Sharon Robinson produces one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the Decade

posted by Women's Media Nation
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 6:43pm CST

Sharon Robinson backstage at the Bowl. Photo credit: Greg Gold

Record producing in Hollywood is no girl’s club. In the music biz women generally sing, write songs, and maybe get a shot at a record exec spot, but rarely find themselves the sole producer of a legendary artist. So how did singer/songwriter Sharon Robinson come to produce her first CD - Leonard Cohen’s "Ten New Songs", a disc that sold well over a million copies in its first year and recently was named one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s 100 Best Albums of the Decade?

Robinson says, “For women, the music industry is similar to many other professions when it comes to high level behind the scenes work. Nothing is going to be handed to you. As a woman, you really have to be a doer.”

Sharon’s collaboration with Cohen goes back to a tour in 1979 when they co-wrote the sensual ballad, “Summertime,” in a hotel lobby in Tel Aviv. The song was eventually recorded by Diana Ross and Roberta Flack and is now on Sharon’s solo CD, "Everybody Knows." Since then she’s won a Grammy for writing the ‘80’s self-image anthem, “New Attitude,” had songs recorded by everyone from the Pointer Sisters to Chris Botti, and with characteristic eclecticism, co-penned the Cohen classics, “Waiting for The Miracle” and “Everybody Knows.”

Between their initial collaboration on “Summertime” and the production of “Ten New Songs” Robinson was honing her producer chops, becoming more and more technically adept, producing all her own songwriting demos and continually updating her home studio. “I’ve been somewhat of a techno geek since I was a young girl, always having some form of recording studio. I like the freedom that comes with being artist and producer – so I worked at it. You might say I was obsessed, I kept tweaking my songwriting demos until they sounded like finished records.”

Cohen and Robinson kept in touch only sporadically when he famously dropped out from the music scene to study Buddhism at a Zen monastery. As a newly ordained monk, yet, it should be noted, still sporting his signature well tailored suit, Cohen bumped into Robinson at a Mall in 1999. One thing led to another, they collaborated on a number of new songs with Robinson producing the demos. Based on the results, Cohen asked her to produce TNS. Cohen was impressed enough with Robinson’s contribution that she is pictured with him on the album’s cover.

Reviewers have often pointed out that Sharon’s work is intelligent, and in the case of her own music, has an unmistakable feminine vibe. At the same time she comfortably holds her own surrounded by cables, compressors and preamps. “I think you have to know what you’re good at and what you enjoy,” Robinson says, “so when the opportunity comes, you’re ready. Then, hopefully you’ll shine in areas that might normally be dominated by men and transcend gender prejudices." Opportunity knocked when Cohen and Robinson were writing “Ten New Songs.” Cohen has said, "Sharon so deeply understands the tone of my own work that she was able to, I think, miraculously produce tracks that fit very harmoniously with the rest of my work."

Cohen listened, and simply liked what he heard.

Cohen is receiving a lifetime achievement Grammy award this year.
Robinson performs in Cohen’s current World Tour, 200 concerts to date and counting.
Sharon’s current solo CD, “Everybody Knows” is available on itunes, Amazon, CD Baby