Singer/songwriter Mary Wood has become a partner at Crushing Music, New York.
This is the first time that Crushing president Joey Levine has taken on a partner. Levine commented, "I never really felt like I wanted or needed a partner. Mary had started in the company as a producer, and then developed into an extremely strong and successful songwriter. There had been people in the company over the years who had been big in their own right and had asked for partnerships, and I never really felt it was necessary. But the necessary thing now is the value of Mary, with all her talents."
Wood offered, "I was completely flattered when Joey made the offer, because I know it was something that he had never really offered to anybody else before."
Wood has been at Crushing for five years-two as a producer, three as a singer/songwriter. Her credits include Doritos’ "Allowed to Be Loud," Pepsi’s "Generation Next" and "The Joy of Cola," all of which she co-wrote with Clifford Lane for BBDO New York. She also wrote Mobil’s "How Can We Help You" for DDB New York, and 7 UP’s "It’s An Up Thing" via Young & Rubicam, New York, which was a co-composition with Levine and former Crushing composer Billy Alessi. (Alessi and his brother Bobby now head up Alessi, New York, a division of JSM.)
Wood joined Crushing after a stint as a music producer at Saatchi & Saatchi, New York. She came on board as a music producer with the stipulation that she could write music if the opportunity arose. Wood recalled, "I think the first thing that I worked on was a Diet Coke jingle. They wanted to do something that was contemporary and pop. So I went home one night and wrote something, and it was very well received."
Levine then picked up on the chronology: "Then we started using Mary as a singer and she started to win pretty much everything she put her voice on. After ‘It’s an Up Thing,’ Mary started getting inquiries from record companies. That really catapulted everything, and at that point Mary said, ‘I don’t think I need to be a producer anymore! I think I’ll be a singer/writer.’"
Wood has written "Walk Away" and other as-yet-untitled songs for former New Kid On The Block Joey McIntyre, and for an undisclosed singer on the Dreamworks label. She co-wrote and performed lead vocals on "Here We Go," which is featured on the soundtrack for the film Clubland. Wood also authored the lyrics for the PBS series Dragontales, and is writing songs for its CD, to be released by Sony Wonder.
The singer/songwriter is particularly enthusiastic about the opportunity to work in different formats: "Crushing can really do all these things: music for movies, TV, jingles … music companies tend to just do music for advertising, and for me that sets Crushing apart from the other companies." Wood also continues to work on her own music with songwriting partner Mark Plati, who has produced albums for David Bowie and Natalie Imbruglia.
A musician from the cradle, Wood came to New York to pursue a career in music after graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y., in ’90. "I was basically waitressing and doing the singer/songwriter route until I landed this job at Saatchi [in ’94]," she recollected. "That’s how I got into the whole field of music for advertising. After about a year and a half of doing that, I realized I’d like to take my talents to the supplier side, and see if I could utilize more of my talents that way. So I went to work for Joey."
Wood also noted the dearth of female singers/songwriters in the industry in general. "This is something else I would like to see happen at Crushing-getting more women involved in the writing."
Crushing’s composer roster includes David Barratt, Robin Batteau, Alfred Hochstrasser, Clifford Lane, Joey Levine, Gary Schreiner, Don Sebesky, Jeff Southworth and Kenny White.
Crushing is repped nationally by Taylor McLam in New York.
