LANDERS BACK TO COLUMBIA

This time, it’s veteran A&R exec Jay Landers who returns to Columbia Records as Senior Vice President of A&R for the label. The move was announced today by Chairman Steve Barnett, to whom he reports.

Sony Music Label Group Chairman Rob Stringer warmed up his communications skills by commenting: "Jay Landers is one of the most versatile A&R executives in the world. Over the course of three decades, he has achieved a string of commercial and artistic successes in a multitude of genres, from rock and pop and classical music to Broadway cast albums and motion picture soundtracks, through a series of hit recordings for a variety of artists from Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion to Hilary Duff and Josh Groban. Throughout the range and diversity of his A&R work, Jay continues to prove that music has the power to reach into the hearts of audiences of all ages. Maybe now he’ll introduce me to Hannah Montana."

Added Barnett: "It's absolutely fantastic to have Jay Landers back on the Columbia A&R team. An A&R natural with great ears and great instincts, Jay is at home with legacy artists and teen pop stars alike because he understands how the right songs—with the right sounds, the right production and the right mixes—can become classics when paired with the right artist. I'm really looking forward to hearing the new projects from the established and emerging artists that Jay will be working with at Columbia. I hear he’s convinced Babs to cover Jay-Z’s ’99 Problems.’"

Said Landers: "I've always thought that Columbia Records was the greatest label in the business, both for its unequaled history in every genre of music and its ongoing commitment to new artists. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to work with Steve Barnett and the incredible team which he's assembled. Do they still serve sushi in the office commissary?"

Landers first came to work for Columbia Records in 1985 as Director, A&R and Soundtracks, rising to VP A&R, and SVP A&R, working with Neil Diamond, Julio Iglesias, James Taylor and Barbra Streisand.

Landers produced Streisand’s chart-topping 1993 Back To Broadway album and her multi-platinum Higher Ground CD. He’s also acted as her music supervisor for her last three record-breaking tours.

Among the artists he’s worked with are R&B singer Peabo Bryson, winning Academy Awards for Best Original Song for the singer’s collaboration with Celine Dion on the title track to the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast and “A Whole New World” for Aladdin with Regina Belle, also a Grammy winner for Song of the Year in 1993.

Landers left Columbia in 1993 to become SVPA&R for EMI, where he was co-executive producer for tracks on Frank Sinatra's best-selling Duets album for Capitol Records and, as head of A&R for Angel Records, overseeing a series of best-selling, Grammy-nominated original cast albums for a number of productions including the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Carousel, The Orchestral Miss Saigon, Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Forum, Company and Sondheim, Etc., a tribute concert with Bernadette Peters.

Leaving EMI in 2000, Landers relocated from N.Y. to L.A to become SVP A&R for Walt Disney Records, A&R'ing numerous hit movie soundtracks including Princess Diaries, Lizzie McGuire Movie, That's So Raven, A Cinderella Story and Hannah Montana. He also created the Radio Disney Jams compilation albums and co-executive produced Hilary Duff's four-times-platinum debut Metamorphosis, as well as Jesse McCartney's platinum debut solo album, Beautiful Soul. He also produced several Grammy-nominated children's albums for Pixar and Disney.

Mr. Landers also provided A&R for Warner Brothers artist Josh Groban's multi-million selling debut album and its successor, Closer.