Oji Pierce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
April 26, 1969
- Songwriter
- Producer
- Keyboardist
- Engineer
Oji Pierce | |
|---|---|
| Born | Phillip Primes Pierce[1] April 26, 1969 |
| Died | August 21, 2006 (aged 46) |
| Occupations |
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Phillip "Oji" Primes Pierce (May 13, 1960 – August 21, 2006) was an American record producer, composer, keyboardist, and engineer who had collaborated with a number of music artists in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Pierce, the only son of Henry Primes Pierce and Rosella Harris Vaughn,[2] was born in Statesville, North Carolina.[1] He had two sisters, Dyrel and Ledra.[3] Pierce received his primary and secondary education in the District of Columbia school system.[1]
Career
Musically shaped by the church, Pierce's career as a songwriter, producer and arranger took off when he produced singer Montell Jordan's debut album This Is How We Do It (1995), along with its number-one title track. While the song earned Jordan a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, it won him and Pierce Best R&B 12-inch at the International Dance Music Awards in Miami.[4] Following the success with Jordan, Pierce became a sought-after producer in the R&B and hip hop scene, working with artists such as Kenny Lattimore, Norman Brown, CeCe Peniston, and Coolio, for whose album My Soul (1997) he contributed the single "Ooh La La."[1] In the late 1990s, he became instrumental in securing R&B duo Ruff Endz a recording deal with Epic Records.[5]
