recordings with curiosity and ambition dissecting each note like a surgeon and precisely
orchestrating the production not only as a session studio musician but also as a record producer.
Jake took direction from Richard Becker who was the chief engineer for Motown Records and owner of
Pac 3 Recording Studio in Detroit that produced all of the hits for Westbound Record
(Parliament/Funkadelic, The Ohio Players, Patti LaBell.)
Jake later hooked up with DJ (Ben Mercado) who played Latin music at a Detroit local black
station, WJLB late at night. He worked for the DJ who asked Jake to go through the records from the mail
room addressed to the show and separate the playable records from the non-playable records. Jake got to
take the non-playable records home. The playable records, of course, were the records that contained
money in the album jackets.
The music industry was deeply embedded heart, mind and soul and it surrounded Jake day and night with
its creative influences. His devotion was unparalleled to no other desire.
Jake did a sting promoting records for several independent record promotions companies with clients such
as CBS Records, Warner Bros. Records, RCA Records, MCA Records and Capitol Records and traveled
around the country visiting stations and their PDs to get them to play the records.
During the late seventies and eighties he started working for labels, production companies and music
publishers while occasionally performing live and recording in the studio. Jake Salazar has led a
successful career as a music record executive a long side his many accomplishment as a record producer.
Jake has achieved three Grammy Nominations for his record productions. One in 1987 for "Best Mexican
American Performance " producer of the international recording of "Unidos Cantemos", Salvador Torres,
Discos MAS/Westbound/WB. Another in 1997 for "Best Polka Album " producer featuring Frank
Yankovic, Weird Al Yankovic, Drew Carey and Little Joe, Cleveland Int'l Records/CBS, and one in 1998 for
"Best Tejano Album" producer of Little Joe Y La Familia, EMI/Capitol Records along with 8 Gold Record
Awards, 1 Double Gold Record Award, 2 Platinum Record Awards, 1 Gold Video Award, Las Palmas De
Oro, 3 Producer of The Year, A.N.D.A. Awards, 2 La Medalla Ruben Fuentes, City of Detroit Proclamation,
City of Los Angeles Proclamation and various International Recognition awards.
Jake has recorded in Canada, England, Mexico and Australia achieving commercial success in Japan and
the UK and was personally invited to the Caribbean Island by producer George Martin (The Beatles) to
work at Air Studios in Montserrat. To his credit, Jake has recorded over fifty albums containing over five
hundred recordings.
Clarence Avant, the current Motown Record's Chairman mentored Jake steering him towards perfection not
only in his productions but also in the business of music.
According to Jake Salazar, a highlight of his executive career came about when he was asked to form a
Latin division for Satellite Records in Burbank, California in the early nineties. This was no ordinary
label. The label was owned by Warren "Pete " Moore a former member of The Miracles.
Pete wrote several of The Miracles greatest hits, including "Tracks Of My Tears ", "Ooo Baby Baby",
"Since I Lost My Baby", "Ain't That Peculiar" and "Going To A Go-Go. " Pete also produced records for
Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross & The Supremes. The label's president was Barney Alef
former president of Motown Records.
After Jake successfully established the Latin division, Barney Alef resigned and Jake Salazar was asked by
Pete Moore to become the President of Satellite Records, which Jake accepted.
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Being in the company of legends, heighten Jake's capabilities with extreme confidence.
Jake Salazar became affiliated with Manuel Montoya of MEG (Montoya Entertainment Group) a company
that provided international services to clients such as Herb Alpert, Janet Jackson, Marie Osmond, Quite
Riot, Julio Iglesias, Kenny Rogers, Placido Domingo and Sylvester Stallone to name a few and established
a production company.
Jake Salazar was a co-founder of the Tempo Music Group. A coalition of independent record companies
owned by veteran industry professionals and celebrities such as Anita Baker/Michael Powell, Sylvia Moy,
Martha Reeves, Isaiah Thomas, Thomas Hearns, John Salley, Lee Marcus, and Leonard Jones among other
prominent business colleagues.
Jake has been a consultant to over forty record labels and for many of the industries' major artists and