John Madara was born on May 28, 1936
and grew up in Philadelphia, at a time when the
city was teeming with groups
and artists such as The Spaniels, the Clovers,
Harvey and the Moonglows, Billy
Ward and the Dominos and the great Jackie Wilson.
Rock and Roll was starting to take root and John Madara
was destined to
make rock and roll history.
In
1957, John launched his solo career, with his first record, "Be
My Girl," reaching the national charts. That same year, John
co-wrote with Dave White a song called “Do The Bop."
On the advice of Dick Clark, whose local show, American Bandstand,
had just gone national, the title and lyrics were changed to “At
The Hop." Danny and the Juniors, recorded it, and by
Christmas of 1957, it had reached the top of the pop and R&B
charts worldwide. “At The Hop” remained #1 for
an astounding 7 weeks, the first record ever to reach that success,
and it has remained a rock and roll classic to this day.
Following
“At The Hop," John produced and co-wrote with Dave such
mega-hits as “The Fly” (Chubby Checker), “1-2-3”
(Len Barry) and “You Don’t Own Me” (Lesley Gore).
He also produced for Danny and The Juniors, “Rock and Roll
Is Here To Stay."
In
the Mid ‘60s, John and Dave formed a group called “The
Spokesmen” and released “The Dawn of Correction,"
an answer song to the enormous hit “Eve of Destruction”
by Barry McGuire. At the same time, John was producing for other
artists when he discovered a young man, Leon Huff, who later teamed
up with Kenny Gamble and became one of the most prolific songwriting
teams in the history of rock and roll, defining an entire category
of Black popular music known as "The Sound of Philadelphia."
He also discovered one of the most prolific duos of all time,
Daryl Hall and John Oates. With them he produced two albums.
In
1965, John and Dave started their own publishing company, discovering
and signing new songwriters. The company was very successful,
and in 1984, it was sold to Michael Jackson.
John
moved to L.A. in the ‘70s, where he found success writing
and producing for movies and television. He produced the soundtrack
for the James Caan/Marsha Mason movie, “Cinderella Liberty,"
and also produced the title song for the Cliff Robertson movie
“Ace Eli and Roger of the Sky.” In the mid ‘70s,
he was music supervisor for the hugely successful “Sid and
Marty Kroft Comedy Hour." This was in conjunction with an
ABC Comedy Hour and network special which launched the new ABC
season. During that time, John wrote and produced the music for
the show, and was hands on with the mixing and editing. In the
late ‘70s, he also wrote the theme song for ABC Sports,
which ran for two years.
Las Vegas
was also becoming a happening place for singers and performers.
So it would seem appropriate that John would spend two years
of his life working with one of the most successful performers
of all time, Wayne Newton. He produced two of Wayne’s albums
and also produced and wrote songs for a Christmas television
special for Wayne on CBS.
In the
mid ‘80s, John teamed up with one of the great film animators
of all time, Ralph Bakshi. Ralph, known for the controversial
film “Fritz The Cat," and also the highly regarded films
“American Pop” and “Lord Of The Rings," needed
songs for his upcoming animated film “Hey Good Lookin."
John collaborated with the extremely talented writer/singer Ric
Sandler, and they wrote and arranged all 18 songs in the film,
which John produced. Ric also performed all of the songs.
Time Magazine and Playboy raved about the film and later called
it a cult classic.
Through
the years, John has produced albums and singles for companies
such as CBS, Warner Bros., Polydor, Atlantic, Paramount, 20th
Century, MGM and ABC Records.
Madara/White
songs have reached millions of people through radio, films and
television. Worldwide sales of their songs and productions have
reached over 2 hundred million records. Their songs have
appeared on some of the biggest grossing soundtrack albums of
all time, including “American Graffiti” and “Woodstock”
(At The Hop), “Grease” (Rock and Roll is Here to Stay),
“Hairspray” (The Fly and You Don’t Own Me), “Mr.
Holland’s Opus” (1-2-3), and “Dirty Dancing”
and “The First Wives Club” (You Don’t Own Me).
It was the 1996 hit film, “The First Wives Club," that
paid the contemporary power of their talent the ultimate compliment
by not only featuring “You Don’t Own Me” but by
making it the theme of the movie.
Contemporary,
in fact, has proven to be one of the mainstays of John Madara’s
contributions through the years. He has consistently offered
the world of music songs that speak clearly of given eras, but
have equal impact on all eras.
John
has continued to write and produce music, working with young,
up-and-coming artists. He has always been a futurist, excited
about working with new technology and incorporating it into his
music and productions. His hands-on approach to every project
he is involved in, whether it be as a writer, producer, music
supervisor, editor, engineer or mixer, has enabled John to maintain
the sound that is uniquely his own.
In
March of 2001, “At The Hop” was voted by the Recording
Industry Association of America as one of the top 100 songs of
the century. The soundtrack album, “Grease," was voted
one of the top albums of the century. “Rock and Roll Is Here
To Stay” is featured on that album.
John
recently finished producing an album with Tony Danza, following
a hugely successful radio hit single that he also produced, “The
House I Live In.” He is also working on a feature film, “At
The Hop.”
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