Who is Toby Gad? In his German homeland he is now a “DSDS” juror. In his adopted home of the USA, he has long been a music star – as a songwriter and producer of hits with Beyoncé and Madonna.
Toby Gad has hardly spoken German for more than two decades, but now the native of Munich is again able to speak his native language quite easily.
“I had to get my German back together. I read a few books out loud and my mouth hurt,” says Gad with a grin. “It’s a lot more mouthwork than American pronunciation.” Gad laughs a lot in the Zoom interview with the German Press Agency. The 53-year-old music producer is sitting in his studio in Los Angeles, with a view of the countryside. Pool, palm trees, hammock in front of the window.
Back home
The offer to become a juror on the RTL casting show “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” (DSDS) alongside pop star Florian Silbereisen and singer Ilse DeLange now brings Gad back to his homeland. The 19th season was recorded in Germany last summer, and the talent show is now on the air. The first issue on Saturday evening was watched by 2.65 million, significantly fewer than in previous years.
Gad looks back on 21 eventful years in which he fulfilled a dream in New York and Los Angeles. He wrote the hit “Big Girls Don’t Cry” with Fergie, produced “If I Were A Boy” with Beyoncé, and created the hit ballad “All Of Me” with John Legend. Recordings with Madonna, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus or Demi Lovato, invitations to Grammy parties, music trophies – Gad became a star himself in the American music scene.
wrote an autobiography
But the way was difficult. In the beginning he earned next to nothing. “The first three years you just have to persevere and work very hard and don’t expect anything at first,” the songwriter and producer looks back.
A cheap apartment with mold on the walls, a tight budget, noodles and soup, door-to-door cleaning every day in search of young talent and studios who want to work with him – that’s what Gad describes in his autobiography “All of Me”, which was published on Tuesday ( 25.1.) appears in Germany.
In any case, the son of a Dane and a German mother brought musical ability with him. At an early age he played in a band with his older brother and learned to play the piano and guitar. By the time he was 20, he was working for hit producer Frank Farian and writing songs for a Milli Vanilli album.
With the then unknown Fergie, Gad wrote the song “Big Girls Don’t Cry” in New York in 2002, but the song was only released five years later – and became a hit. It takes perseverance and patience in the industry, says Gad. “The music business is almost always a disappointment, 99 percent rejections, but something always worked out,” he says with a wink.
In 2009, Gad moved to Los Angeles with his wife, who was born in China, and their two daughters. It was there that his career finally took off. Of course, one is nervous about meeting big stars for recording, admits Gad. “It’s a bit like speed dating, because you don’t know them beforehand and then you have a few hours together.” He always prepared himself well, learned a lot about the artists and what was happening in their lives. “The goal is actually that you can improvise together and have fun together and just let the music flow out of you.”
Battle of words with Madonna
Things didn’t go so well with superstar Madonna at first. “It took a while and also needed some arguments,” says Gad about a longer recording in 2014. There was a veritable war of words when he urged Madonna to do a song again, saying “You can do it better”. record, Gad describes in his book.
«Madonna started to respect me. From then on she was also interested in my opinion and valued my honesty […] From then on I was, jokingly called, something like your German Dictator. » Gad writes that he experienced Madonna as a “warm-hearted” person. He and his wife were also invited by the singer to her birthday party at a castle in France.
Gad has many success stories, but also talks about missed opportunities when he failed to recognize and turned away young talent. “Taylor Swift, 13, was in the studio with me and Katy Perry, after she lost her second record deal and was so devastated, I could have started with him,” says the producer.
music as a drug
He is also critical of himself. At times, the job completely determined his life, music was like a drug. His family often had to hold back, he writes in “All of Me”. A few years ago, Gad pulled the brakes. Now he produces significantly fewer songs, but devotes himself to other hobbies and projects. He lives with his family on the edge of the Hollywood Hills, close to nature. He goes hiking and surfing and is active in environmental protection with his wife.
His heart project is the protection of endangered orangutans on the island of Borneo. Gad is currently making a film about Canadian primate researcher Biruté Galdikas and her organization Orangutan Foundation International.
Gad describes his new role as a DSDS juror as a “beautiful experience” that he would like to continue for many years. In principle, it’s like him in the record studio, where artists introduce themselves with their songs – “except that “DSDS” is in German,” laughs Gad. He would love to inspire others to believe and work on their dreams. “It’s worth fighting for and trying,” says Gad – from experience.