The Journey of Songwriters & Music Producers

Thoughts By: B. Brown (BREG)

When I'm speaking to up & coming songwriters, producers, artists or independent production/record label owners, they usually believe doing one thing will skyrocket their careers and that is very rare indeed. Women have even a tougher time breaking through to stardom and financial success in the music industry.

I spoke with DJ Hollywood of DirtySouthradioonline.com a few weeks ago and we discussed the fact that it takes several different campaigns going on at the same time or several different contacts connecting the dots for a spark to occur in someone's career and that takes time! In a lot of cases, a lot of time, like in many years!

The article below is about Angela Hunte-Wisner and Jane't Sewell-Uepic and their songwriting/producing journey.


The Duo Behind The NYC Anthem (Ebony Magazine; June 2011; pg. 70)
By: Margena A. Christian

It's a man's world behind the scenes in the music industry. But women are doing it for themselves. No two people know this better than the Grammy-winning songwriting/production duo of Angela Hunte-Wisner and Jane't Sewell-Ulepic.

"A lot of people said, 'You won't make it,'" recalls Sewell-Ulepic, a graduate of William Paterson University of New Jersey. "They said, 'You will never win a Grammy.' We had to band together as sisters --- hold on, go into this thing and look out for each other. We let our music speak for itself. We don't have gimmicks."

The New York natives, signed to EMI as song-writers and producers, proved the naysayers wrong last February. As the masterminds behind the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys tune, "Empire State of Mind," they won two Grammys for BEst Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. It's also rare for songwriters --- especially women --- to also have co-produced their hits.

"We're the last people who anyone knows about, but we're the mental force of the song," says Hunte-Wisner, a former video casting director and industry stylist. "Being a songwriter is like being a ghost. You give the artists a piece of your soul."

With a combined total of 30 years' experience in show business (Sewell-Ulepic was an engineer for many years), the ladies have been songwriters for the lasst seven. They partnered nearly five years ago after meeting at an EMI writer's conference.

"This is all business and 2 percent music," says Hunte-Wisner. "We deal with publishing issues, approving licenses, bankers and business attorneys. We do our own contracts. It takes a lot to be able to write comfortably. You must be very focused. It's like going up the mountain."

They give back through their work with Grammy U's New York chapter, where the duo prepares college students for careers in music. "They are the future," says Sewell-Ulepic, who earned Grammy nods in 2007 for Fantasia's When I See U. "No one is telling kids how this thing is really structured. We saw the real era of music. We want to find the new Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye."