scandinavia tour with the JAY GRAYDON ALLSTARS BAND is now released. Check out a few highlights on WARD Records Myspace page

JAY GRAYDON is a music industry veteran, internationally renowned, with many hits over the years. He is a Los Angeles top songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, producer, arranger, engineer, and more - twice Grammy awarded with 12 top five Grammy finalist nominations, among them are for instance the winning R&B songs AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE (also nominated SONG OF THE YEAR) and TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND and the nominations for e.g. the prestigious title "Producer of the Year" as well as a Grammy top five finalist nomination for "Best Engineered Recording". More info at www.jaygraydon.com and www.jaygraydon.net

Among the many acknowledgements Jay Graydon has received over the years, N.A.R.A.S. - the Grammy board - once nominated him as Studio Guitarist of the Year. Jay was e.g. the soloist Grammy awarded (2001) Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Steely Dan chose for the legendary guitar solo on PEG on their album "Aja", after turning down 7-8 other guitar players. See video on interview with Fagen and Becker www.jaygraydon.net/performances.htmPeg

As you may already know Jay Graydon is the main songwriter/producer behind Al Jarreau's tremendous success in the 80s (something Al himself pointed out in a French TV show). Jay Graydon was instrumental in making Al Jarreau known to a larger audience and he co-wrote several hits with Al (as noted further below). Jay Graydon produced the Jarreau albums BREAKIN' AWAY, HIGH CRIME, THIS TIME and JARREAU among others and on them he also played the guitar and synthesizer, was a songwriter, arranger and engineer.

Jay Graydon was GRAMMY nominated among the top 5 finalists for the following Jarreau songs and albums...

* Album Of The Year - BREAKIN' AWAY
* Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals - MORNIN'
* Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals - STEP BY STEP
* Best Engineered Recording - JARREAU

To give you a very brief background - some of Jay Graydon's greatest hits include the aforementioned Grammy awarded TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND - a number 1 hit with George Benson, many songs co-written with super producer and long time pal David Foster, e.g. the Grammy awarded AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE - a huge number 1 hit with Earth, Wind & Fire and FRIENDS IN LOVE with Dionne Warwick and Johnny Mathis, several hits with Al Jarreau (e.g. MORNIN', BREAKIN' AWAY, HIGH CRIME, AFTER ALL, ROOF GARDEN, LET'S PRETEND, STEP BY STEP, OUR LOVE, LOVE IS WAITING, CLOSER TO YOUR LOVE and many more), WHO'S HOLDING DONNA NOW with DeBarge, several hits with Manhattan Transfer such as TWILIGHT ZONE/TWILIGHT TONE, ON THE BOULEVARD, SMILE AGAIN, SPIES IN THE NIGHT (a potential James Bond theme), just to name a few.

Jay Graydon's film music merits are extensive and he has participated as a musician and/or songwriter in over 50 films, such as The French Connection, Grease, Ghostbusters , St. Elmo's Fire, The Secret of My Success, Navy Seals, Lady Sings the Blues, The Greatest, Ghost Dad, Mahogany and One Hour Photo.

As for TV productions Jay has played on or written songs for - The Andy Williams Show, The Jackson 5 Show, The Alan Thicke Show, The David Steinburg Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, Friday Nite Live, The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Soupy Sales Show, The Smothers Bros. Show, The Midnite Special, The First and 2nd Rock and Roll Awards Show, Miami Vice II, Thank God It's Friday, Starsky and Hutch and many more.

Jay Graydon's top five finalist Grammy Nominations are as follows

* 1979 Best Rhythm & Blues Song - AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE (WINNER!)
* 1979 Song Of The Year - AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE
* 1980 Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental - TWILIGHT ZONE / TWILIGHT TONE
* 1981 Album Of The Year - BREAKIN' AWAY
* 1981 Best Vocal Arrangement For Two Or More Voices - KAFKA
* 1982 Best Rhythm & Blues Song - TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND (WINNER!)
* 1983 Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals - MORNIN'
* 1983 Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals - STEP BY STEP
* 1983 Best Engineered Recording - JARREAU
* 1983 Producer Of The Year
* 1984 Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture - GHOSTBUSTERS
* 1985 Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture - ST ELMO'S FIRE

Since Jay Graydon is awarded and nominated in so many categories over the years he probably holds the record of being the most versatile nominee in Grammy history. Jay also worked together with René Angelil and Céline Dion on the JT Super Producers concert in Japan in 1994 with David Foster. See the 2 first videos on the performances page on www.jaygraydon.net

AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE in a live performance with Bill Champlin plus Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire

TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND with George Benson in a live concert