Welcome to the Silent Giants podcast, a podcast that highlights the superstars behind the scenes of popular culture. This special episode is presented by Ancestry. This week’s episode is a little different from our traditional episodes. Our special guests on today's episode are closer to me than anyone I have interviewed - these Silent Giants are my own family and ancestors. Recently I started my ancestral journey and had the extreme honor of partnering with Ancestry. Today you're going to hear ...
Apr 21, 2021•34 min
Our special guest this episode is Susan Bennett, the silent giant behind the iconic voice of Siri! Susan is a super accomplished voice over actor who has lended her voice to brands Coca Cola, IBM, Papa John's Pizza, McDonald's, AT&T, Wendy's, Goodyear, Ford, and many others but of course we most notably recognize her as Apple’s iconic voice of Siri. In this episode we learn more about Susan, how her career in music led her to a career as a voice over actor, and of course we learn the story o...
Mar 16, 2021•42 min
Our special guest this episode is Siedah Garrett songwriter of one of my favorite all time songs Michael Jackson’s ‘Man in the Mirror’. Siedah’s career as an artist and songwriter began 40 years ago. She’s written songs or performed backing vocals for countless legends like Madonna, The Pointer Sisters, Quincy Jones, Donna Summers and many others. As a solo artist you may know Siedah for her beautiful duet with Michael Jackson ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’ off 1987’s BAD. She won the Grammy Awa...
Mar 03, 2021•46 min
Welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! This weeks silent giant is the 5 time Grammy award winner who assisted in recording, mixing and producing the Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album, engineer Bruce Swedien. From 1978-2000 he recorded every single Michael Jackson song! Yes, every song from 'Off The Wall', 'Thriller', 'Bad', 'Dangerous' and beyond was recorded by Bruce. He has recorded for some of the greatest artist of all time like Quincy Jones, Natalie Cole, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodma...
Apr 24, 2020•55 min
Happy Flashback Friday! This week’s special guest is legendary hip-hop DJ, producer, and A&R DJ Clark Kent. Clark is a NYC icon and one of the pioneers of hip-hop. His career started as a DJ at age 14 which later lead him to become the main DJ for The Notorious BIG. He later went on to produce “Cashmere Thoughts”, “Coming of Age” and the infamous “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Biggie and Jay-Z on Jay’s classic debut album ‘Reasonable Doubt’. While DJing and producing he also landed a gig during th...
Apr 17, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Sadly on Christmas Eve the world lost a great talent, Allee Willis. Allee was one of the most prolific songwriters in music history, writing Earth, Wind, and Fire's 'September' and the theme song for the hit TV show 'Friends'. Allee was so kind and open-hearted and it is sad to say goodbye to a Giant. RIP Allee Willis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 26, 2019•1 hr 14 min
Pod Bless and welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! Our special guest this episode is Elwood Edwards the iconic voiceover actor who brought you AOL’s unforgettable phrase ‘You’ve Got Mail’. In this interview we get to learn about Elwood's upbringing in North Carolina, how he got into radio and news, and of course he explains the origin story of how he recorded the memorable phrase that birthed the internet ‘You’ve Got Mail’. Also, be sure to stay tuned to the end of the episode for a very...
Nov 26, 2019•33 min
Our silent giant this episode is Brian Johnston, Senior Director of A&R at Atlantic Records. In this interview I headed over to the Atlantic records office and we got to bond over both being from Virginia, his early love for music, how he became an A&R, he explains the mistakes artists make along the way and so much more. So without further adieu let me introduce you to the Senior Director of A&R at Atlantic Records, my friend, the silent giant, Brian Johnston. Hosted on Acast. See a...
Nov 12, 2019•43 min
Welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! Our special guest this episode is legendary New York City artist, fashion designer and entrepreneur Tony Peralta. A native of Washington Heights, Tony is the living definition of what it is to be a New Yorker. A Dominican American born to immigrant parents, Mr. Peralta began his professional artistic career as a graphic designer. His art inspired by his Dominican heritage, New York City and hip-hop culture has been revered by art lovers and critics ar...
Oct 31, 2019•52 min
Our special guest this episode is Rob Ackroyd, lead guitarist and musical director for English rock band Florence and the Machine. Rob is a super cool dude who’s life and career began in London. While pursuing a career in film he had a chance encounter with leader of The Machine, Florence Welch in 2007 that would land him his role as lead guitarist. Rob stopped by my apartment and we got to chat about his up bringing in London, we chat about his early love for music, he shares the story of how h...
