Laney Stewart (born January 10, 1966) is an American songwriter, music producer, musician, music publisher, music executive, manager and youth mentor.

He was born Philip Lane Stewart II, in the South Side suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Stewart has penned, produced and published hits for some of the biggest names in R&B, hip hop and pop music over the past three decades.^[1] In addition to his individual achievements, he also has a proven ear and consistent track record of recognizing and developing unknown talent on their way to success. The long list of hits he has created, published and or managed is a testament to both his creative and business acumen.^[1]

Early life

Stewart's mother, Mary Ann Stewart, who was a successful singer in her own right, having sung backgrounds for the Ohio Players, Curtis Mayfield and Aretha Franklin. His uncle, Morris "Butch" Stewart was a successful musician and producer. By age nine, Stewart had taught himself how to play piano and drums. With the advertising business booming in Chicago, Stewart started singing on jingles at the age of 12. As a teenager, he made the transition to writing and composing with a career doing his own jingles. By 15, he had his first commercially released songs on CBS Records with Ramsey Lewis' "This Ain't No Fantasy." At the age of 16, he became a regular in the burgeoning Chicago underground house music scene, and became one of the early house producers, producing songs for Arrogance such as, "Crazy,"^[2] which was released on DJ International Records in 1986. Eventually, Stewart began working as a session musician with his uncle, Wayne Stewart, Tony Brown and Patrick Leonard. Stewart's most significant keyboard influence was Leonard, who was known for his work with Madonna, "Like a Prayer" etc. By 18, Stewart and partner Kenneth Hale formed their own jingle company, Minute Men, composing popular spots for Bud Light, McDonald's and Coca-Cola.^[1] They became the "go to" guys for urban based spots for advertising juggernauts like the Burrell ad agency and DDB Needham. They even won an award for their work on the California Lottery ad campaign. He was doing House clubs at night, jingle sessions and meetings with ad executives by day.

1988 to 1998

In 1988, with the help of ad executive and acclaimed author, Michelle McKinney Hammond, Stewart signed his first publishing deal with Famous Music (now Sony/ATV Music Publishing). Within the first couple years of his deal, Stewart had linked up with songwriting partner, Tony Haynes, for a string of placements and would wisely upgrade his deal to a joint venture with Famous Music. With a publishing deal and a machine behind him, he decided to focus his career on working with recording artists instead of jingles. In 1990, he & Tony Haynes formed The Groove Asylum,^[1] which soon put him in the studio working with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis,^[1] who had a tremendous influence on Stewart's songwriting and production style. With his dual roles at Groove Asylum and Famous, he was co-producing songs with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, in addition to working with well-known recording artists. At the same time he was fine-tuning his business savvy by signing a group of young writers to his production company, including his younger brother, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart Tricky Stewart, Kuk Harrell and Sean Hall. He brought his other younger brother Mark E. Stewart and future sister in-law Judi into the company as well, on the business side.

Stewart's next big influence would be legendary MCA Records executive, Louil Silas Jr., who was won over by Stewart's abilities. Before he knew it, he would be working with execs like Sylvia Rhone, Benny Medina and Quincy Jones, putting together a run of successful songs, including "Never Let Them See You Sweat" by Go West, which was featured in White Men Can't Jump, and "Candlelight and You" by Keith Washington featuring Chante Moore, which was featured in House Party 2.

In 1992 Stewart relocated his company from Chicago to Los Angeles, CA and would eventually become a founding partner, along with his brothers Tricky and Mark, in RedZone Entertainment in 1994.

In 1996 Stewart entered into a publishing deal and writing/production relationship with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and his Edmonds Music Publishing company.^[1] Babyface's songwriting guidance had a major influence on Stewart's. This high-powered relationship led him to work with Madonna, Shanice, and Tony! Toni! Toné! in addition to writing and producing songs for the feature film Soul Food. During this time he also wrote and produced the top 10 hit "Last Nights Letter" for K-Ci & JoJo’s Quadruple platinum album Love Always.

Redzone and Atlanta

In 1999 Stewart relocated to Atlanta GA to join his brothers as a partner in RedZone Entertainment and Triangle Sound Studios.^[1] RedZone RedZone Entertainment helped put Atlanta on the map as a music city over the next few years with hits like Blu Cantrell's "Hit ‘Em Up Style,"^[3] Sole's "4,5,6", TLC's "No Scrubs", Toni Braxton's "Love Me Some Him," and Destiny's Child's "Bills, Bills, Bills." Stewart eventually took over the position of president of RedZone, which included overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company and keeping it active. Under his watch super hit songwriter, Ester Dean, was also added to Redzone on the Publishing side. With his dual role as music executive and producer, Stewart continued his work penning and producing hit songs including, # 1 A.C. smash "Without You" by Charlie Wilson, and "Everything" which appears on multi-platinum selling B2K’s Pandemonium and Greatest Hits albums.

