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Neal H Pogue | |
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| Born | (1963-12-27)December 27, 1963 (age 62) Roselle, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1984–present |
Neal H Pogue (born December 27, 1963) is an American producer, audio engineer and mixer originally fromRoselle, New Jersey, and based inLos Angeles. Pogue is a multi-timeGrammy Award winner, having first won for hisengineering andmixing work onOutkast'sSpeakerboxxx/The Love Below (2004)[1] – which won theAlbum of the Year category, and his audio mixing work onTyler, the Creator'sIgor &Call Me If You Get Lost – which both records won theBest Rap Album category respectively in 2020 & 2022. Pogue has also produced for artists such asM.I.A,Nelly Furtado,Earth, Wind & Fire and has mixed for artists such asTLC,Pink,Nicki Minaj,Janelle Monáe, Tyler, the Creator,[2] andSteve Lacy. Having engineered and mixedTLC's Grammy nominated 11-time platinum single "Waterfalls", Pogue also arranged the horns on "Waterfalls" under the pseudonym "Shock". Pogue has gone on to work with many prominent names in music.
Pogue was born on December 27, 1963, in Roselle, New Jersey, the son of social worker Joan Ford and artist Arthur Pogue. At a young age, his interest in music started with the drums, when his mom gave him his first drum set. In 1984, he took his dreams of becoming a tour drummer toLos Angeles, Californiain 1984[citation needed]. After numerous attempts of breaking into the industry as a musician, Pogue enrolled atSound Master Recording, a local school foraudio engineering.[3][4] By experimenting with instruments by recording them on a four-track recorder, he began to appreciate the craft of engineering. After school through a mutual friend, Pogue interned at a studio owned byMichael Jackson's younger brotherRandy Jackson. He was then awarded with the opportunity to be an assistant engineer on Jackson'sRandy & The Gypsys album. Pogue assisted there for a year. During Pogue's internship, he metLarrabee Sound Studios owner Kevin Mills and interned under him for 1 year due to Mills' encouragement that Pogue should go out on his own. In 1990, while doing various recording and mixing gigs in LA, he came in contact withBobby Brown throughLouil Silas Jr., who was anMCA Records ExecutiveA&R at the time. Brown, who was living inAtlanta at the time, suggested that Pogue work there with him on hisself-titled album. While working in Atlanta, Pogue fell in love with the city and decided to move him and his family there in 1992.[citation needed] While in Atlanta, through recording artistPebbles, Pogue met the newly formed production companyOrganized Noize whom at the time had theLaFace Records bound unsigned hip hop duoOutkast. Through his relationship with LaFace he came in contact and worked withToni Braxton,Goodie Mob, TLC, and Outkast, who he would go on to engineer multiple successful albums for. Pogue went on to start his own production company, Fulton Yard Unlimited, with partner Walter McKennie, with whom he has worked withM.I.A.,Nelly Furtado,En Vogue, andEarth Wind & Fire.
Pogue currently resides in Los Angeles where he has continued a prolific mixing career including working on albums for R&B/hip hop duoTHEY., Swedish artistRobyn's #1 charted albumHoney, "Tonya" forBrockhampton'sIridescence, andMacy Gray for whom he mixed her albumRuby.[citation needed]
In 1993, Pogue began working onOutkast's initial effortSouthernplayalisticadillacmuzik.[5] AfterOutkast's initial effort released in 1994, Pogue mixed two songs from TLC's 1995 album Crazy Sexy Cool, one being the smash hit "Waterfalls" which followed by Pogue mixing the hit single "Elevators" onOutkast's second studio albumATLiens in 1996, then mixingAquemini in 1998. In 2000, Pogue mixed hit singles "Ms. Jackson" and "B.O.B" from the albumStankonia.[6] In 2002,Andre 3000 came to Pogue with new music for what was soon to beOutkast'sGrammy Award-winning albumSpeakerboxxx/The Love Below, Andre played Pogue a demo version of "Hey Ya". Pogue convincedAndre 3000 to choose "Hey Ya" asSpeakerboxxx/The Love Below'slead single.[7] The genre-bending song went on to become one of the most iconic songs of the 2000s appearing on multiple charts including Billboard'sAdult Top 40,US Alternative Songs Chart, andHot 100 where it sat at #1 for nine weeks.[8] While working in collaboration withOutkast, Pogue mixed tracks such as "She Lives in My Lap", "She's Alive", "Prototype", "Take Off Your Cool" featuringGrammy Award-winnerNorah Jones, "Spread" and "Vibrate".[9]
In 2012, Pogue worked on the production, mixing,instrumentation andcomposing ofEarth, Wind & Fire's 20th studio albumNow, Then & Forever that was released on September 13, 2013.[10] Pogue co-wrote on the song "Sign On". Pogue sent a track toAcademy Award-nominated and Grammy-winning songwriterSiedah Garrett, which would become the lead single "My Promise". Pogue recorded the demo with Garrett, then sent it toEarth, Wind & Fire. The album charted as number 11 on the USBillboard 200, and charted as number 6 on the USTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[11][12][13]
| Year | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Record of the Year | "Ms. Jackson" | Nominated |
| Album of the Year | Stankonia | Nominated | |
| 2004 | Speakerboxxx/The Love Below | Won | |
| Record of the Year | "Hey Ya!" | Nominated | |
| 2010 | Best Rap Album | Universal Mind Control | Nominated |
| 2015 | Best R&B Album | Lift Your Spirit | Nominated |
| 2018 | Best Rap Album | Flower Boy | Nominated |
| 2020 | Igor | Won | |
| 2021 | Best Dance/Electronic Album | BUBBA | Won |
| Best Dance Recording | "10%" | Won | |
| 2022 | Album of the Year | Planet Her | Nominated |
| Best Rap Album | Call Me If You Get Lost | Won | |
| Best Engineered Album | Cinema | Nominated | |
| 2023 | Record of the Year | "Bad Habit" | Nominated |
| Song of the Year | Nominated | ||
| Best Pop Solo Performance | Nominated | ||
| Best Progressive R&B Album | Gemini Rights | Won |
