View source for Dallas Austin

{{Short description|American musician, songwriter, record producer (born 1970)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Dallas Austin
| image           =
| caption         =
| birth_name      = Dallas L. Austin
| alias           =
| birth_date      = {{Birth date and age|1970|12|29}}
| birth_place     = [[Columbus, Georgia]], U.S.
| death_date      =
| origin          =
| instruments     = Keyboards, drums, harmonica, guitar
| genre           = {{flatlist|
*[[Pop music|Pop]]
*[[Contemporary R&B|R&B]]
*[[hip-hop]]
}}
| occupations     = {{hlist|Record producer|songwriter|film producer}}
| years_active    = 1989–present
| label           = [[Rowdy Records|Rowdy]], Limp Records, [[Freeworld Entertainment|FREEWORLD]]
| associated_acts = {{flatlist|
*[[Another Bad Creation]]
*[[Namie Amuro]]
*[[Blu Cantrell]]
*[[Cris Cab]]
*[[Monica (entertainer)|Monica]]
*[[TLC (group)|TLC]]
*[[Macy Gray]]
*[[Sugababes]]
*[[Anastacia]]
* [[McFly]]
*[[Sammie]]}}
| website         = {{URL|www.dallasaustin.com}}
}}

'''Dallas L. Austin''' (born December 29, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, and film producer from [[Columbus, Georgia]].<ref name="songhall.org">{{cite web|publisher=songhall.org|title=Dallas Austin|url=https://www.songhall.org/profile/dallas_austin|access-date=October 10, 2022|archive-date=October 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027094004/https://www.songhall.org/profile/dallas_austin|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Biography==

=== Early life ===
{{Single source|date=October 2024|Early Life section}}
During a 2019 interview with [[DJ Vlad]],<ref name=":0" /> Dallas Austin detailed previously unknown or unconfirmed events involving his life and career. Austin was born in [[Columbus, Georgia]] and graduated from a Columbus High school. His mother and father owned a night club called “The Party Club”, where Austin would play instruments and DJ’d during the day time. After his father died, Austin’s mother moved her family and her restaurant/nightclub downtown and lived next door to the restaurant.<ref name=":0"/>

As a child, Austin became interested in music at the age of 7 and asked his mother to buy him a keyboard. She was initially reluctant because she thought he would become bored and quickly move on to a different interest. In order to convince his mother to make the purchase, he proposed she initially buy him a small machine. In addition, he successfully negotiated terms for obtaining new instruments: if he continued to make progress with learning how to use the machines she purchased, she would buy him larger, more intricate keyboards on a yearly basis.<ref name=":0"/>

As young men, Austin’s two brothers were frequently in and out of jail. When he was a teenager, one of his brothers threw a keyboard across his bedroom. This upset Austin greatly, as he felt music was his way out of the environment in which his family lived, and ended up as a defining moment in Austin’s life. He felt that he could no longer continue living in Columbus and boarded a bus to Atlanta with the intention of living with his aunt. In order to keep their family together, his mother decided to move as well, although it took several months before she and Austin’s brothers could join. After she saved money and began working in an Atlanta restaurant, the family was able to reunite; however, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] were a persistent presence in the neighborhoods in which the family lived.<ref name=":0" />

