Arts & Entertainment

MUSIC MAESTRO I ON THE COVER

Southfield's
Mike Posner is
on the verge of
musical stardom.

Mike Posner: "I grew up in a

family with a strong commitment
to the community and bringing
people together. This is precisely

what I intend to achieve with my
music."

Nathan Greenberg
and David Weisman
Special to the Jewish News

I

is a winter's Thursday night on
the Indiana University campus in
Bloomington, the biggest party night
of the week, but the students here are even
more excited than usual. The way they
have been talking about tomorrow night's
concert, one would think a multi-platinum
artist such as Jay-Z is coming to perform.
But Friday night's sold-out show fea-
tures Mike Posner, a 22-year old recent
college graduate who has never even
released an official CD.
Posner is one of the most promising
up-and-coming artists on the music scene
today. His songs have been downloaded
online hundreds of thousands of times,

and his music is a fixture at college parties
across the country.
His mashed-up sound — hip-hop, soul-
ful, singer-songwriter all coming together
through Posner's unique pop sensibilities
— has landed the Detroit native a major-
label record contract as the first step on
what he is confident will be a long-term
career in the music industry.
A graduate of Birmingham Groves
High School and Duke University in
Durham, N.C., Posner started making
music — putting down beats —at age 13
in the basement of his Southfield home.
A summer at band camp hooked him on
the drums. And he listened to all kinds of
music — from Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin,
Outkast and Pearl Jam to Paul Simon,
Elton John, Eric Clapton and Nirvana. A
summer internship at a Detroit hip-hop

station after his freshman year of college
introduced him to many members of
Metro Detroit's hip-hop scene.
During college, Posner released a free,
genre-spanning mixtape of his music on
iTunes. A Matter of Time featured inno-
vative mash-ups of songs like Beyonce's
"Halo" as well as completely original songs
like "Cooler Than Me" and "Drug Dealer
Girl" and earned rave reviews and word-
of-mouth that won Posner a rabid fan
base, including the respect of Kanye West
protege Big Sean, a frequent musical col-
laborator. Posner's first big hit, the afore-
mentioned "Cooler Than Me:' a catchy
denunciation of pretentious teenage girls,
was an Internet sensation.
Last year, while finishing his bachelor's
degree with studies in sociology and busi-
ness, Posner was courted by most major

record labels. In August, he signed with
J Records — a subsidiary of Sony BMG
Music Entertainment distributed through
the RCA/Jive label group — where he
joined the likes of Jamie Fox, Alicia Keys
and Leona Lewis.

Community Support
Jewish values have had a strong influence
on Posner's achievements. He credits the
Jewish community with being supportive
of him since the beginning of his career.
His family — dad Jon Posner, a crimi-
nal defense attorney, and mom Roberta
Henrion, a pharmacist, of Southfield;
and sister, Emily, 28, a graduate of Colby
College in Waterville, Maine, where she
lives and works as a community organizer

Matter of Time on page 39

June 3 • 2010

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