Glen Brunman (New York) is an American music executive. Noted as an "architect of the soundtrack landscape," Brunman’s credits include more than 200 soundtrack releases which have cumulatively sold in excess of 150 million albums worldwide. In various capacities, he has been associated with releases which have won 21 Grammys and nine Academy Awards.
Early life and education
Brunman was born and raised in Forest Hills, Queens. He was educated in the New York City public school system, and attended Queens College, where he became a leading student activist.
He served as student body president in 1968–69, and was a member of the National Supervisory Board of the United States National Student Association from 1967 to 1970. Following his graduation, Brunman served as a statewide student coordinator for New York Senator Charles Goodell's 1970 re-election campaign.
Career
In early 1973, after a series of odd jobs, Brunman was hired as a political reporter and music critic for Good Times, an alternative newspaper based on Long Island. He was promoted to managing editor in the summer of 1973; in that position, he increased the paper’s focus on music. In February, 1975, Brunman was hired by Columbia Records as a publicist.
Working with Bruce Springsteen, Brunman designed a publicity campaign that de-emphasized interviews and feature stories and instead concentrated on getting as many journalists as possible to see Springsteen in concert. The strategy proved effective as critics turned in "rave reviews," which helped to build the momentum that resulted in Springsteen’s simultaneous appearance on the covers of Time and Newsweek in October 1975.
Brunman continued to serve as Springsteen’s publicist through the release of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. He also led the press campaigns for Billy Joel’s breakthrough albums, The Stranger and 52nd Street. In December, 1978, Brunman moved to Los Angeles to become Director of West Coast Publicity for Epic Records. At Epic, in addition to representing other artists, Brunman served as Michael Jackson’s primary label publicist, working with him on the Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad albums.
Brunman was named Head of Publicity and Media Relations for the label in 1988, a job that also included artist development and marketing responsibilities. In addition to overseeing the media and artist development campaigns for Celine Dion, Brunman served as a marketing strategist for her first two English language albums. In 1990, Brunman played a pivotal role in Epic’s acquisition of the soundtrack rights for John Barry’s Academy Award-winning score for Dances With Wolves, and directed the marketing campaign for the album. Following that album’s success, Brunman was charged with creating Epic Soundtrax, the first major label imprint dedicated to soundtracks.
The label’s first hit was a 1992 country and rock Elvis Presley tribute album which served as the soundtrack for Honeymoon in Vegas. In 1993, Epic Soundtrax released the Judgment Night soundtrack, the first album where each track featured a collaboration between rock and hiphop artists. Between 1993 and 1994, the label released three soundtracks for films starring Tom Hanks: Sleepless In Seattle, Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. The Philadelphia soundtrack reunited Brunman with Springsteen, who composed "Streets of Philadelphia" for the film. The song went on to win an Academy Award and four Grammys. As of 2014, the three soundtracks combined had sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
In 1996, Brunman was put in charge of soundtracks for all of the Sony Music labels as Executive Vice President of the newly created Sony Music Soundtrax. In 1997, in conjunction with Columbia Records, Brunman helped assemble the first 'inspired by' album, the multi-platinum Men in Black compilation. Additionally, in partnership with Sony Classical, Brunman acquired the soundtrack for Titanic. The album included the James Horner score for the film and the song "My Heart Will Go On," written by Horner and Will Jennings and performed by Celine Dion.
Horner won an Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score, and "My Heart Will Go On" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in addition to four Grammmy Awards. "My Heart Will Go On" was the fourth movie/music opportunity that Brunman generated for Dion. It followed the title track duet for 1991's Beauty and the Beast, the 1993 "When I Fall In Love" duet for Sleepless In Seattle, and 1995's "Because You Loved Me" for Up Close and Personal. "My Heart Will Go On" appeared on both the Titanic soundtrack and Dion's Let's Talk About Love album.