=== Career ===
Austin got his start in the music industry when his manager William "Vybe Chyle" Burke introduced him to his business partner, [[Klymaxx]] member [[Joyce Irby]].<ref name="Red Bull Music Academy">{{cite web|url=http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/09/highland-place-mobsters-feature|title=Make It Funky: The Rise & Fall of the Highland Place Mobsters|website=redbullmusicacademy.com|publisher=Red Bull Music Academy|access-date=2015-08-27|archive-date=July 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706032410/http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/09/highland-place-mobsters-feature|url-status=live}}</ref> Joyce was the "way out" Dallas had been looking for. She enlisted as an exclusive producer for her company Diva One Productions.<ref name="Red Bull Music Academy" /> Though Joyce believed in Dallas' ability, the record labels didn't see it the same way. Irby and Burke went from label to label shopping Austin's work but they just couldn't hear it. Joyce was determined that the world would hear Dallas Austin. In 1989, she scored a solo deal with Motown Records and had 3 charted Billboard singles, most notable "Mr. DJ" with Doug E. Fresh which was co-produced by Dallas peaking at #2. Finally there was a real breakthrough. Austin went on to produce the songs "My Music" and "[[I Will Always Love You (Troop song)|I Will Always Love You]]" for [[Troop (band)|Troop]]'s 1989 album ''[[Attitude (Troop album)|Attitude]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://waxpoetics.com/features/articles/producer-dallas-austin-talks-about-boyz-ii-mens-debut-album-cooleyhighharmony/|title=Producer Dallas Austin talks about Boyz II Men's debut album, 'Cooleyhighharmony'|website=Wax Poetics|language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-09|archive-date=July 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729210419/http://www.waxpoetics.com/features/articles/producer-dallas-austin-talks-about-boyz-ii-mens-debut-album-cooleyhighharmony/|url-status=dead}}</ref> When he was starting out as a producer, he would frequent a local skating rink and records that he produced would be played over the sound system; [[Tionne Watkins|T-Boz]], his future collaborator of [[TLC (group)|TLC]] fame, was also a frequent patron.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Dallas Austin on Producing Michael Jackson, TLC, Boyz II Men, Monica, Pink (Full Interview)| date=September 11, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDUoQmmB0KU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/cDUoQmmB0KU| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2019-11-03}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He used to take his keyboard to school with him, but his mother expressed annoyance at this, telling his school guidance counselor that she did not feel his production career would work out, but the counselor told her that because Austin had kept at his hobby for so long (it was his eleventh grade year), then perhaps it would indeed work out, and suggested that Austin's mother back him. His mother, upon hearing this from a third party, agreed to support Austin. Austin, who was nearly finished with his compulsory education, expressed his wish to cease going to school. His mother, though not pleased with this, allowed him to do so. He spent a large amount of his time at the aforementioned skating rink, where the owners had built a studio for an Atlanta production collective, [[Organized Noize]]. All of this was around 1986.<ref name=":0" />

In 1990, Austin branched out on his own. His work on Motown led him to work on albums by other acts signed to the label - the first being the little known group Glasswurk.<ref name="Red Bull Music Academy"/> Austin later helmed the bulk of the debut albums for the Motown signees [[Another Bad Creation]] and [[Boyz II Men]].<ref name="Red Bull Music Academy"/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Siegmund|first1=Heidi|title=The Young and the Rowdy : At 21, Dallas Austin is a hit R&B producer, an A&R scout, a hip-hop frontman and a record label owner. Now he wants to branch out|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-06-ca-3039-story.html|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=December 6, 1992|access-date=2015-12-20|archive-date=September 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924194006/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-06-ca-3039-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> When he telephoned Joyce Irby to say that he was to work with Boyz II Men, she told him that she was going to "[sue] everybody" and immediately thereafter hung up the phone. Austin initially did not understand why she said this, but would later find out that it was because he was considered a "work for hire" employee of Irby. He consulted a lawyer and the lawyer said that although the  employment contracts to which he was a party were not favorable to him, they were fair enough so he advised Austin to keep working under them. Irby did not sue anybody and everything worked out as Austin was, as aforementioned, able to produce on the debut Boyz II Men record.<ref name=":0" /> When DJ Vlad asked Austin why he only produced one song on Boyz II Men's second album, he said it was because he "didn't like them" after the first album. He said in turn that this was because the members had ostensibly become vain since their success had begun, paraphrasing them emphasizing costly tangibles with statements such as "Man [...] I can't finish counting the diamonds in my Rolex right now.", and "we gotta let somebody win [referring to music industry awards] this year; good thing we're not there."<ref name=":0" />

Austin was later recruited by [[L.A. Reid]] and [[Babyface (musician)|Babyface]] to work on a couple of projects for their record label, [[LaFace Records]].<ref name="Red Bull Music Academy"/> The duo recruited him to work on the debut album for TLC.<ref name="Red Bull Music Academy"/> From there, he was granted a deal for his short-lived group Highland Place Mobsters, which was Austin joining Theophilus "Chip" Glass of Glasswurk who were formerly signed to Motown.<ref name="Red Bull Music Academy"/> through Joyce Irby's Diva One Productions.

In 2014 Austin appeared on ''[[The Ellen DeGeneres Show]]'' as a co-host.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dallas Austin {{!}} Biography & History|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dallas-austin-mn0000953267/biography|access-date=2020-06-02|website=AllMusic|language=en-us|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917105259/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dallas-austin-mn0000953267/biography|url-status=live}}</ref>

After his success with other acts, Austin was recruited by [[After 7]] to produce a few songs on their second album, ''[[Takin' My Time (After 7 album)|Takin' My Time]]''. Austin then worked with [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]] on her 1994 album ''[[Bedtime Stories (Madonna album)|Bedtime Stories]]''. In the 2000s, Austin worked with pop acts and produced hit singles like TLC's "[[Unpretty]]", [[Pink (singer)|Pink]]'s songs "[[Don't Let Me Get Me]]" and "[[Just Like a Pill]]", and [[Gwen Stefani]]'s 2004 single "[[Cool (Gwen Stefani song)|Cool]]".

