Neal Pogue

Neal H Pogue (born December 27, 1963) is an American producer, audio engineer and mixer originally from Roselle, New Jersey, and based in Los Angeles. Pogue is a multi-time Grammy Award winner, having first won for his engineering and mixing work on Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below – which won the Album of the Year category, and his audio mixing work on Tyler, the Creator's Igor and Call Me If You Get Lost – which both records won the Best Rap Album category respectively in 2020 & 2022. Pogue has also produced for artists such as M.I.A, Nelly Furtado, Earth, Wind & Fire and has mixed for artists such as TLC, Pink, Nicki Minaj, Janelle Monáe, Tyler, the Creator, and Steve Lacy. Having engineered and mixed TLC's Grammy nominated 11-time platinum single "Waterfalls", Pogue also arranged the horns on "Waterfalls" under the pseudonym "Shock". Pogue has gone on to work with many prominent names in music.

Life and career Pogue was born on December 27, 1963, in Roselle, New Jersey, the son of social worker Joan Ford and artist Arthur Pogue. At a young age, his interest in music started with the drums, when his mom gave him his first drum set. In 1984, he took his dreams of becoming a tour drummer to Los Angeles, California . After numerous attempts of breaking into the industry as a musician, Pogue enrolled at Sound Master Recording, a local school for audio engineering. By experimenting with instruments by recording them on a four-track recorder, he began to appreciate the craft of engineering. After school through a mutual friend, Pogue interned at a studio owned by Michael Jackson's younger brother Randy Jackson. He was then awarded with the opportunity to be an assistant engineer on Jackson's Randy & The Gypsys album. Pogue assisted there for a year. During Pogue's internship, he met Larrabee Sound Studios owner Kevin Mills and interned under him for 1 year due to Mills' encouragement that Pogue should go out on his own. In 1990, while doing various recording and mixing gigs in LA, he came in contact with Bobby Brown through Louil Silas Jr., who was an MCA Records Executive A&R at the time. Brown, who was living in Atlanta at the time, suggested that Pogue work there with him on his self-titled album. While working in Atlanta, Pogue fell in love with the city and decided to move him and his family there in 1992. While in Atlanta, through recording artist Pebbles, Pogue met the newly formed production company Organized Noize whom at the time had the LaFace Records bound unsigned hip hop duo Outkast. Through his relationship with LaFace he came in contact and worked with Toni Braxton, Goodie Mob, TLC, and Outkast, who he would go on to engineer multiple successful albums for. Pogue went on to start his own production company, Fulton Yard Unlimited, with partner Walter McKennie, with whom he has worked with M.I.A., Nelly Furtado, En Vogue, and Earth Wind & Fire.

Pogue currently resides in Los Angeles where he has continued a prolific mixing career including working on albums for R&B/hip hop duo THEY., Swedish artist Robyn's #1 charted album Honey, "Tonya" for Brockhampton's Iridescence, and Macy Gray for whom he mixed her album Ruby.

Career highlights Working with Outkast In 1993, Pogue began working on Outkast's initial effort Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. After Outkast's initial effort released in 1994, Pogue mixed two songs from TLC's 1995 album Crazy Sexy Cool, one being the smash hit "Waterfalls" which followed by Pogue mixing the hit single "Elevators" on Outkast's second studio album ATLiens in 1996, then mixing Aquemini in 1998. In 2000, Pogue mixed hit singles "Ms. Jackson" and "B.O.B" from the album Stankonia. In 2002, Andre 3000 came to Pogue with new music for what was soon to be Outkast's Grammy Award-winning album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Andre played Pogue a demo version of "Hey Ya". Pogue convinced Andre 3000 to choose "Hey Ya" as Speakerboxxx/The Love Below's lead single. The genre-bending song went on to become one of the most iconic songs of the 2000s appearing on multiple charts including Billboard's Adult Top 40, US Alternative Songs Chart, and Hot 100 where it sat at #1 for nine weeks. While working in collaboration with Outkast, Pogue mixed tracks such as "She Lives in My Lap", "She's Alive", "Prototype", "Take Off Your Cool" featuring Grammy Award-winner Norah Jones, "Spread" and "Vibrate".

Working with Earth, Wind & Fire In 2012, Pogue worked on the production, mixing, instrumentation and composing of Earth, Wind & Fire's 20th studio album Now, Then & Forever that was released on September 13, 2013. Pogue co-wrote on the song "Sign On". Pogue sent a track to Academy Award-nominated and Grammy-winning songwriter Siedah Garrett, which would become the lead single "My Promise". Pogue recorded the demo with Garrett, then sent it to Earth, Wind & Fire. The album charted as number 11 on the US Billboard 200, and charted as number 6 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

Discography 1990s

1994: Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik 1994: TLC - CrazySexyCool 1995: Goodie Mob - Soul Food 1995: Society Of Soul - Brainchild 1996: Outkast - ATLiens 1996: Tony Rich Project - Words 1997: Soul Food (Soundtrack) 1998: Outkast - Aquemini 1998: Goodie Mob - Still Standing 1999: Goodie Mob - World Party

