Jeff Blue has dedicated his entire life to discovering and developing unknown talent. His journey is depicted in the best-selling book, “One Step Closer”, which focuses on his decades of achievements beginning with the epic story of Linkin Park. Jeff signed the band after their first show, and stood by the group through forty-four rejections, finding the iconic vocalist Chester Bennington, and overcoming all odds, releasing the biggest selling debut album of the 21st century, Hybrid Theory.
Jeff Blue has had success as a multi-platinum A&R executive, producer, award winning songwriter, musician, music publisher, attorney, journalist, best-selling author, and manager. Blue is releasing a docuseries on the History of A&R, focusing on the development stories of the artists who’ve shaped musical genres throughout the past six decades. In addition to being A&R at five major labels, having four publishing deals, he’s helped sign numerous Grammy Award winning artists.
He began his career as an actor, musician, and fitness instructor working his way through UCLA and interning for Harvey Levin of TMZ, who convinced Blue to go to law school. While at Loyola Law, Blue had a chance meeting where he learned about A&R culminating in his sneaking into a lecture at UCLA. Out of law school and after passing the California Bar, Blue started his own music magazine Crossroads, and began writing for Billboard and other publications focusing on unsigned talent. He landed a job at Zomba Music Publishing in A&R where he signed development artists such as Macy Gray, Korn, Limp Bizkit and more. He started teaching the very same class at UCLA he took only four years prior. In this lecture he discovered a young man who he hired as his intern. Blue signed his intern’s band to a development deal after their very first show. After developing the band, forty-four showcases, and forty-four rejections, Blue replaced the lead singer with Chester Bennington. Bennington was an unknown singer from Phoenix AZ who Blue believed could change the musical world. After dozens more rejections, Blue insisted on signing the band to Warner Bros. Records as part of his A&R employment contract. Warner almost dropped the band, but Blue and the band, which became Linkin Park, fought for their collective vision. The result was the biggest selling debut album of the 21st Century, Hybrid Theory.
His articles have been published in Billboard, HITS, Entertainment Weekly, and he has lectured at Universities and Conferences internationally. In addition to discovering, developing, and signing Grammy Award winners Linkin Park and Macy Gray, he has worked with Limp Bizkit, Korn, Hoobastank, The Last Goodnight, Better Than Ezra, DJ Ashba of Guns N’ Roses, David Rehmann of Grandson, and music supervising, producing and writing on Aaliyah’s Queen of the Damned Soundtrack. He lives in Los Angeles where he received his undergraduate degree from UCLA, and law degree from Loyola Law School.
Jeff Blue Music offers several services related to music and the business of music including: Consultations, Development, Sync Opportunities, Songwriting, and more. Click below for the full list and get in touch today.
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