Oct 15, 2019•46 min
Our special guest this episode is architect and interior designer, R. Scott Bromley. An inductee in the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 1991, Mr. Bromley has been been designing buildings and interiors in New York City for over 50 years but he will be forever remembered for his groundbreaking architectural work for the world's most famous and infamous night club 'Studio 54'. In this interview I got to stop by his Manhattan office and over a glass of rose we got to chat about his upbringing in Ca...
Oct 08, 2019•52 min
Our special guest this episode is fashion and beauty illustrator Deanna First. Deanna has carved an amazing niche for herself illustrating for brands like Saks Fifth Avenue, Swarovski, Ralph Lauren, Estee Lauder and countless others. In this interview we got to learn more about Deanna’s upbringing in Ohio, her early career as a fashion designer for Ralph Lauren and J. Crew, how she began her career as a fashion illustrator and so much more. www.deannafirst.com This episode was mixed by Joshua Co...
Oct 02, 2019•35 min
Our special guest this episode is Calmatic, director of the music video for Lil Nas X’s blockbuster song ‘Old Town Road’. Calmatic is a native of Los Angeles, California who got his first taste of the entertainment business by first becoming becoming a rapper and music producer. A man of many talents he then began expanding his creative portfolio by doing graphic design, photography, and directing music videos for other artists. He recently took home the Video Music Award for Best Direction of L...
Sep 18, 2019•51 min
Our special guest this episode is legendary music executive, Jerry Greenberg. His career first started in 1967 when he became the assistant to Gerald Wexler who was at the time vice president of Atlantic records. Through his hard work and strong ear for music Jerry became the President of Atlantic records in 1974, making him the youngest person of any major record company in the recording industry to receive that title. During his helm as President he signed acts like Abba, The Blues Brothers, G...
Sep 12, 2019•50 min
Our silent giant this episode is legendary rock and roll photographer Bob Gruen. Ever seen the imagine of John Lennon in the New York City t-shirt or him standing by the Statue of Liberty? Ever seen the image of Led Zeppelin next to the jet? Yep, you guessed it! Bob is the man responsible for all those photos and for some of the most iconic images of rock and roll history. In this interview I stopped by Bob’s Manhattan studio we had an amazing conversation. We get into his early life, how he got...
Jul 17, 2019•48 min
Welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! Our silent giant this episode is film director Phillip Youmans. Phillip is a native of New Orleans and a film student here at NYU who’s film Burning Cane took home The 2019’s Founders Award for best narrative feature at New York’ Tribeca Film festival. Phillip became the first African American to win Tribeca’s top award and the youngest person to win the award as well. He stopped by the podcast and I got to learn so much about this budding silent gian...
Jun 27, 2019•1 hr 7 min
Our special guest this episode legendary music producer !llmind, who has produced for and with some amazing artists like Kanye West, Dr. Dre, Drake, J. Cole, The Carters, Arianna Grande and countless others. He is also the host of the BlapChat podcast which I am a huge fan of and we’ll also have him as a guest my other show OPP to discuss all things podcasting very soon. He stopped through my bed stuy apartment and got to chop it up about his upbringing in Newark New Jersey, we discuss Filipino ...
Jun 20, 2019•58 min
Our special guest this episode is Minnesota Vikings sports photographer Travis Ellison. Travis is a dear friend of mine and while on vacation in Minneapolis he came by to chop it with me on the podcast. I got to learn more about his upbringing in Virginia, how he first developed a strong love for photography, how he found his niche in sports photography, how he landed his role at the Minnesota Vikings, he shares amazing stories of being there for the famous ‘Minneapolis Miracle’ catch and so muc...
Jun 13, 2019•51 min
Our special guest this episode is Minneapolis Minnesota hip-hop producer Lazerbeak. Lazerbeak is also the founder of Doomtree Records an independent label and creative collective based in his native Minneapolis. He along with producer Ryan Olsen co-produced Lizzo’s first album ‘Lizzobangers’ back in 2013 when she was first getting her start and an up adn coming artist in Minnesota. I flew out to Minnesota and met Lazerbeak for an interview at the Doomtree Headquarters to learn more about his lif...
Jun 05, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Pod Bless and welcome to another episode of the Silent Giants podcast! Our special guest this episode is my dear friend photographer and content producer Chuck Marcus. My friendship with Chuck began when I was an intern at Play Cloths clothing line and from the beginning began instant brotherhood. Since that time way back in 2015 Chuck has emerged as one of the budding top photographers in NYC working with brands like Adidas, Foot Locker and Foot Action. He stopped by the podcast and through our...