Publisher

In his role as a publisher, Stewart flourished amassing a huge publishing catalog that rivals anyone's. Unlike a lot of Publishers, he actually worked hands on with the writers, developing their skills and growing the catalog. Stewart mentored Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Kuk Harrell, and Sean Hall, imparting on them the secrets to consistent hitmaking that had been passed down to him from Jam & Lewis and Babyface amongst others. In addition to some of Tricky's songs, Stewart's publishing includes songs performed by Britney Spears, Usher, Pink, Sisqo, Toni Braxton, Tyrese, and the 1999 the ASCAP Rap song of the year, "Who Dat" by JT Money, which reached #5 on the Billboard pop charts. One of the biggest R&B tracks in the catalog is "I Love Me Some Him" off of Toni Braxton's "Secrets" album, which went 8 x Platinum. "Me Against The Music" stands out in the catalog as a duet with Britney Spears and Madonna that peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart and was recently featured on an episode of Fox's "Glee." Pink's "Can't Take Me Home" added a double platinum plaque to Stewart's publishing collection along with platinum and double platinum sales worldwide as well. Other pop hits included "Case of the Ex" by Mýa, which peaked at number two in its 16th week on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at #1 on Billboard's R&B chart. It spent 3 weeks at number two and 29 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was also an international success. In 1999 there was 3LW’s "No More" and in 2001 there was B2K’s premier smash "Uh-Huh," which was the number one selling Single in the U.S that year.

The-Dream and Morningside Trail Music

Stewart's next step as an entrepreneur would be entering into another publishing joint venture with Peer Music,^[4] forming Morningside Trail Music in 2003. He discovered, developed and then signed writer/producer Terius "The-Dream" Nash.^[5] A year after an unsuccessful initial meeting, The-Dream was able to impress Stewart enough to get back in the studio with him. Their first night of working together resulted in the song, "Everything," which ended up on B2K's album. Stewart worked hard to develop The-Dream's songwriting abilities and consistency. Under Stewart's tutelage The-Dream has developed into an award-winning super writer/producer and recording artist with hits like "Shawty is the S*^!" and "Falsetto." Stewart first introduced The-Dream to his brother Tricky and that partnership lead to a list of hits, from Rihanna's "Umbrella," J. Holiday's "Bed" and "Suffocate," to Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body," Usher's "Moving Mountains," Mary J. Blige's "Just Fine," & Justin Bieber's "Baby," and Beyoncé's "Single Ladies."

2005 to present

In 2005, Stewart had to take a break after learning he was suffering from kidney cancer and failure. Stewart took time to evaluate the evolving music business climate and in 2009 he, along with his wife, formed Stewart Music Group, combining publishing, production and management. In 2010 was blessed to receive a transplant kidney from his wife and while still in the hospital recuperating from transplant surgery he finalized the deal for a new joint venture with Universal Music Publishing Group, the largest music publishing company in the world. Stewart is now developing a new publishing catalog under Music Gallery and a new writing/production team called The SharpShootaz, was his first signing. Each writer in The Sharpshootaz was hand picked by Stewart himself, including Alex Jacke,^[6] Romika Faniel, Derek Yopp, Andrew Kim and Sidney Miller. In late 2011, The Sharpshootaz got in the studio with Jesse McCartney and recorded several songs, including "Out Of Words," which was leaked to the internet in July 2012.^[7] On July 9, 2012, Stewart and The Sharpshootaz released an Alex Jacke EP called, "D.F.M." The SharpShootaz continue to work on music for more of today's hottest artists. Stewart Music Group currently consists of Music Gallery/UMPG Publishing, "The System" Management and Consulting, and LS Productions. Stewart continues to be an important figure in the industry.

Personal life

Stewart lives in Los Angeles, California and is married to Khaila Stewart with three children, Jordan, Clarke and Christopher. Stewart and his wife are involved in research at UCLA for kidney disease and living donor transplants.

Discography as songwriter and producer^[8]

References

External links

• http://www.discogs.com/artist/Laney+Stewart
• http://www.discogs.com/artist/Chant%C3%A9+Moore
• http://www.discogs.com/Aaron-Hall-The-Truth/master/192361