Robert Ozn

Robert Ozn
Born Robert M Rosen
New York, N.Y.
Nationality USA
Other names OZN, DaDa NaDa
Occupation Screenwriter, Film Producer, Recording Artist, Songwriter, Record Producer
Known for One of the early pioneers of computer music sampling,[1] producing, with partner Ned Liben (EBN of EBN-OZN), the first commercially released record ("AEIOU Sometimes Y", Elektra Records/1983) ever made on a computer, a Fairlight CMI, in the United States. One of the music industry's first white rap artists (Elektra/1983) and the first white House Music artist (One Voice/1989) to chart in North America [2]

Robert Ozn (born Robert M. Rosen, New York City) (nickname OZN, pronounced "OH-zen") is an award-winning screenwriter, producer, Top Five Billboard recording artist and actor, best known for being the vocal half of 80s synthpop duo EBN-OZN; his solo act, Dada Nada; and for his later work as co-producer and co-writer with Colin Greene of the human-rights themed feature film I Witness starring Jeff Daniels, James Spader and Portia de Rossi. He has also served as judge for the Writers Guild of America Awards 2005, 2006, 2007 (Long form).

Biography

Early life and career

As a child singing prodigy, he was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus, appearing in numerous productions in both the "Old Met" and the "New Met" at Lincoln Center. At the age of 16, he was the youngest student ever to receive a Key Scholarship award from Herbert Berghof acting school (HB Studio) in Greenwich Village. At 17, he was accepted as a voice and theater major at the Indiana University School of Music, where he studied with Norwegian Bass/Baritone Roy Samuelson of the New York City Opera.

As a teenager, he went on the road as a singer with Doc Severinsen and The Tonight Show Band, working with Lew Tabackin, Ed Shaughnessy, Snookie Young, Ross Tompkins and Buddy Rich.

His first professional musical theatre role was that of Hero in a tour of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Zero Mostel. Shortly after, he created the role of Henry Anderson in the original Broadway cast of Shenandoah[3] starring John Cullum, which originally premiered at the Goodspeed Opera House. Subsequent acting work: leads in Vagabond Stars a pre-Broadway piece at the Berkshire Theater Festival with lyrics written by the Newsroom's Executive Producer/Director Alan Poul, Pirates of Penzance with Karla DeVito, and the LA company of Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class with Gary Sinise and James Gammon .

However, it was not until his supporting lead in a small National Endowment for the Arts film "No Regrets" directed by Ruth Charny and produced by Ellen Sherman (see Dateline NBC) and his subsequent lead in the Broadway rock musical Marlowe [4] along with Patrick Jude and Lisa Mordente that he came to the attention of the New York music industry, in particular rock impresario Ron Delsner, who encouraged him to begin his own recording career.

EBN-OZN and DADA NADA

Austin, Texas-based producer Jay Aaron Podolnick introduced Rosen to Ned Liben, then the owner of New York's Sundragon Recording Studios, and a music prodigy in his own right. Liben had built his first professional studio at the age of 14 and by the time he met Rosen had worked with Jimi Hendrix, The Talking Heads, The Ramones and a host of New York's rockers.

Their initial collaboration, "AEIOU Sometimes Y" was recorded in 1981 (released in 1982) and was the first American record to ever be completely executed on a computer (a Fairlight CMI). "AEIOU" was a bizarre mix of rap, spoken word, digital sampling, rock and R&B dance music. Liben and Rosen cut their own 12-inch dance single which was instantly signed by Arista Records in London and in New York by Elektra Records' President Bob Kraznow before the band even had a name, which eventually became Ebn-Ozn. "AEIOU" went Top 20 on the Billboard Magazine Club Chart, establishing OZN as one of the first white rappers in the industry. "AEIOU"'s video, an LA Times Top 10 Video of the Year, received enormous domestic and international exposure and was featured on Beavis and Butthead through the 90s.

Ebn-Ozn's first full-length album, Feeling Cavalier, released by Elektra in 1984, went Top 20 on the College Radio Chart and their second single, "Bag Lady (I Wonder)" went Top 40 on the Billboard Club Chart. The video for "Bag Lady" starred Imogene Coca and like "AEIOU," enjoyed worldwide television and club play.

After the duo's split up in 1985, EBN went on to run his exclusive SOHO studio working with Scritti Politti and Arif Mardin, while OZN moved to Los Angeles and started his own label, One Voice Records and his own solo act, "Dada Nada."

Dada Nada got a distribution deal with Polydor/UK and he distributed it himself in North America, landing two Top 5 Billboard Charting dance hits, "Haunted House" (the first House record by a white artist to chart in North America) and "Deep Love."

OZN's collaborators on Dada Nada tracks included the legendary Godfather of House the late Frankie Knuckles and House music pioneers Bad Boy Bill, David Morales, Mike "Hitman" Wilson, Steve Wight (now an associate professor of recording arts at Cal State), and Bob Greenberg.

