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FRANK McDONOUGH, PRESIDENT AND
MANAGER,
McDONOUGH MANAGEMENT LLC
Frank McDonough credits his career in the music
business to being a failed rock
star. After playing guitar in bands during high
school in St. Louis, sure that one day
he would be a star, he appeased his father by
enrolling at Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles. Although college was
just a cover for playing in bands and
trying to land a record deal, he still managed
to graduate before a contract material-
ized. Needing a temporary job to pay the bills
until he got signed to a label, he found
work in the aerospace industry.
After three years, McDonough says, "I realized
that working for a living might not
be as temporary as I first thought." He decided
that if he had to work while waiting to
be a rock star, it should at least be in the
music industry. He got a job in A&R admin-
istration at Arista Records in 1988 on the
strength of his aerospace computer skills.
"At the time, they were keeping track of
quarter-million dollar recording budgets on
giant ledger sheets. I think I got there just
after they graduated from using quills to
actual ballpoint pens," he laughs. "I had
experience with computers and spreadsheets.
That is why they hired me. At Arista I got a
good sense of what each department did,
and I knew I didn't want to work in promotion
or retail and I didn't want to work in
publicity." That knowledge was an asset when an
offer to manage record producers
came in 1992.
Thinking that management might be interesting,
he took the job. When the owner
of the company he was working for made a career
change in 1995, McDonough and a
group of his clients moved to Moir Marie
Entertainment. Together, McDonough's
diverse and talented roster of producers,
engineers, and mixers have worked on
recordings for AC/DC, Aerosmith, Black Crows,
Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin, Def
Leppard, Goo Goo Dolls, Loudmouth, Madonna,
Sarah McLachlan, John
Mellencamp, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the
Machine, Lou Reed, R.E.M., Santana, Stone
Temple Pilots, and Shania Twain.
After six years with Moir/Marie, McDonough
decided to form his own company
and established McDonough Management LLC in
2000. His new roster of clients
have produced recordings for Babyface, Tool,
Live, and Switchfoot. www.mcdman.com
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