Biography
Over the last 20 years, Olsen has written for print and online publications on a wide variety of topics, from popular media to politics, and his work has appeared in Playboy, Billboard, Alternative Press, Option, The Plain Dealer, the Akron Beacon Journal, Hear/Say, MSNBC.com, Cleveland.com, and other outlets.
His book publications include Networking In the Music Industry (with Jim Clevo, Rockpress, 1993) and The Encyclopedia of Record Producers (with Paul Verna and Carlo Wolff, Billboard Books, 1999), a definitive work in the field featuring original interviews, bios, and discographies of over 500 of the leading producers in recording history.
Timothy White, former Editor-in-Chief of Billboard magazine, called The Encyclopedia, "One of the truly indispensable reference books on the annals of the music industry." Rock historian and author Barney Hoskyns (Rock's Backpages, Waiting For the Sun: Strange Days, Weird Scenes & The Sound of Los Angeles) said, "A landmark publication ... the ultimate guide to the sonic architects, alchemists and just plain old artisans." Rock historian and author Ira Robbins (Trouser Press) said, "This exceptionally well-researched and far-ranging book shines a long overdue spotlight on the often unsung heroes of recorded music."
Olsen also compiled, produced, and wrote the liner notes for the Straight Outta Cleveland CD collection (Oglio, 1995), which Stephen Thomas Erlewine called in Allmusic, "a thoroughly entertaining hodgepodge of songs by Cleveland bands from the Raspberries and the James Gang to Devo and Pere Ubu," which captures "the spirit of the city ... very well indeed."
Olsen, who owned and operated the Olsen Entertainment DJ company in Los Angeles in the 1980s, appeared as a music critic on WJW, Fox 8 TV in Cleveland, and created/hosted the Cool Tunes radio show on WRQK 1990-1994, WENZ 1994-1996, WAPS 1999-2002.
Originally from San Pedro, California, he resides in Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife and four children. He is a graduate of Wittenberg University with degrees in political science and philosophy.
Read more about this topic: Eric Olsen
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