Chertoff attended the
University of Pennsylvania, and whilst in
Philadelphia he met soon-to-be long-time friends
Rob Hyman and
Eric Bazilian and formed a lasting musical collaboration. Chertoff played drums in a local band "Wax" with Hyman and later produced and played with the band Baby Grand, which included both Hyman and Bazilian. He was a force behind the signing of Hyman and Bazilian's later band,
the Hooters to
Columbia Records, where he produced their multi-platinum albums,
Nervous Night,
One Way Home, and
Zig Zag. Chertoff's A&R career began under the training of
Clive Davis at the inception of
Arista Records. In his A&R/production role, Chertoff signed and produced, edited and remixed tracks for Arista artists including
the Kinks and the
Alan Parsons Project. Chertoff's Arista career culminated in his co-production of
Air Supply's first million-seller,
Lost in Love as well as his co-production of the theme from
Steven Spielberg's
Close Encounters of the Third Kind with composer
John Williams. In 1980, Chertoff joined Columbia Records, becoming Senior Vice President of A&R in 1989. He signed artists such as
the Band and Sophie B. Hawkins, and brought in label deals such as
Ruffhouse Records which resulted in albums from
the Fugees,
Lauryn Hill,
Wyclef Jean,
Kris Kross, and
Cypress Hill. One of Chertoff's biggest successes in his Columbia days was producing Lauper's debut album, ''She's So Unusual''. The album sold 9 million copies with hits such as "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "
All Through the Night", "
When You Were Mine" and "
Money Changes Everything." He brought together Hyman and Lauper who co-wrote the #1 hit, "Time After Time." Lauper and Chertoff then teamed up to write the hit, "
She Bop." In 1992, Chertoff started his
Blue Gorilla label at
Polygram. Blue Gorilla issued Joan Osborne's
Relish, a multi-platinum album and worldwide hit which also garnered 7 Grammy nominations, including 'producer of the year'. Chertoff co-wrote and co-produced the song "
Christmas of Love" for
Ron Howard's film
How the Grinch Stole Christmas and he co-wrote and co-produced the theme for
Jerry Zucker's film,
Rat Race with
Jon Carin from Pink Floyd and songwriter David Forman, who also performed the lead vocals for each song. He has produced
the Dream Jam Band, a group that writes and performs music for family audiences.
Largo is based on the second movement of Dvorak's "
Symphony from the New World." The album, which Chertoff co-produced and co-wrote, features David Forman,
the Chieftains,
Taj Mahal,
Garth Hudson,
Levon Helm, Lauper, Osborne,
Carole King, Hyman and Bazilian and uses Dvorak's journey to America as a tapestry of American
blues and
folk music. He is in collaboration to bring
Largo to the stage. ==References==