Welcome to the Silent Giants podcast, a podcast that highlights the superstars behind the scenes of popular culture. This special episode is presented by Ancestry.

This week’s episode is a little different from our traditional episodes. Our special guests on today's episode are closer to me than anyone I have interviewed - these Silent Giants are my own family and ancestors.

Recently I started my ancestral journey and had the extreme honor of partnering with Ancestry. Today you're going to hear a conversation with my 4th cousin Travis Hillard and through Ancestry I discovered we share the same 4th grandmother.

I hope this interview inspires you to trace your own family heritage through Ancestry. Go to Ancestry.com for your free trial!

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Our special guest this episode is Susan Bennett, the silent giant behind the iconic voice of Siri! Susan is a super accomplished voice over actor who has lended her voice to brands Coca Cola, IBM, Papa John's Pizza, McDonald's, AT&T, Wendy's, Goodyear, Ford, and many others but of course we most notably recognize her as Apple’s iconic voice of Siri.

In this episode we learn more about Susan, how her career in music led her to a career as a voice over actor, and of course we learn the story of how she became the voice of Siri. 

So allow me to introduce you to the voice over actor, musician, my friend, the silent giant Susan Bennett.

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Our special guest this episode is Siedah Garrett songwriter of one of my favorite all time songs Michael Jackson’s ‘Man in the Mirror’. Siedah’s career as an artist and songwriter began 40 years ago. She’s written songs or performed backing vocals for countless legends like Madonna, The Pointer Sisters, Quincy Jones, Donna Summers and many others.

As a solo artist you may know Siedah for her beautiful duet with Michael Jackson ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’ off 1987’s BAD. She won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media for co-writing "Love You I Do" (performed by Jennifer Hudson) for the 2006 musical film, Dream Girls.

In this interview were going to learn more about Siedah, she shares stories about meeting Quincy Jones and shares amazing stories about the making of Michael Jackson’s classic song ‘Man In The Mirror’.

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Welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! This weeks silent giant is the 5 time Grammy award winner who assisted in recording, mixing and producing the Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album, engineer Bruce Swedien. From 1978-2000 he recorded every single Michael Jackson song! Yes, every song from 'Off The Wall', 'Thriller', 'Bad', 'Dangerous' and beyond was recorded by Bruce. He has recorded for some of the greatest artist of all time like Quincy Jones, Natalie Cole, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and countless others. You seriously have to read this mans wikipedia page to understand what he has contributed to American popular music. To put it simply Bruce is regarded as the greatest recording engineer of all-time.

In this interview I flew down to his Florida home to chat about his upbringing in Minnesota, how he got into engineering, connecting with Quincy Jones, the makings of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, and a whole lot more. Meeting Bruce was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I really hope you all enjoy this interview. Let me introduce you to the 5 time Grammy award-winning engineer, The King of Sound, my dear friend, the silent giant, Bruce Swedien.

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Happy Flashback Friday!

This week’s special guest is legendary hip-hop DJ, producer, and A&R DJ Clark Kent. Clark is a NYC icon and one of the pioneers of hip-hop. His career started as a DJ at age 14 which later lead him to become the main DJ for The Notorious BIG. He later went on to produce “Cashmere Thoughts”, “Coming of Age” and the infamous “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Biggie and Jay-Z on Jay’s classic debut album ‘Reasonable Doubt’. While DJing and producing he also landed a gig during this time as an A&R Atlantic records.

In this interview Clark shares stories about his upbringing in Brooklyn, how he got into DJing and producing, landing his first A&R job, meeting Jay-Z for the first time, how he became Biggie’s DJ, introducing Dame Dash to Jay-Z, the making of my favorite Biggie song ‘The Sky’s’ The Limit’ and shares the intimate stories of being there the night Biggie was tragically shot and killed in LA in 1997. Listen. Download, Share. ENJOY!

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Sadly on Christmas Eve the world lost a great talent, Allee Willis. Allee was one of the most prolific songwriters in music history, writing Earth, Wind, and Fire's 'September' and the theme song for the hit TV show 'Friends'.

Allee was so kind and open-hearted and it is sad to say goodbye to a Giant. RIP Allee Willis.

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Pod Bless and welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! Our special guest this episode is Elwood Edwards the iconic voiceover actor who brought you AOL’s unforgettable phrase ‘You’ve Got Mail’. 

In this interview we get to learn about Elwood's upbringing in North Carolina, how he got into radio and news, and of course he explains the origin story of how he recorded the memorable phrase that birthed the internet ‘You’ve Got Mail’.

Also, be sure to stay tuned to the end of the episode for a very special announcement!

This episode was mixed by Joshua Coleman

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Our silent giant this episode is Brian Johnston, Senior Director of A&R at Atlantic Records. 

In this interview I headed over to the Atlantic records office and we got to bond over both being from Virginia, his early love for music, how he became an A&R, he explains the mistakes artists make along the way and so much more. 

So without further adieu let me introduce you to the Senior Director of A&R at Atlantic Records, my friend, the silent giant, Brian Johnston. 

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Welcome to another episode of Silent Giants! Our special guest this episode is legendary New York City artist, fashion designer and entrepreneur Tony Peralta. A native of Washington Heights, Tony is the living definition of what it is to be a New Yorker. A Dominican American born to immigrant parents, Mr. Peralta began his professional artistic career as a graphic designer. His art inspired by his Dominican heritage, New York City and hip-hop culture has been revered by art lovers and critics around the world. Tony is also the founder of 'Taller Peralta', a clothing line with a Flagship location in his native Washington Heights neighborhood where he was raised. 

In this interview I got to chat with Tony in his Washington Heights apartment about growing up in New York City, how his career in art began, we talk 'Taller Peralta', he shares entrepreneurship insights and so much more!

This episode was mixed by Joshua Coleman

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Our special guest this episode is Rob Ackroyd, lead guitarist and musical director for English rock band Florence and the Machine. 

Rob is a super cool dude who’s life and career began in London. While pursuing a career in film he had a chance encounter with leader of The Machine, Florence Welch in 2007 that would land him his role as lead guitarist.

Rob stopped by my apartment and we got to chat about his up bringing in London, we chat about his early love for music, he shares the story of how he became a member of Florence and The Machine, he explains his role as Musical Director and even shares a story of meeting Michael Jordan.

This episode was mixed by Joshua Coleman

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Our special guest this episode is architect and interior designer, R. Scott Bromley. An inductee in the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 1991, Mr. Bromley has been been designing buildings and interiors in New York City for over 50 years but he will be forever remembered for his groundbreaking architectural work for the world's most famous and infamous night club 'Studio 54'. 

In this interview I got to stop by his Manhattan office and over a glass of rose we got to chat about his upbringing in Canada, how he got into architecture, how he landed the job to design Studio 54, he shares stories about the founders Studio 54 Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager and so much more! 

This episode was mixed by Joshua Coleman

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