Grammy/Multi-Platinum Music Producer/Composer/Arranger/Songwriter/Recording Artist and Music Scientist Teddy Riley has one of the most intriguing and solid legacies in the music industry for a bit over 30 years. Since age five, he was a multi-instrumentalist child prodigy playing at church in his hometown of Harlem, NY.
He formed a music group called "Kids at Work" in his early teens, composed and produced must have tracks and compilation albums for numerous rappers and several for recording artists including the human beat box icon Doug E Fresh. By age 17, his first 12" Single production made the Billboard 100 hit list "Go See the Doctor" by Kool Mo Dee in 1986 and shortly thereafter another major Billboard hit titled "Wild Wild West."
In late 1987, the dawn of a brand new genre called New Jack Swing was created by Teddy Riley with the No.1 R&B Billboard smash hit LP "Make it Last" by Keith Sweat selling over 3 million copies, No.5 on the Billboard Pop chart and was certified Triple Platinum. His New Jack Swing sound was the new epic lifeline that forever changed the design of R&B music even to this day. During the early era of New Jack Swing, Riley composed, produced and/or wrote Billboard chart topping, award winning RIAA certified hits for his Multi-Platinum R&B hit group Guy. (Groove Me, Let’s Chill, I Like, Teddy’s Jam, A Piece of My Love) from the Guy LP. This album reached No.1 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart and remained there for five consecutive weeks. In addition, Guy was the highest charting R&B album on the Billboard Year End chart for 1989.
On a special note, he recorded most of the Guy album at his mother’s house Mildred Riley due to budget issues and more importantly, Riley felt the sound was crisper and warmer. This is mainly due to his profound ear for music and his following accolades prove that.
An additional short list of his RIAA Certified greatest productions include No.1 Hits by the following icons: The late Johnny Kemp (Just Got Paid) The song hit No.1 on the U.S. R&B & Dance charts, U.S Billboard Hot Dance Club Play, reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received a Grammy nomination.
Bobby Brown, (My Prerogative) Peaked at No.1 US Billboard Hot 100, US Billboard Hot Black Singles and also was nominated for Grammy as Best R&B Urban Contemporary Single. (Get Away) No.1 US Billboard Hot Dance/Maxi-Singles.
High Five, (The Kissing Game) No.1 US Billboard Hot 100, US Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles and remained No.1 on the US Billboard Year End Charts.
Wrecks N Effect (Rump Shaker) No.1 US Billboard Hot Rap Singles & Canada Dance Chart. Note his brother Markell Riley was a vital part of this hit making group.
He was founder of the R&B Multi-Platinum/Grammy winning group Blackstreet best known for their No.1 Hit song " No Diggity” Featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen.
Other Billboard chart topping Heavy D, (Now that We Found Love) The Winans, (It’s Time) Wreckx-N-Effect, (Rump Shaker) SWV, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Patti Labelle, Whitney Houston, Al B Sure, MC Hammer, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, NSYNC, Big Daddy Kane, New Kids on the Block, Joe, Kenny Lattimore, Robin Thicke, Boys II Men, Lady Gaga, an extensive list of others.
He was founder of the R&B Multi-Platinum/Grammy winning group Blackstreet best known for their No.1 Hit song "No Diggity." It was No.1 in four different categories on Billboard, several European charts and is one of the top licensed songs in today’s market for film, television, commercials. The late Pop/Funk Icon Prince also performed it in Washington DC.
At age 23, Teddy Riley Produced the "Dangerous" LP by Michael Jackson which sold more than 32 million copies worldwide, debuted at No.1 on Billboard 200, remained on the Billboard 200 chart 117 weeks. He also won a Grammy for Best Engineered Album Non-Classical. The album also received three Grammy Nominations for Best Pop Vocal Male, Best R&B Vocal Male and "Jam" as Best R&B Song. Nine singles were released coupled with hit song “Remember the Time” and it was Michael Jackson's fastest selling album in the United States with gross earnings for Sony at a bit over a billion dollars. The RIAA certified "Dangerous" seven times platinum. This was the most successful New Jack Swing album of all times. Riley also produced four songs on the "Invincible" LP by Michael Jackson in 2001. In 2006, he was inducted into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame.
Some of his guest television appearances include The Steve Harvey Show, Moesha, Rugrats, Arsenio Hall, Oprah, HLN and VH1’s hit show Love & Hip Hop. To his credit film scores/compositions for "Do the Right Thing" "Rugrats The Movie" "House Party" "CB4" "Money Train" "Panther" "Get on the Bus" "Preacher's Wife" "Wild Wild West", "Two Can Play that Game" "King's Ransom" and a list of others to most recently "American Reunion" along with television shows including "New York Undercover" are major accolades to his extensive arsenal.
To date he has been on worldwide tours, on the radar in major magazines from Billboard, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Ebony to the front cover of Keyboard Magazine twice among countless others.
Teddy Riley is the first African American music producer from the U.S. to produce K-Pop (Korean Pop Music) and bringing it to America, and spends part of the year working in Korea with S&M Entertainment for their top recording artist in his studio in Seoul, Korea.
In late March 2015, he produced another world-wide No.1 K-Pop hit titled "Call Me Baby" by EXO which has over 18 million YouTube views within a month, the song reigns on the Billboard charts in 9 categories and is holding the No.1 position on World Album charts. He has more than 1000 credits to his name. He continues to chart on the 2016 rosters in K-POP music.
Teddy Riley has respectfully earned the title "The King of New Jack Swing” which was coined by the iconic writer/author Barry Michael Cooper. There is an innovative and technical driving force that continues to flow within this musical genius architect bringing only the most prolific legendary signature sound to the multi-genre masses historically and in today's music market place.
From composing and producing R&B, Hip Hop, Pop and K-Pop hit songs, his schedule remains non-stop in the studio and continues to perform with his group Blackstreet aka BS2 coupled with solo engagements. He performed the on the Tom Joyner Cruise coupled with the Tom Joyner Family Reunion and has been a guest on major radio stations.
As a music technology scientist, he conducted technical education demonstrations for several years at the NAMM show, the world’s largest music merchant’s trade show for companies such as Yamaha, PreSonus, AKAI among others and has made major technical contributions to products on today's market. As an expert panelist he was invited to speak in Dubai twice among other global music technology summits.
Academically since 2014, he has served on the Advisory Board at Piedmont College, a recipient of the esteemed Sankofa Award and was Commencement Speaker at the 2015 Graduation Ceremony at The World Congress Center.
Between his studios in Seoul Korea, Los Angeles, Atlanta and most recently Las Vegas, this iconic force stays creative in the lab working on tracks for numerous artists and special projects. He was commissioned by The Harlem Globtrotters Association to remix their historical theme song which will be played on their 2016 national tour. He is involved in l philanthropic entities including a partnership with music executive Shanti Das serving over 500 homeless at the Atlanta Mission, he has gifted upcoming music producers with studio equipment and special sounds, supports and encourages their endeavors.
Currently, Mr. Riley is on a multi city tour with the legendary group “GUY”. Together they are spreading the joyous sounds of 90’s RnB with hits such as “Groove me” “Piece of my love” “I Like” and “Let’s Chill”