2000s

2000: Ying Yang Twins - Thug Walkin' 2000: Pink - Can't Take Me Home 2000: Lucy Pearl - Lucy Pearl 2000: Outkast - Stankonia 2001: The Fast and the Furious: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2001: Yolanda Adams - Believe 2001: The Isley Brothers - Eternal 2002: Talib Kweli - Quality 2002: Citizen Cope – Citizen Cope 2003: Brian McKnight - U-Turn 2003: Queen Latifah - Persona 2003: Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below 2005: Transplants – Haunted Cities 2005: Stevie Wonder – A Time to Love 2005: Earth, Wind & Fire – Illumination 2006: Donavon Frankenreiter – Move by Yourself 2006: Nelly Furtado – Loose 2006: Outkast - Idlewild 2007: Talib Kweli - Eardrum 2007: Pharoahe Monch - Desire 2008: Kerli - Love Is Dead 2008: Busta Rhymes - Back on My B.S. 2008: Sean Garrett - Turbo 919 2008: Metronomy - Nights Out 2008: Solange - Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams 2008: Robin Thicke - Something Else 2008: Snoop Dogg - Ego Trippin' 2008: Gym Class Heroes - The Quilt 2008: The Game - LAX 2008: N.E.R.D. – Seeing Sounds 2008: Common – Universal Mind Control 2009: Franz Ferdinand – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand 2009: La Roux - La Roux 2009: Young Money – We Are Young Money

2010s

2010: Bow Wow ft. Chris Brown - "Ain't Thinkin' 'Bout You" 2010: Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday 2010: Lil Wayne - Rebirth 2011: Demi Lovato – Unbroken 2011: Lil Wayne - Tha Carter IV 2011: Awolnation - "Sail" 2012: T. Mills – Leaving Home 2013: Earth, Wind & Fire – "Guilding Lights" 2013: Zendaya - Zendaya 2013: LL Cool J - "Whaddup" 2013: Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up 2013: Aloe Blacc - Lift Your Spirit 2013: Earth, Wind & Fire - Now, Then & Forever 2013: Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady 2014: Aretha Franklin - Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics 2015: Janelle Monae - Wondaland Presents: The Eephus 2015: Joywave - How Do You Feel Now 2016: DRAM - Big Baby DRAM 2016: King - We Are King 2016: Duckwrth - I'm Uugly 2016: Metronomy - Summer 08 2017: Busta Rhymes - "Blessed" 2017: Duckwrth - An Xtra Uugly Mixtape 2017: Tyler, the Creator - Flower Boy 2017: THEY. - Nu Religion: Hyena 2017: ZZ Ward - The Storm 2017: Busty and the Bass - Uncommon Good 2018: Buddy - Harlan & Alondra 2018: Brockhampton - Iridescence 2018: Leikeli47 - "Roll Call" 2018: Tyler, the Creator - Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss' The Grinch 2018: Robyn - Honey 2018: Donna Missal - This Time 2018: Max Frost - "Good Morning" 2018: Macy Gray - Ruby 2018: Anderson .Paak - "Bubblin" 2018: Doja Cat - Amala 2018: Saint Jhn - Collection One 2018: The Grinch (soundtrack) 2018: THEY. - Fireside 2019: Duckwrth - The Falling Man 2019: Kaytranada - Bubba 2019: Scarypoolparty - Exit Form 2019: The Wreck Shit Club - "Beeper" 2019: Tyler, the Creator - Igor 2019: Doja Cat - Hot Pink 2019: Kemba - Gilda 2019: IDK - Is He Real? 2019: Cherokee - Just a Brooklyn Girl

2020s

2020: Ryan Beatty - Dreaming of David 2020: L'Impératrice - "Fou" 2020: Haim - Women in Music Pt. III 2020: Busty and the Bass - Eddie 2020: Duckwrth - SuperGood 2020: Pharrell Williams feat. Jay-Z - "Entrepreneur" 2021: Bonzie - Reincarnation 2021: Awolnation - Megalithic Symphony (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) 2021: Octavio - Someday I'll Be Happy 2021: The Marias - Cinema 2021: Michaela Jaé Rodriguez - "Something to Say" 2021: Doja Cat - Planet Her 2021: Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost 2021: The Undefeated - Liberated Music for the Movement Vol. 3 2021: Space Jam: A New Legacy (soundtrack) 2021: Baby Jake - The Sun Wakes Up Earlier Now 2021: BlackStarKids - Puppies Forever 2022: Leikeli47 - Shape Up 2022: Steve Lacy - Gemini Rights 2023: Andy Shauf - Norm 2024: Tyler, the Creator - Chromakopia 2025: Foxwarren - 2 2025: Tyler, the Creator - Don't Tap the Glass

Grammy Awards