OZN's last public appearance was the 1990 U.S. Dada Nada tour, which suffered a shooting incident during a show in Chicago.

EBN died in 1998 of a heart attack in Soho, New York and is survived by his wife Sallie Moore Liben and son Max Liben.

In April 2015, Ozn announced on Facebook and Twitter that he was making his first record in 25 years inspired by the Charlie Hebdo assassinations, Je Suis Paris!. An anthem for the growing, global pro-peace, anti-terror movement, he produced and wrote the track with Universal Music artist Gabe Lopez, who works with Belinda Carlisle, supported by Julian Coryell, son of jazz legend Larry Coryell and guitarist for (Alanis Morissette), Chris Golden bass player for hip hop star Exzibit, Gibi Dos Santos Sergio Mendes' long-time Brazilian percussionist, and background vocalists Mindy Jones of Moby and Mark Strom of the boy band Innovate.

The record has since been remixed by London based DJ Richard Cutmore, who has had six Number Ones on the Billboard Charts and is scheduled for its first worldwide premiere in the UK in late June / early July 2016. [5]

Film Industry Career

OZN went on to a producing and screenwriting career in the film business.

He worked first for free for Oliver Stone and Janet Yang's Ixtlan Films, trading his time in exchange for learning the development and production end of the movie business. He went on to become a paid first-call reader for A-list material for Stone. He was then hired at Miramax, as reader for Pulp Fiction under Oscar-winning producer Richard Gladstein and as contract development exec for much of their European fare and some of horror division Dimension Films' material. He also served as script analyst at Creative Arts Agency (CAA) on projects for Sydney Pollack, Louis Malle, Paula Weinstein and James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment.

OZN partnered with Ted Danson (friends from their Broadway days) as executive producers to option Elegies for Angels Punks and Raging Queens, playwright Bill Russell's West End London AIDS drama, for Anasazi/Paramount Television. Danson and OZN attached Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Patrick Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Priestley and Elizabeth Taylor as well as Danson. However, it remains un-produced;

OZN and writer/producer Colin Greene (now a Vice-President at Sony Studios) sold Storm Warning, a $100 million-plus film, to Paramount for producer Mario Kassar, making the front page of the Daily Variety.[6] That article served as a blessing and a curse. OZN had just been hired as a creative executive at Warner Brothers' now-defunct animation division and was to supervise the development of the script and soundtrack along with Pete Townshend for The Iron Man (later produced without music as The Iron Giant). The Daily Variety article caused a problem with Warner's personnel department and he was informed he could not take the job because he'd sold material to the competition.[7]

In 2003, OZN and Greene's God's Witness, long on many of the industry's "favorite un-sold spec scripts" lists, was finally made as I Witness, starring Jeff Daniels, James Spader and Portia de Rossi, for which the writing team received the 2003 Method Fest Best Screenplay Award. Universal released the film in the U.S. and Canada in 2007 and HBO released it internationally.

OZN left the industry in 2003 to raise his children and returned in 2008, as part of the production team of "Turned Towards the Sun," UK a documentary about the British aristocrat, war hero, London Times correspondent and out bisexual Micky Burn.[8] The film premiered at the British Film Institute in London in October 2012 to excellent reviews, earning director Greg Olliver a Grierson Award nomination.

OZN then wrote a feature for the Sy Fy Channel, "Earth's Final Hours," which was produced in 2011 by Cinetel and aired in 2012. In 2015 he served as Executive Producer, along with Julian Lennon of BAFTA Board member Julia Verdin's film short "Lost Girls." His latest project, "Coming Out of the Cave," is a musical comedy animated series based on the 15 minute musical by John Aaron and Ron Barnett, which he's developing with director Justin Ross.

Political Activism

In October 2015, OZN founded The Je Suis Charlie Movement (JSCMovement) a social media project on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, launched in response to continued worldwide terror attacks, created to show solidarity with all victims of terror. Fine and performing artists post their work online as a sign of support, while followers share and like posts - all to raise awareness, particularly with younger millennials who, in the USA, tend to be apolitical. http://www.JSCMovement.com.

He lives in Vancouver, Canada, Rio de Janeiro and Beverly Hills, California.

Awards

Judge: Writers Guild of America Awards (longform) 2006, 2005, 2004

References

  1. ↑ "Fairlight – The Whole Story". Audio Media magazine (January 1996
  2. ↑ MTV News March 1989
  3. ↑ ibDb)
  4. ↑ ibDb)
  5. ↑ Facebook page of Robert Ozn April 27, 2016
  6. ↑ Daily Variety, January 26, 1996
  7. ↑ interview "Robert Ozn" American House Music - The New York Years" BBC
  8. ↑ Michael Burn’s wartime exploits to be made into Hollywood blockbuster, The Times, March 29, 2008

External links

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