What do India Arie, Macy Gray, Floetry, D-12, Keyshia Cole, & Young Jeezy, to name a few all have in common? They were all produced by Jared Lee Gosselin from Detroit, Michigan.
By the tender age of five, Jared had mastered his mother’s RCA Victor 45 record player but at the age of 15 he had graduated from playing music on his turntable to making it. Armed with his Technics SL-1200 turntables, Jared created his own turntable disciplines following drum rudiments; eventually transforming his turntables to an instrument. As a high school senior, Jared enrolled part-time at RID (Recording Institute of Detroit) and following his high school graduation, he would enroll full time obtaining his record engineering certification two years later. Subsequently in 1999, at the recommendation of an RID professor, Jared went to intern for Barrett Strong and Robert Bateman; two of the chief architects of the Motown Sound having written hits including Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” & the Marvelettes “Please Mr. Postman”.
Jared’s duties ran the gamut from electrically wiring basic rooms and converting them to operational studios, synching MP keyboards, editing and recording in pro-tools, mixing etc. There was no task he was not capable of doing, surpassing expectations to the point where all Barret would say was “Work your magic!”
In 2000, Jared was running two studios, his own named Asylum and that of a local street hustler affiliated with many of Detroit’s most esteemed artists.
At that time he was engineering for Proof (D-12), Obie Trice (D-12), Slum Village, MC Breed, Juvenile, and Bizzy Bone in addition to creating radio-promo drops which would then be broadcasted on Detroit’s 105.9 WJLB. By 2001 Jared became a mainstay on the local Detroit Hip-Hop scene churning out mixtapes regularly by Green Lantern, D-12, and DJ House Shoes. Jared also programmed show sets for Eminem and D-12 and was even tapped by Proof to run his label, Iron Fist alongside Ty Manica, a Detroit-based concert promoter and owner of Merc Records. Later that year Jared was commissioned as a DJ by Motown Records to go on a radio tour for their R&B chanteuse Dina Rae.
The tour brought them to LA where Jared met the renowned writer/producer Phillip “Whitey” White and the two immediately realized that their combined talents merited a merger and the two joined forces to create Whiteleaf Productions. The dynamic duo began working instantly at the famed Enterprise Studios as the production deal they landed with Damon Elliot (songwriter/producer for Kelly Rowland, Mya, Jessica Simpson, Beyoncé Knowles, etc.) had them writing/producing tracks for movies such as Shark Tale, 1st Daughter, and Fat Albert.
By virtue of his wizardly abilities, Jared Lee Gosselin has produced and/or engineered for India Arie, Macy Gray, Young Jeezy, Keyshia Cole, Nicole Scherzinger (lead singer Pussycat Dolls), Floetry, Cheri Dennis, Game, Proof, Obie Trice, and Corrine Bailey Rae to name a few.
Jared also contributed to the soundtrack of De Ja Vu starring Denzel Washington and was nominated for a Grammy in 2006 with India Aries’s Testimony: Vol.1, Life & Relationships. Despite his impeccable resume, anyone who knows of Jared Lee Gosselin will attest, what he’s accomplished to date only reflects a small portion of the success he will achieve during his career span but when asked what his goals are the humble yet ambitious, decorated producer/engineer replies “All I want to do is make music that stands the test of time.”