Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers are reaching the peak of their 20 plus year career. The Grammy-nominated team, whose mastery of many styles of music has resulted in more than 20 Top 40 hits, twelve Top 5 hits, and 6 BMI awards. In addition to more than 70 million albums sold worldwide, are writing the next chapter in their success story with the creation of their SRP Records label.
Sturken & Rogers started their careers in the New York R&B scene of the mid-1980s. They worked on the legendary Beat Street soundtrack and began to gain a reputation by producing such artists as Cheryl Lynn, Stephanie Mills and Jennifer Holiday. They then crossed over to the pop world by engineering the comeback of Donny Osmond, writing and producing the #2 smash “Soldier of Love” and the Top 10 hit “Sacred Emotion”. In 1991 they became artists themselves, and as Rhythm Syndicate scored a #1 hit, “P.A.S.S.I.O.N.”, as well as a Top 10 follow-up with âHey Donnaâ.
After two years of touring and promotion, Sturken & Rogers disbanded the group to resume writing and producing full-time. Success came next in the U.K. with the Top 5 smash “Power of a Woman” for Eternal. More work overseas followed, including contributions to the Brand New Heavies platinum album Shelter. For international stars Boyzone, they wrote and produced four songs for the groupâs Where We Belong album, which entered at #1 on the U.K. charts. The six-times platinum album includes the Sturken & Rogers penned “All That I Need”, which was a U.K. #1 single. The song also appears on Boyzoneâs greatest hits package, By Request, which spent over two months at #1 and had sales of over six million.
In 1997 they shifted their attention stateside. The mega-hit “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You”, written and produced for teen sensations âN Sync, was a Billboard Top 10 single, before climbing into the Billboard Country Top 5 after being covered by country recording legends Alabama. The song also received a Grammy nomination in 2000 for Best Country Collaboration by a group or duo. âN Syncâs debut album sold over 10 million copies in the US alone. In addition to the pop and country versions of “God Must Have Spent...â the song was also recorded by jazz artist Kirk Whalum for his album Unconditional, which was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 2002 Grammy Awards.
Sturken & Rogers also wrote and produced several songs for Christina Aguileraâs debut album. The album entered the Billboard charts at #1 and went double platinum after only three weeks, eventually totaling sales in excess of 11 million worldwide. They also branched out into the jazz world, working with Dave Koz on his album The Dance, which included, “Canât Let You Go”, co-written with Koz and featuring Luther Vandross on vocals, which went on to become a #1 hit on the Smooth Jazz chart.
The duo also had songs on 98 Degreesâ double platinum album, Revelation and the multi-platinum debut albums of Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore and Anastacia, as well as many other collaborations with such artists as Christina Milian and Emma Bunton.
As the 90s came to a close and teen pop died down, Sturken & Rogers changed gears once again, discovering and developing Javier, whom they signed to Capitol Records, who would later go on to win The Voice Season 1. They wrote and produced the majority of his debut album, including the hit single “Crazy”.
Next to come calling was Clive Davis, who hired the team to work on Kelly Clarksonâs debut album, for which they wrote the hit single “The Trouble With Love Is”, also featured in the movie Love Actually. The Davis connection continued with the American Idol project in 2004, as well as Rod Stewartâs Great American Song Book Vol. II and two tracks for Ruben Studdard's double platinum debut album Soulful.
The duo then decided to begin developing artists in earnest, forming Syndicated Rhythm Productions in 2005. Their first signing was 16-year-old Rihanna, whom Rogers discovered while visiting family in Barbados. They brought her to Jay-Z and L.A. Reid at Def Jam Records and she was signed within hours of her audition.
Rihannaâs first single “Pon De Replay”, co-written and produced by Sturken & Rogers, went on to be a worldwide smash, while her debut album Music Of The Sun has sold over 2 million copies to date. Rihannaâs follow up, A Girl Like Me sold over 5 million copies to date worldwide and established her as an international star. Rihanna scored one of the biggest singles of 2007 with “Umbrella”. The follow up single “Shut Up and Drive” was written and produced by Sturken & Rogers, and became a top 10 hit worldwide, as well as being featured in the movies 21, I Love You Man, and Cars. Good Girl Gone Bad went on to be one of the best selling albums of the year, selling over 15 million copies worldwide to date. As of November 2013, Rihanna had sold over 50 million albums and 180 million singles worldwide.
The SRP artist roster continued to grow during this time; next up was Shontelle, who they brought to Steve Rifkindâs SRC/Universal Motown label. Shontelle has joined fellow Barbadian Rihanna at the top of the charts with her first hit, âT-Shirtâ, which was a top 15 hit in the US, and was top 5 for over a month in the U.K. Shontelleâs follow up album included the world wide platinum smash âImpossibleâ.
Sturken and Rogers continued writing and producing for artists outside of their own stable with their song âIssues,â they scored yet another top smash with British girl group The Saturdays. They also co-wrote the song âGypsyâ for Shakira, which was an international hit and won a Latin BMI award.
The time had come for the next chapter of Sturken and Rogers career, and thus the SRP Records label was formed in early 2009, in partnership with Universal/Motown. Their first signing, Vita Chambers opened for Justin Bieber's “My World” tour, and then scored a gold single in Canada with her single, “Fix You.”
Nashville born pianist, Kandace Springs, was SRP's next discovery; they signed her to Don Was at Blue Note/Capitol Records. In 2014 she performed her debut single, “Love Got in the Way” on the Late Show with David Letterman, followed by a slew of other national television appearances and performances at the Afropunk and Bonnaroo music festivals. She also performed with Prince at the Purple Rain 30th anniversary show at Paisley Park. Since then, Kandace has become a critically acclaimed jazz artist around the world, and regularly performs at the most prestigious jazz festivals. Her most recent album The Women Who Raised Me was produced by Grammy legend Larry Klein and features guest appearances by Norah Jones and Christian McBride.
Sturken and Rogers have also begun to build their own stable of writer/producers, forming a joint venture with Universal Music Publishing Group. Their first signing, Brandon Alexander a.k.a. B.A.M. had his breakout with the Grammy nominated Tyrese smash âStayâ which spent 11 weeks at #1 on the Adult Urban chart. B.A.M. received a second Grammy nomination for the Chris Brown/Kendrick Lamar collaboration “Autumn Leaves.” 2015 saw B.A.M. reuniting with Tyrese for his Black Rose album, B.A.M. wrote and produced 9 of the 11 cuts on the album that entered at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart.
In late 2013, SRP paired up two young writers, Jackson Foote and Emma Lov, to form the writing/production team Loote. They penned the worldwide smash âNo Promisesâ for Cheat Codes featuring Demi Lovato. Other artists that have recorded and released their songs include Jennifer Lopez, Zara Larson and AJ Mitchell.
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