Name Gilbert Roswell | ||
"G Marq Roswell" is an American music supervisor based in Los Angeles.
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Early life
Raised in Los Angeles and a 6th generation Californian, Gilbert Marquard Roswell’s early fascination with rock music was influenced by his attendance of the Monterey Pop Festival when he was 17 years old. He witnessed bands such as The Who, Buffalo Springfield and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, who famously set his guitar aflame in the finale of his performance. The following year, Roswell worked and attended many rock concerts at the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles.
Early career
In 1968 and 1969, Roswell worked as a stage manager at the Shrine and witnessed such shows as The Grateful Dead, Traffic, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Buffalo Springfield, Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa’s backing band), Jimi Hendrix, The Electric Flag, Cream, Buddy Guy, Canned Heat, The Chambers Brothers, Jeff Beck, Iron Butterfly, and Big Brother and the Holding Company, best known as the band which featured Janis Joplin.
After graduating from UCLA Film School in 1971 Roswell aided in forming and managing the band Player with Paul Palmer. The band was signed to Robert Stigwood Organization (RSO Records), which was closely followed by their No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts "Baby Come Back", produced by Lambert and Potter. The band toured with Boz Scaggs, Kenny Loggins, Heart, and Eric Clapton. Roswell attended an early screening at Paramount Studios of the film Saturday Night Fever, produced by Stigwood. The music in the film, which was mostly composed of disco songs by the Bee Gees, inspired Roswell’s first inclination of a possible film career. Soon after, he sold his managing and publishing interest in his company and commenced with his goals of producing music for motion pictures.
Music supervision
Roswell reached out to Becky Mancuso who became his mentor and started him on the road of a 30-year career in music supervision. Roswell is known as one of the top mentors of music supervisors in the film business. He has worked with and mentored the following people: Karyn Rachtman, Gary Calamar, Thomas Golubic, Pilar McCurry, Robin Urdang, Adam Swart, Helle O'Connell, Garth Trinidad and his current partner Carter Little. For his first film as a music supervisor Roswell brought to director Barry Levinson the Fine Young Cannibals who wrote songs for the film Tin Men, spawning the Cannibals' follow up album, The Raw and the Cooked. Roswell also produced songs for many actors in singing roles such at Nicolas Cage in Wild at Heart, Kevin Costner in For Love of the Game, Keanu Reeves in Sweet November and River Phoenix in The Thing Called Love.
In 1991 Roswell was positioned as music supervisor for The Commitments, a film centered on the formation of a soul band in the tradition of Wilson Pickett. The film's soundtrack album, which Roswell had a heavy hand in producing, became platinum selling and was subsequently nomination for a Grammy. Roswell formed and managed a joint venture between PolyGram and Beacon Films, signing and developing The Corrs, a band whose members were all cast in the film. They were eventually signed to Atlantic Records and sold 40 million records worldwide.
Aside from music supervision, which many times strictly entails the selection of preexisting songs, Roswell has participated in the actual production of music featured in the films he has worked on. Roswell’s current company is called 35Sound, which he runs with his current partner Carter Little. Roswell and Carter have worked with RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, The Black Keys, and Kanye West for the soundtrack album of the recently released The Man with the Iron Fists.
Personal life
Roswell lives with his wife, Karen Roswell, and his son, Cal, in Pacific Palisades.