Bob Ezrin

Early Years and Family

Bob Ezrin was born into a musical family. Both his parents played instruments. His mother was a classical pianist and his father played bass in the Bobby Gimby Orchestra. (See Bobby Gimby.) When Ezrin was only two years old, his grandfather — “a song and dance man” — taught him to perform and dance to Al Jolson’s “Me and My Shadow.” Ezrin also took classical piano training in his youth.

He was also a “CBC brat” growing up, as he told CBC’s Tom Power in a 2009 interview. “When I was eight years old and my little brothers were five and a half — they’re identical twins — we used to do television here in the early days, live, and also we were the voices of Shreddies.” Ezrin’s uncle co-owned and operated the famous Yorkville coffee house the Penny Farthing, where Joni Mitchell played some of her earliest gigs.

Early Career

At 19, Ezrin started a mentorship with record producer Jack Richardson (The Guess Who, Five Man Electrical Band), at his Nimbus 9 Productions in Toronto. One of the first tasks Richardson assigned Ezrin was to go see Alice Cooper perform in New York City. Richardson wasn’t interested in working with the goth rockers, and neither was Ezrin, at first. He recalled that seeing the motley group of spandex-clad musicians “was like stepping into a Hieronymus Bosch painting.” Cooper, who later described Ezrin as “a 19-year-old Jewish hippie,” said that Ezrin reacted to the band “as if he had just opened a surprise package and found a box full of maggots.”

However, after seeing the band perform at Max’s Kansas City, Ezrin was sold. He convinced Richardson to let him co-produce the band’s third album, Love It to Death (1971), which includes the classic rock hit “I’m Eighteen.” The song was initially eight minutes long and called “I Wish I Was 18 Again,” but Ezrin worked tirelessly with the band to tighten and polish all their songs, rehearsing 10 to 12 hours a day before recording.

Career Highlights

Ezrin went on to produce many of Alice Cooper’s most successful records, including Killer (1971), School’s Out (1972) and Billion Dollar Babies (1973). Other albums Ezrin produced in the early to mid-1970s include Lou Reed’s Berlin (1973), Dr. John’s live album Hollywood Be Thy Name (1975), and Roberta Flack’s Blue Lights in the Basement (1977).

In 1976, Ezrin helped KISS achieve mainstream success when he produced Destroyer, the band’s commercial breakthrough. On this platinum-selling record (the biggest of KISS’s career and their first to reach No. 1 in Canada), Ezrin also showcased his songwriting talents, penning the ballad “Beth” with KISS drummer Peter Criss. The following year, Ezrin produced Peter Gabriel’s self-titled 1977 solo debut, which includes the timeless hit “Solsbury Hill.”

Ezrin co-produced Pink Floyd’s classic rock opera The Wall (1979), working collaboratively with Roger Waters to both refine and broaden the story. His script helped bring the concept together and show which pieces and songs were still missing. He even co-wrote (with Waters) the album’s climactic song, “The Trial.” The Wall topped the Billboard charts for 15 weeks and reached the top spot in 10 other countries. It went on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide. Ezrin later worked with Pink Floyd on two records after Waters left the band: A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994).

In 1980, Ezrin produced and mixed The Kings’ debut studio album, The Kings Are Here. It was certified platinum in Canada and featured the hit “This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide.” It was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020.

In 1997, Ezrin co-produced Catherine Wheel’s Adam and Eve. In an interview with Music Radar, he called it his “coming-out-of-retirement record.” A selection of his other production credits in the 2000s include The Jayhawks’ Smile (2000), the Deftones’ Saturday Night Wrist (2006), Peter Gabriel’s Scratch My Back (2010), Fefe Dobson’s Joy (2010) and Johnny Reid’s What Love Is All About (2015). Other artists that Ezrin has worked with over the years include Deep Purple, Elton John, Rod Stewart, U2, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Lang Lang, will.i.am and The Tenors.

In the January/February 2002 issue of Performing Songwriter, Ezrin described how he knows when he has got the best take from an artist:

“The key to that is to pay attention. Go to some shows, and listen to demos, and listen to their albums, and somewhere in all of that you will hear moments of brilliance. You kind of have an invisible meter in your head, like an applause meter, that goes up when you hear certain levels of excellence. And when you hear those magical moments, or see those magical moments, the applause meter goes all the way up to nine, and you say, ‘That’s it. That’s what they are capable of, and nothing short of that will be acceptable for the project we’re about to do.’”

Other Activities

Ezrin spent most of the 1990s focused on business ventures. In 1992, he co-founded a new media software company (7th Level Inc.), which produced popular Monty Python CD-ROM games. He is also a co-founder of Beat Kangz, a hip-hip instrument company that created the Beat Thang drum machine. In 1999, he co-founded Internet radio provider Enigma Digital, which was later sold to Clear Channel. Ezrin served as vice-chairman of Clear Channel Interactive Group in 2001 and chair of Live Nation Recordings beginning in 2007.

Ezrin produced the music documentary Jay-Z: Fade to Black (2004). He has also produced major concert events, including the re-opening of the SuperDome in New Orleans in 2006, and Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden in 2009. That same year, Ezrin co-founded, with fellow record producers Garth Richardson (son of Jack Richardson) and Kevin Williams, the Nimbus School of Recording Arts in Vancouver, to help train aspiring engineers and producers.

Philanthropy

In 2005, Ezrin helped create the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award. He also co-founded Music Rising, with U2’s The Edge, to help musicians in New Orleans impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

In 2010, Ezrin produced a remake of the K’Naan single “Wavin’ Flag” with the 57 Canadian artists who comprised the group Young Artists for Haiti. It raised $2 million to help those impacted by the earthquake that hit the island nation on 12 January 2010. The song also won the 2011 Juno Award for Single of the Year.

Personal Life

Ezrin and his wife, Jan, have five children together and live in Nashville, Tennessee.

Honours and Awards

Juno Awards

• Canadian Music Hall of Fame (2004)
• Single of the Year (Young Artists for Haiti’s “Wavin’ Flag”) (2011)
• Jack Richardson Producer of the Year (Johnny Reid’s “Honey Honey,” “What Love is All About”) (2016)

Others

• Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame (2006)
• SOCAN Special Achievement Award (2011)
• Canada’s Walk of Fame (2013)
• Honorary Fellow, Royal Conservatory of Music (2013)
• Inspired Minds Ambassador Award, MusiCounts (2017)
• Officer, Order of Canada (2022)