Clarence Jey

Clarence Ranjith Jeyaretnam, better known as Clarence Jey, is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage who has had music chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, co-wrote the song "Friday" and worked on various award-winning US television shows including an Emmy-nominated show.[1]

Clarence Jey
Birth nameClarence Ranjith Jeyaretnam
BornUnited States
GenresPop
Labels
  • Ark
  • Pop-U-Lar
  • Music Intersection
Websiteclarencejey.com

Life and career

Jey spent some of his childhood in Australia, performing with local bands and composing and producing music at his studio in Melbourne where he wrote and produced the theme song and additional music for the 2007 US Emmy-nominated Discovery Kids animation television show, Growing Up Creepie. This led to his relocation to Los Angeles, California.[2] Upon his relocation, he produced music for guitarist Richie Kotzen.[3][4] He has since composed music and written songs for television shows including Lego City Adventures, Common Law, America's Got Talent, Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew and The Newsroom.[5][6] Jey's songs and music have been used on commercials including the US retailer Kohls[7] and in Vodafone ads. Jey oversaw a contestant on the 2015 reality show Famous in 12 for The CW.[8][9]

Jey has also worked in film. In 2014, he produced and composed songs, and was music supervisor for the film Full Love,[10] directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, which premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival.[11][12]

In 2015, Clarence Jey produced for R&B group All-4-One on their eighth studio album, Twenty+, which was released in July 2015.[13] In 2016, Jey composed music and wrote lyrics for the musical theater show "Jambalaya The Musical",[14][15] along with his production partner, American songwriter Jeff Barry. Clarence Jey was involved in part of the music in the Hallmark Channel movie titled My Christmas Love,[16][17] as well as Australian TV comedy series Please Like Me.[18]

In 2018, Jey produced a song titled "Wasted" on New Zealand roots reggae band Katchafire's album Legacy,[19][20][21][22] which debuted at number 3 on US Billboard Reggae Album Chart.[23][24]

In 2019, Jey and his writing partner Jeff Barry composed and wrote a song for Lego City Adventures, a computer-animated television series, produced by The Lego Group,[25] for Nickelodeon television.[26][27]

"Friday"

In 2011, Jey was part of ARK Music Factory and was involved in the creation of the song "Friday", by Rebecca Black, which had over 200 million YouTube views and, on March 29, 2011, surpassed Justin Bieber's "Baby" as the most disliked YouTube video, with 1.17 million dislikes. Jey co-wrote and produced the controversial song, which reached the Billboard Hot 100 and iTunes Top 20 in March 2011.

The song has received almost universally negative reviews from music critics, for its songwriting, instrumentation, Black's vocals, and the video choreography,[28][29] while being referred to as 'genius' by media executive, Simon Cowell.[30][31] "Friday" was covered by the cast of Fox network's show Glee,[32] as well as by comedians Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert on Fallon's album Blow Your Pants Off. [33]

Other ventures

Pop-U-Lar
CT Enterprises International, LLC
FoundedAugust 5, 2011 (August 5, 2011)
FounderClarence Jey
DefunctNovember 5, 2012 (November 5, 2012)
StatusInactive
Distributor(s)CDBaby
GenrePop
Country of originUnited States
LocationSherman Oaks
Official websitepop-u-lar.com (archived)

In 2011, he established Pop-U-Lar. On September 16, 2011, they released Kenny James' "Party Like the Rich Kids", even though Jey had left Ark the trailer for the song was still uploaded to Ark's YouTube channel. Pop-U-Lar's YouTube channel "PopUraZZi" only had videos of former artist Kenny James who is most likely their first artist. Pop-U-Lar was still used as a label by Jey until 2014. For a small period in 2014 Pop-U-Lar and Music Intersection co-existed, for example the copyright of Jey's song "Way Up" is owned by Music Intersection but says to visit Pop-U-Lar's website for more information and for "a chance to be the next Pop-U-Lar artist!". Pop-U-Lar's legal company CT Enterprises International, LLC shut down in November 2012 even though Music Intersection's legal company Music Intersection, Inc. wasn't started until March 2014. Their artist Kenny James seems to be a former Ark artist as he is seen in their "Welcome to Ark" video as he is seen 1 minute and 44 seconds into the video, which may be why his video trailer is on Ark's channel, James never released any music with Ark. Pop-U-Lar's first artist was much different than Ark's music, it contained profanity, alcoholism and cheating on his significant other. As seen on Pop-U-Lar's Twitter they had signed rock band Breaking Arrows.[34] Kenny James was with Pop-U-Lar until it shutdown as seen on their Twitter where they were tweeting about him until July 2014. Pop-U-Lar's website shutdown in early 2014 which is when it was assumed to be shutdown and replaced with Music Intersection.

