Early career and Chester French He was initially discovered by
Kanye West,
Jermaine Dupri and
Pharrell Williams while he was attending Harvard and leading the band
Chester French. Wallach's music style of classic pop has been compared to musicians such as
the Beatles Wallach co-founded the group Chester French in 2003 with Harvard schoolmate Maxwell Drummey. Wallach worked as a recording engineer in Harvard's student recording studio, engineering and producing for Boston-area jazz musicians and working on Chester French's debut album at night. In 2007, Wallach sent out hundreds of demo CDs which led to a bidding war between West, Dupri, and Williams. Just prior to Wallach's graduating from Harvard, Williams signed the group to his
Star Trak Entertainment label, a partnership with
Interscope Records. being freshmen at Harvard the same year that the site was launched by
Mark Zuckerberg. He was also an early adopter of Twitter with over one million followers. The group's first album included the single "
She Loves Everybody" which reached #1 on
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales and #2 on
U.S. Billboard Hot Singles Sales. Chester French released two albums under the Star Trak record label, leaving in 2010 to release its third album independently. The third album featured collaborations with Williams,
Pusha T, and
Travis Barker.
Solo career, collaborations, and film Outside of Chester French, Wallach has worked with
Supa Dups, forming the group D.A. & the Supa Dups. They collaborated in 2011 and released two singles, "Who Do You Know" and "Too Cool" (feat.
Vybz Kartel). Wallach originally met Supa Dups while he was doing studio work in Los Angeles. He appeared in the 2012 film
Artifact produced by
Jared Leto. The film was a documentary about Leto's band
Thirty Seconds to Mars, its lawsuit against
Virgin EMI Records, and the making of the album
This Is War. Wallach also worked with Pharrell Williams to co-write the song "The Way It Is (Vector's Theme)", a song from the
soundtrack for the 2010 film
Despicable Me. In 2013, Wallach began writing and recording music as a solo artist. He played his music for
Odd Future and
Frank Ocean's manager Chris Clancy, who then partnered with Harvest Records to release Wallach's solo project. He released his first single, titled "Glowing", in October 2013, which debuted in a music video directed by
Tyler, the Creator.
Business career In 2011, Wallach was selected by
Sean Parker, Shakil Khan, and
Daniel Ek to be the official
artist-in-residence for Spotify. In that capacity, he created and led the Artist Services team, which oversaw the company's relationships with musicians and managers, discussing how the service works, its payment model, and promotions. Spotify's subscribers grew from one million to 20 million prior to him leaving the company in 2015. Wallach has invested in and advised technology companies that have included
Fancy, digital currency network
Ripple, and telemedicine innovator Doctor On Demand. Wallach partnered with billionaire
Ron Burkle in 2016 to form Inevitable Venture, a venture fund based in Los Angeles. He initially met Burkle at a Grammy party and helped him invest in Spotify. ==Discography==