In 2025, Austin was announced as one of the remixers for the [[2026 FIFA World Cup]] theme, representing [[Atlanta]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://inside.fifa.com/organisation/news/world-cup-2026-host-city-sonic-ids|title=Official FIFA World Cup 26™ Sonic IDs celebrate diversity and creativity of Host Cities|website=inside.fifa.com}}</ref>

== Personal life ==

Austin has three children, including a son, Tron Austin, born in 1997 to TLC singer [[Rozonda Thomas|Chilli]], and a niece, whom he helped raise after the death of his brother, Claude Austin, in 1994.<ref name="I-Cheng Chan">{{cite web |url=http://gulfnews.com/culture/people/just-who-is-dallas-austin-1.242883 |title=Just Who Is Dallas Austin? |author=I-Cheng Chan |date= July 1, 2006 |website=gulfnews.com |publisher=Al Nisr Publishing LLC |access-date=March 8, 2016 |quote=Austin is married and has four children including a son, Tron, born in 1997 during his relationship with TLC's Rozonda "Chili"[sic] Thomas..}}</ref>

==Record labels founded by Dallas Austin==
* '''[[Rowdy Records]]''': Founded by Austin in 1992. The label was distributed by [[Arista Records]] and later, Motown Records when it was reactivated in 2005. Artists signed to the label were [[Illegal (group)|Illegal]], [[Da King & I]], [[Y'all So Stupid]] and [[Monica (singer)|Monica]]. Later artists during the reactivation include Colin Munroe and [[Da Backwudz]]. Rock act [[Fishbone]] signed to Rowdy after being dropped from [[Columbia Records]].
* '''Limp Records''': A short-lived label founded by Austin in 1993<ref>{{cite web|title=trademark: LIMP RECORDS|url=http://www.tmfile.com/mark/?q=744271671|website=tmfile.com|publisher=TMFile|access-date=2015-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305080724/http://www.tmfile.com/mark/?q=744271671|archive-date=March 5, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=LIMP RECORDS|url=http://www.trademarkia.com/limp-records-74427167.html|website=trademarkia.com|publisher=LegalForce, Inc.|access-date=2015-12-28|archive-date=November 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130131031/https://www.trademarkia.com/limp-records-74427167.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and distributed by [[EMI Records]]. Only two albums were issued by the label: ''A View to a Kill'' by Shadz of Lingo and ''[[The Pendulum Vibe]]'' by [[Joi (singer)|Joi]].
* '''Freeworld Entertainment''': A short-lived label founded by Austin in 1998 and distributed by [[Capitol Records]]. Released "[[Forty Six & 2]]", the fourth single from [[Tool (band)|Tool]]'s 1996 album ''[[Ænima]]''. Two artists were signed to the label: singer Lysette and teenage singer [[Sammie]], who released his debut ''[[From the Bottom to the Top]]'' in 2000. After Freeworld folded, Sammie released [[Sammie (album)|his follow-up album]] several years later on Austin's other label Rowdy Records.

==Recording studio==
Austin owned a personal recording studio named D.A.R.P., an acronym for "Dallas Austin's Recording Projects in which Alvin Speights was his primary mixing engineer."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hogan|first1=Ed|title=Dallas Austin - Biography & History|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dallas-austin-mn0000953267|website=allmusic.com|publisher=All Media Network, LLC|access-date=2015-12-28|archive-date=October 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151012142023/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dallas-austin-mn0000953267|url-status=live}}</ref> It was later renamed UAMG Studios, short for "Urban Angels Music Group."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/uamgatdarp|title=Urban Angels Studios (@UAMGatDARP) - Twitter|access-date=September 11, 2016|archive-date=April 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422130953/https://twitter.com/UAMGatDARP|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Discography==
{{Main|List of songs produced by Dallas Austin}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.myspace.com/dallasaustin/ Dallas Austin's myspace]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060707124044/http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/austin_dallas/bio.jhtml Dallas Austin biography on VH1.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080120072929/http://www.emimusicpub.com/worldwide/artist_profile/dallas-austin_profile.html EMI biography of Dallas Austin]
* {{IMDb name|0042356}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Dallas}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:African-American guitarists]]
[[Category:African-American record producers]]
[[Category:American electronic musicians]]
[[Category:American hip-hop record producers]]
[[Category:American pop rock musicians]]
[[Category:American rhythm and blues keyboardists]]
[[Category:Musicians from Columbus, Georgia]]
[[Category:Musicians from Atlanta]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:21st-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:21st-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:Universal Motown Records artists]]
[[Category:African-American songwriters]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American musicians]]
[[Category:American male songwriters]]