(updated 10/13/08)
Bruce
Witkin originally wanted to be a drummer, but he took up the bass when
he was about 12. His mom was managing a band that kept going
through bass players, and he
thought maybe he'd be needed someday! In
1978, Bruce Witkin became a founding member of The Kids (originally
called The Kydz), the band that Johnny Depp later joined in 1980.
(See more about The Kids in the Bands
section, as well as photos Posed
and On
Stage).
Besides playing bass and keyboards and doing lead vocals,
Bruce
did most of the songwriting for The Kids. After the band
moved to
LA and then broke up, Bruce was able to get a Kids song - one of his
compositions, Time To Explain - featured in a 1985 movie:
Credit for The Legend Of Billie Jean (click to enlarge):
And he also got two post-Kids songs included in the 1986 movie Head Office. Credits:
Bruce had gotten to know Adam Ant through his
sister, and
in 1993, he played on an album of Adam's called Persuasion.
Unfortunately, the album was never released, but there was a
short tour in which Bruce was featured. Bruce continued his
stint
in Adam and the Ants by playing on the 1995 album, Wonderful, and
playing on that tour. By this time, Bruce had established a band of his
own called Flux, and on the Wonderful tour, Flux served as an opening
act for shows on both coasts. Unfortunately, Flux never got a
record deal and eventually disbanded.
Meanwhile, Bruce started up his own record company, PopSquad records, and gained much success as a record producer, engineer and session musician. More recently, he began another record label, Unison Music, with Ryan Dorn. There are currently three artists signed to Unison: Marianne Keith, Peech, and Noah Sugerman.
He also formed a "supergroup" called Supremium with the former drummer Rob Klonel from Flux, Coz Canler of The Romantics, and Doug Nahory who had played keyboards for Alanis Morrisette. They released at least 3 albums, including Chemical Imbalance, Lucky, and a more publicized 2001 release called Tales. Scans for Chemical Imbalance and Tales can be seen below; that for Lucky is shown here, courtesy of the Adam-Ant.net interview link shown below.
Among Bruce's many musical
contributions was to
play bass on the 2000 album Bliss, released by Johnny's longtime
companion Vanessa Paradis; he also toured with her in 2001.
(Vanessa also thanks Bruce in the linter notes of her 2007
album,
Divinidylle).
Bruce
crossed paths with Johnny again in 2003 by collaborating with him, Bill
Carter and Ruth Ellsworth on the Once
Upon A Time In Mexico selection,
Sands Theme. Another major contribution was made to the film
industry in 2004 when Bruce participated in the soundtrack to the
Martin Short movie Jiminy
Glick In Lalawood; Bruce composed or
co-composed much of the music and performed a few tracks.
In 2005, Bruce toured with rockabilly singer James Intveld, who was supporting The Blasters. Bruce also played on the 2005 Blasters release, 4-11-44. Their tour included a show at Johnny's former club The Viper Room on Oct. 20. In the fall of 2006, he was playing "Hard Again Wednesdays" at the Vine Street Lounge in Hollywood, along with Supremium bandmate Coz Canler, Clem Burke from Blondie, Eddie Munoz from the Plimsouls and Rhett Frazier. And on January 28, 2007, Bruce reunited once more with The Kids in Pompano Beach for a special benefit reunion concert in tribute to his mother, Sheila Witkin (see Photo Gallery for photos).
Finally, Bruce has been actively involved with Johnny on the film production of Sweeney Todd. His daughter Veronica first verified this on a Depp message board. Johnny first mentioned going into a recording studio with Bruce (though he wasn't mentioned by name) in a May 10, 2007 interview with the Philippine Inquirer:
Bruce Witkin Compositions
Meanwhile, Bruce started up his own record company, PopSquad records, and gained much success as a record producer, engineer and session musician. More recently, he began another record label, Unison Music, with Ryan Dorn. There are currently three artists signed to Unison: Marianne Keith, Peech, and Noah Sugerman.
He also formed a "supergroup" called Supremium with the former drummer Rob Klonel from Flux, Coz Canler of The Romantics, and Doug Nahory who had played keyboards for Alanis Morrisette. They released at least 3 albums, including Chemical Imbalance, Lucky, and a more publicized 2001 release called Tales. Scans for Chemical Imbalance and Tales can be seen below; that for Lucky is shown here, courtesy of the Adam-Ant.net interview link shown below.
In 2005, Bruce toured with rockabilly singer James Intveld, who was supporting The Blasters. Bruce also played on the 2005 Blasters release, 4-11-44. Their tour included a show at Johnny's former club The Viper Room on Oct. 20. In the fall of 2006, he was playing "Hard Again Wednesdays" at the Vine Street Lounge in Hollywood, along with Supremium bandmate Coz Canler, Clem Burke from Blondie, Eddie Munoz from the Plimsouls and Rhett Frazier. And on January 28, 2007, Bruce reunited once more with The Kids in Pompano Beach for a special benefit reunion concert in tribute to his mother, Sheila Witkin (see Photo Gallery for photos).