Music Intersection
Music Intersection, Inc.
FoundedMarch 17, 2014 (March 17, 2014)
FounderClarence Jey & Sashikala Jey
StatusActive
Distributor(s)CDBaby
GenrePop
Country of originUnited States
LocationSherman Oaks
Official websitemusicintersection.com (archived)

Music Intersection, Inc. is an American record label founded on March 17, 2014 by Clarence Jey. It is distributed by CD Baby. Music Intersection's longest artist is Josef Gordod, his first release with them "Put It On" was featured in a Jeep commercial in 2014. The "featured video" of the now inactive MusicIntersection.com is Kenny James' "Party Like the Rich Kids" even though it was released via Jey's first attempt at a label "Pop-U-Lar". Music Intersection also has a in-house songwriter Jeff Barry, who was featured alongside Jey in Josef Gordon's "What a Christmas this Is".

Awards

2017 saw Clarence Jey being awarded "Tamil American Pioneer",[35][36] an award which recognizes North American Tamil Pioneers in certain fields by the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America,[37] an organization of the North American Tamil community.

References
  1. "Sri Lankan 'Genius' producer nominated for Grammy". NME India. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  2. "Why 'Friday' just might be the future of pop". SF Gate.com. 14 December 2012. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  3. "Five things you need to know about Rebecca Black's Friday". nationalpost. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  4. "Richie Kotzen". www.guitarmasterclass.net. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  5. TV.com. "Common Law: A Mile in Someone Else's Shoes". Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  6. Tierney Sneed (15 July 2013). "The Newsroom': Season 2 Premiere Recap". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 16 July 2013.
  7. Goldwert, Lindsay (21 November 2011). "Black Friday 2011: Rebecca Black song 'Friday' used in Kohl's holiday shopping commercial - NY Daily News". Daily News. New York: NYDailyNews.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011.
  8. "Famous in 12 episode guide and recap for episode 5, season 1 - EW Community - EW.com". community.ew.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  9. Damien Venuto (25 July 2014). "Vodafone resurrects Rebecca Black's 'Friday' to launch new reward initiative". Archived from the original on 13 November 2014.
  10. "Full Love (2014)". Archived from the original on 2 September 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
  11. "The 14Th Shanghai International Film Festival". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
  12. "Famous in 12 Episode 5 Recap". 2 July 2014. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  13. Noble, Barnes &. "Twenty +". Barnes & Noble. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  14. ""Jambalaya, the Musical" to Premiere with Seven-Day New Orleans Run". Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  15. "Orpheum Theater's 'Jambalaya, the Musical' will explore Cajun culture". Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  16. "My Christmas Love - Hallmark Channel". Hallmark Channel. Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  17. "Clarence Jey". IMDb. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  18. "Please Like Me (TV Series 2013–2016)". Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018 – via m.imdb.com.
  19. "Katchafire 'LEGACY' album review". Top Shelf Reggae. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  20. "ACE Repertory". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  21. "Review: Katchafire - Legacy". www.reggaeville.com. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  22. Denmeade, Brianna. "'Legacy' by Katchafire (Album Review)". Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  23. "Katchafire". Billboard. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  24. "Jamaica Observer Limited". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  25. "Here's why Mattel ousted its CEO Bryan Stockton". Fortune. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  26. Lego City Adventures (Animation, Short, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family), Joe Zieja, James Arnold Taylor, Misty Lee, Daniel Mk Cohen, Axis Animation, Passion Paris, The LEGO Group, 22 June 2019, retrieved 12 January 2021{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  27. "Nickelodeon Debuts LEGO® City Adventures, Brand-New Animated Series on Saturday, June 22, at 11:30 a.m. (ET/PT)". www.businesswire.com. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  28. Perpetua, Matthew (15 March 2011). "Why Rebecca Black's Much-Mocked Viral Hit 'Friday' Is Actually Good". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  29. "Chart Watch - Week Ending March 27, 2011". Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  30. "Simon Cowell Calls "Friday" Song "Genius"". NBC Connecticut. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  31. Yang, Jeff (19 October 2013). "Why Alison Gold's 'Chinese Food' Caused a Stir - Speakeasy - WSJ". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013.
  32. Goodman, Dean (16 March 2011). "Teen girl's pop video mercilessly dissected by Internet masses". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  33. "Blow Your Pants Off album credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  34. "@Pop_U_Lar". Twitter. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  35. "Ongil Consultancy". ongil.in. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  36. "fetnaconvention.org - fetnaconvention Resources and Information". fetnaconvention.org. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  37. Admin, FeTNA. "Home". Retrieved 14 February 2019.
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