B. George

Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, George came to New York City in 1974 as a visual arts student at the Whitney Museum Studio Program. From 1975 to 1979, he co-directed performance artist Laurie Anderson's stage show. In 1977, he formed One Ten Records and released the first commercial compilation of audio work by visual artists--a two record set entitled "Airwaves," that included the initial recordings of Laurie Anderson and unreleased work by Meredith Monk. In 1980, he received a National Endowment grant to produce recordings by visual artists, and in 1981 released Laurie Anderson's first single "O Superman." This single went to number two on the UK charts and reached the top 20 in 16 countries. It was eventually released by WEA and has sold close to a million copies worldwide.

In 1981, Mr. George published the first comprehensive discographical reference work on Punk and New Wave music, called "Volume: The International Discography of the New Wave." By its second edition in 1982, the book had grown to over 700 pages and was distributed internationally by Omnibus Press. "Volume" continues to be the definitive reference guide to this material (cited in The Reader's Catalog, England Dreaming, and many other publications).

As a consultant, Mr. George selected soundworks for the Paris Biennale in 1981 and 1983, and for New Music America in 1984. From 1982 to 1985, he produced an occasional survey of new American pop and experimental music for the BBC that was broadcast as part of "The John Peel Show" in the United Kingdom. From the mid-90s on, he has helped with the Arts & Events program at New York City's World Financial Center. In 1997 he selected three bands as part of their free "Dance on the Waterfront" outdoor summer series: Orchestra Broadway, Geno Delafose and Rosie Flores.

Mr. George has DJ'd, collected sound recordings and interviewed musicians throughout Western & Southern Europe & Scandinavia, Russia, Africa (Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Senegal, the Gambia, Zaire, Morocco and Egypt), the Near and Middle East (Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India), Mexico, Colombia and the Caribbean. Long residencies abroad include India (one year) and Jamaica (two years).

His interest in world music has led him to produce singles by Orchestra Jazira (Ghana/UK) and Sonny Okuson (Nigeria). He has written about music for The Village Voice, Playboy, Creem, Elle, Spin, Billboard and Benetton's Colors, occasionally writing about "music & food" for Saveur magazine. He contributed to the planning of and provided research material for "Goodtime Kings" by Billy Bergman (Planet Rock/Quarto Books, 1985), the first American book on contemporary African Pop.