Mark Hudson

Mark Jeffery Anthony Hudson (born August 23, 1951) is an American musician, record producer, actor and songwriter based in both Los Angeles and New York City. After first rising to prominence as a performer, songwriter and TV personality in the 1970s as a member of the Hudson Brothers trio, Hudson achieved independent success as record producer and songwriter, working with a broad variety of artists including Cher, Ringo Starr, Aerosmith, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Hanson, Harry Nilsson and the Baha Men.

Hudson co-wrote the Grammy award-winning Aerosmith hit "Livin' on the Edge" in 1993, and has since co-written a total of 12 Aerosmith songs. He co-produced their 2001 album Just Push Play, co-writing six of the album's twelve songs.

Hudson, along with Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Paul Santo, and Marti Frederiksen, make up an informal collective of songwriters, musicians and producers known as the "Boneyard Boys", considered responsible for Aerosmith's creative process.

For ten years starting in 1998, Hudson was the primary driving force as producer and composer behind Ringo Starr's continued career as a recording artist. In that endeavor, Hudson produced or co-produced nine albums for Starr. There were five studio albums: Vertical Man (1998), I Wanna Be Santa Claus (1999), Ringo Rama (2003), Choose Love (2005) and Liverpool 8 (2008). Three live albums were also released during this relationship: VH1 Storytellers (1998), Ringo Starr and Friends (2006) and Ringo Starr: Live at Soundstage (2007). The ninth album – a compilation album Ringo 5.1: The Surround Sound Collection – included remixes of thirteen tracks originally produced by Hudson and Starr. It was nominated for Best Surround Sound Album in the 51st annual Grammy Awards for the year 2007–2008.

The nine albums co-produced by Hudson featured a total of 82 different songs. 17 of the 82 songs were cover versions of various classics and oldies. The other 65 songs were specially composed new songs. Underscoring the primacy of his role in the creation of the albums, Hudson was credited as co-writer of 64 of the 65 new songs.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.