Cory Rooney

Cory Rooney (born Mark Rooney) is an American songwriter, record producer, and C.E.O. of Cory Rooney Group. He has written, produced, and developed many hits and careers for artists such as Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Thalia, Destiny's Child, and many more.

He was raised in Jamaica, Queens, New York and at an early age he was exposed to the music industry by his parents, Herb Rooney and Brenda Reid of The Exciters, who toured with The Beatles in the early 1960s. His father later branched out into production and was responsible for both the infectious piano part and production on the Isley Brothers hit, "It's Your Thing". When the original members disbanded, his mother, Brenda Reid, brought her children on board to continue the group. As a teenager he not only was exposed to the music industry but experienced the industry first hand as a member of The Exciters. "I grew up around music and picked things up by ear." However, Cory's musical DNA was only part of a very talented equation. Raised in New York, his love for music was reinforced at an early age due to the geographic proximity of rap all-stars like Marley Marl, LL Cool J, Russell Simmons, and RUN-DMC.

In the 1990s Cory teamed up with Prince Markie Dee of the Fat Boys and they released two solo albums by Prince Markie Dee including Billboards #1 Rap Single "Typical Reasons/Swing My Way" (written by EMI writer/producer & Cory's brother-in-law Hasan Johnson.) Feeding off their success Cory and Prince Markie Dee decided to create Soul Convention together, when they were approached by Sony Music and signed a label deal. Sony recognized Cory's talents early on and was approached by Sony to sign a solo artist deal but he decided quickly that he didn't want to be an artist. Being behind the scenes as a writer and producer, he went on to produce hits such as, "Real Love" and "Sweet Thing" by Mary J. Blige and "I'll Do 4 U" by Father MC at Uptown Records. The success of the hits caught the attention of Tommy Mottola who signed him not only as a producer but also brought him on board as VP of A&R at Epic Records in 1994 and two years later, Cory moved on to become VP of A&R at Crave Records. Proving himself not only as an accomplished writer and producer, Tommy Mottola was impressed with his managerial skills and was subsequently named Senior VP of Sony Music Entertainment in 1998. Maintaining his unique position both as senior executive and producer at Sony, he was offered another executive position at Casablanca Records where he also wrote Lindsay Lohan's single, "Rumors". He also produced the album and performed keyboards and provided background vocals. His albums have sold over 100 million copies and many of his albums exceed the one million records-sold mark.

Aside from his musical success he also has had sizable television success as executive producer on MTV's, "The Shop" and VH1's "Born to Diva". "The Shop" is based out of Cory Rooney's own barbershop, Mr. Rooney's, in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Artists such as Busta Rhymes, Diddy, and Fabolous frequent the shop not only to get the city's hottest cuts but also to elaborate on the music industry, their career, and the gossip that surrounds their world. VH1's "Born to Diva" featured Cory Rooney as one of the panel judges aside from his role in executive producing the show.

Since his time at Casablanca, Cory Rooney has established his own company, Cory Rooney Group. CRG manages a multi-talented roster of writers, producers, and two developing artists. His company focuses on music involved in television, fashion, and the publishing world.