May 29, 2019•41 min
Welcome to the Silent Giants podcast! Our special guest this episode is superstar make-up artist Kristy Strate. Kristy is one of my dearest friends who is one of the top make-up artists in the worlds of fashion, television, and movies. She's touched up folks like David Guetta, Sally Fields & Don Lemon and works closely with publications like Paper, Billboard and Hollywood Reporter magazines. Kristy popped by my Bed Stuy apartment and we chopped it up about all things make-up. We chat about h...
May 22, 2019•43 min
Our special guest this episode is legendary photographer Douglas Kirkland. At age 24, he was hired as a staff photographer for Look magazine and became famous for his 1961 photos of Marilyn Monroe . Douglas has photographed some of the most iconic superstars in American popular culture like Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, Andy Warhol and many others. He also did the photography for some of the greatest films in movie history like ‘The Sound of Music’, Titanic, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid an...
May 02, 2019•34 min
Our special guest is none other than music supervisor, producer, and creative strategist Mike Boris. With over 20 years experience in the music and advertising industry Mike has served as Head of Music at prestigious creative ad agencies like Bates and McCann Erikson. After his time at McCann in 2012 he struck out on his own and founded Jaded Melody where he produces original music with top talent for branded content and storytelling. In our interview I got to learn about his upbringing, how he ...
Apr 10, 2019•43 min
Our special guest this episode is the 87 year old legendary American art director, designer and author George Lois. George is one the greatest advertising minds of the 20th century serving as Esquire magazine’s art director throughout the 1960’s and creating over 90 covers for the magazine. One of his famous covers of Esquire you may know is his depiction of Muhammad Ali as St. Sebastian. He also launched MTV with it’s iconic ‘I want my MTV’ campaign and created that advertising strategy that ma...
Mar 07, 2019•48 min
Welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! Our special guest this episode is Vincent Paterson, the legendary choreographer for pop music and dance icon Michael Jackson. Vincent is responsible for creating some of MJ’s most iconic dance moves. He directed and choreographed Jackson's Bad tour as well as conceiving and choreographing " Smooth Criminal ". He choreographed other Jackson music videos, " Black or White ", " The Way You Make Me Feel ", " Dirty Diana ", " Speed Demon ", Michael’s Super...
Feb 20, 2019•1 hr 18 min
Today’s special guest is musical artist, songwriter and producer Jared Evan. Jared is an amazing talent and super cool human being who has vast knowledge on the music industry. In 2009 Jared signed to Interscope records and was heavily backed by industry heavyweight, Jimmy Iovine. He’s also worked in the studio with some of the biggest names in music like Pharrell, Chad Hugo, Dr. Dre, illmind, Action Bronson, Joey Badass, and many others. Currently Jared is releasing new music independently and ...
Feb 13, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 56
Welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! Today’s special guest is Allee Willis the songwriter behind Earth, Wind and Fire’s classic song ‘September’. Allee is also the songwriter of ‘I’ll Be There For You’ by The Rembrandts which became the theme song for the hit TV show ‘Friends’. She also co-wrote the Tony and Grammy -winning Broadway musical, The Color Purple . And currently a major motion picture based on the musical is currently being produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Quincy ...
Feb 06, 2019•1 hr 13 min
Todays special guest is Mike Ladman, music supervisor at Droga5 creative agency. Droga is an agency works with companies across various mediums of broadcast, print, digital, social, and experiential marketing. Some of Droga5’s most recognizable work includes campaigns for The New Times, Newcastle Brown Ale, and Under Armour. Corey sits down with Mike to learn more about his upbringing, his love for music and we learn more about his day to day role as music supervisor. Follow Mike on Instagram Fo...
Jan 09, 2019•52 min
Today’s special guest is graphic designer Michael Doret the silent behind the Famous NY KNICKS logo. In this interview I sit down with Michael to chat about his upbringing in Brooklyn, how he got into graphic design, he offers advice to young creatives, we talk the sacrifices hes made along the way and of course we go into the making of the NY Knicks logo! Checkout Michael Doret's website FOLLOW MICHAEL ON INSTAGRAM FOLLOW SILENT GIANTS ON INSTAGRAM FOLLOW COREY ON INSTAGRAM This episode was mix...
Nov 21, 2018•39 min•Ep. 53
Today’s special guest is fashion make-up artist Jezz Hill. Jezz has done makeup for top publications and brands like Elle, Bazaar, Lorreal, Lee and more. I stopped by her Bed Stuy apartment to chat about her upbringing in Argentina, her early career as a chef, moving to NYC, how she got into make up, building her clientele and a whole lot more. https://www.jezzhill.com/ FOLLOW JEZZ ON INSTAGRAM FOLLOW SG ON INSTAGRAM FOLLOW COREY ON INSTAGRAM Checkout Corey's other podcast OPP(Other People's Pod...
Nov 07, 2018•36 min
