AMIRAH

\\PROJECT//

TROY OLIVER

\\CHOCOLATE FACTORY, CEO//

Troy Oliver’s exceptional career in the music industry has benefited from choices. The hit-making, award-winning producer and songwriter believes music is in his DNA. “It’s a part of me,” he says, proudly. “I didn’t choose music, music chose me.”

A generational standard of excellence in R&B and Pop, the Connecticut born multi-instrumentalist famously wrote and produced “Jenny from the Block” and “I’m Real” for iconic entertainer and recording artist Jennifer Lopez, “Differences” for R&B icon Ginuwine, and scores for hit television shows Saints & Sinners on Bounce TV and both Empire and Star on FOX. Troy’s selections led him to be a 3-time ASCAP Award winner including two consecutive Songwriter of the Year honors, achieving two consecutive Billboard Song of the Year awards, bestowed iStandard’s Living Legend Award, and a Grammy nomination for his work on superstar singer and television personality Tamar Braxton’s highly regarded debut album Love & War. “I’ve been blessed and fortunate that music is all I’ve ever done,” he says. “I believe God doesn’t give incomplete gifts. My father’s a musician, my grandfather was a musician, my paternal grandmother was a musician. I’ve got a lineage. And I’ve been in the game for a while.”

Troy eventually moved to the predominantly African-American James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, CT. Here he joined a jazz band that played songs by Jodeci, R. Kelly, Guy, Silk, and other popular artists. This proved to be the right turn of events. “My advantage growing up was that I grew up around White people,” Troy says. “I loved 80s Pop music, but at the same time I’m Black so I loved Hip Hop too. I got the best of both worlds. My father is a preacher, I’m a PK, so I had the influence of Gospel music. I grew up around all kinds of music and I loved it all!” An eclectic musical upbringing contributed to Troy’s diverse list of production credits. Lenny Kravitz, Faith Evans, 50 Cent, Trevor Jackson, Trey Songz, Mandy Moore, Jadakiss, Styles P., Jessica Simpson, Ruff Endz, Sevyn Streeter, Alex Newell, Ja Rule, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legends Hall & Oates, among countless others, can attest that when it comes to Troy Oliver music undoubtedly made the right choice. “When I was little and people would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would always say musician,” he says. “I didn’t know to what extent. I didn’t know I could be a music producer at that age. But I knew then what my future was going to be.”