Gordon Pogoda - Biography

Biography

Pogoda earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. After working for a few years at an engineering firm, he decided to leave his engineering career behind and pursue his lifelong dream of songwriting, which he began at age 15 (he began playing piano at age 13.)

Pogoda has had international success with his songs featured in film, television, and on CDs. In film, he had two songs featured in the Academy Award winning picture Little Miss Sunshine, one in the film Josie and the Pussycats, one in the Disney film Get a Clue starring Lindsay Lohan, and several other movies. In television, Pogoda's songs have been featured in Hannah Montana (where his song "If Cupid Had a Heart" has been featured three times), Sex and the City, CSI: Miami, ER, Will and Grace, King of the Hill, Samantha Who and Medium. Due to all his success in television and film, two albums of all Gordon Pogoda songs were released digitally. One is titled "Gordon Pogoda Songs From Film & TV", a 13-song various-artist set including "If Cupid Had a Heart" (featured in 17 TV shows and films such as Hannah Montana and Little Miss Sunshine). The other album (his first album release) is titled "If Cupid Had a Heart" and features all songs performed by guest vocalist Julie Griffin.

Pogoda had the number two song of the year in Russia for pop/rock artist Sergey Lazarev, wrote two songs recorded by European Pop Idol winner Patrick Jurdić, and a top 5 hit for Tereza Kerndlová in the Czech Republic, which was selected to represent the Czech Republic in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. A song "I Wish I Could Pretend" written in collaboration with the Latvian composer Lauris Reiniks came in 2nd place to represent Ireland in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. He had a platinum record with the Australian group Scandal'us, three platinum and gold records with the Greek group Hi-5, and a platinum record for Finnish girl band Tiktak. In the United States, Pogoda wrote a top 10 hit on the U.S. Contemporary Christian singles chart for sister group Aurora, and a single for Natalie Grant. Pogoda has also had songs used for Disney films, CDs, TV shows & DVDs.

Gordon Pogoda has written songs with an impressive array of songwriters, producers and artists in the business including Cutfather (producer for CHRISTINA AGUILERA, JORDIN SPARKS, THE WANTED), Peter Wallevik (ONE DIRECTION), Kasia Livingston (FLO RIDA, WHITNEY HOUSTON, BRITNEY SPEARS, THE WANTED), Wayne Hector (NICKI MINAJ, CARRIE UNDERWOOD, THE WANTED, PUSSYCAT DOLLS), Shanell Red (CHRIS BROWN, DESTINY'S CHILD), Tommy Gee (ONE DIRECTION), Marti Frederiksen (DAUGHTRY, STEVEN TYLER, RASCAL FLATTS, CARRIE UNDERWOOD), Steve "Babyboy" Brown (CHRISTINA AGUILERA), Jeremy Monroe & Georgette Franklin (JENNIFER LOPEZ), Marco Marinangeli (MILEY CYRUS, JOSH GROBAN), Allan Rich ('N SYNC, WHITNEY HOUSTON), Michael Jay (EMINEM, CELINE DION), Dan Hill (BRITNEY SPEARS, CELINE DION), Jason Blume (BRITNEY SPEARS, BACKSTREET BOYS), Ken Hirsch (MARY J. BLIGE, CELINE DION), Albert Hammond (CELINE DION, WHITNEY HOUSTON, DUFFY), Andrew Lane (“HANNAH MONTANA” & “HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL” soundtracks), Vince Degiorgio (‘N SYNC), Denise Rich (CELINE DION, JENNIFER LOPEZ), John Bettis (MADONNA, WHITNEY HOUSTON, CELINE DION), Dennis Morgan (FAITH HILL), Jeff Silbar (Grammy winning writer of “WIND BENEATH MY WINGS”), Grammy winning artist MELISSA MANCHESTER and many others.