Finally, Bruce has been actively involved with Johnny on the film production of Sweeney Todd. His daughter Veronica first verified this on a Depp message board. Johnny first mentioned going into a recording studio with Bruce (though he wasn't mentioned by name) in a May 10, 2007 interview with the Philippine Inquirer:
I
ended up going into a recording studio with a friend of mine and I just
sang to the tracks to find out if I could do it at all. It’s
not unlike the mating call of a rutting stag. It’s a very
strange sound but so far, I have not been fired, which is good.
We’ll see. I hope you like it.
In
the November 9, 2007 issue of Entertainment
Weekly, Johnny describes the process of testing his ability to sing the
role:So
you went into a West Hollywood recording studio with Bruce Witkin, who
used to play in that band the Kids with you in the early '80s, and now
is a recording engineer.
It was just myself in a booth and Bruce at the controls. Just the two of us. I was in there singing and he was in there pushing buttons, recording stuff. This guy is someone I've known for 30 years. He's a brother. We worked in bands together, we were on the road together. We lived together when we were teenagers. His mom was basically my second mom. It was an enormous help and comfort. It meant everything in finding Sweeney. I'm so pleased that he was there, that the first dive was with him.
Bruce served as a producer on the Sweeney
Todd Motion Picture Soundtrack and has a film credit as
the producer of Johnny's voice for the film. He also appears
in the DVD extras.It was just myself in a booth and Bruce at the controls. Just the two of us. I was in there singing and he was in there pushing buttons, recording stuff. This guy is someone I've known for 30 years. He's a brother. We worked in bands together, we were on the road together. We lived together when we were teenagers. His mom was basically my second mom. It was an enormous help and comfort. It meant everything in finding Sweeney. I'm so pleased that he was there, that the first dive was with him.
Some additional photos (click to
enlarge)
 with The Kids 1980's |
 spotted with P 1997 |
 with Vanessa Paradis 2001 |
||
 with Supremium 2001 |
in the studio for Sweeney Todd 2006/2007 |
 with The Kids 2007 |
Here
are some great links to read more about Bruce Witkin:
- A great interview on Adam-Ant.net (A source for most of my information above!)
- Adam Ant main page
- music.com entry on Supremium's Tales
- fufkin.com review and in-depth discussion of the songs of Supremium's Tales (scroll down for Supremium content)
- Blasters interview describing the recording of 4-11-44 in Bruce's studio
- Wildside Records article about Rubicon recording in Bruce's studio
- photos of Supremium at the House Of Blues in September, 2001
- Feb. 2008 Sun-Sentinel article about Bruce and his involvement with Sweeney Todd
Bruce Witkin Compositions
Mostly
taken from US Copyright records
created/copyright(s) Title {collaborators}
| 1981/1985 | Time To Explain |
| 1980/1985 | Tell Me What You Want |
| 1985/1985 | I Need Love {You Need Love credited in Head Office with Jimmy Gambone as cowriter} |
| 1985/1985 | (You're in my dreams) Sur[r]eal, Sur[r]eal |
| 1985/1986 | Head office collection number 1 {with Goin' Down et al.; 2 selections from the motion picture Head Office} |
| 1983/1987 | The Man That Knows Too Much {with Jim Gambone} |
| 1987/1987 | Don't Turn Your Back {with Mark Anthony Pizzuti, Martin E. Wagner} |
| 1987/1987 | Burning Love {with Mark Anthony Pizzuti, Martin E. Wagner} |
| 1987/1987 | Wrecking Ball {with Mark Anthony Pizzuti, Martin E. Wagner} |
| 1987/1987 | Rushin' Roulette (aka Russian Roulette) {with Mark Anthony Pizzuti, Martin E. Wagner} |
| 1987/1987 | Take This Heart Ache With You {with Mark Anthony Pizzuti, Martin E. Wagner} |
| 1987/1987 | On A Night Like This {with Mark Anthony Pizzuti, Martin E. Wagner, Tim McTighe} |
| 1987/1987 | The Lonely Bulls : vol. I {with Jeffery Richard Levine} |
| 1987/1988 | Paper Dolls {with Mitch Goodman} |
| xxxx/2002 | Supremium : vol. 2 {2 songs; with George Canler} |
| 2000/2002 | The Girl I Want {with Robert Klonel} |
| 2000/2002 | Bruce 2000 {compact disc} |
| xxxx/2003 | Sands Theme {with Johnny Depp, Bill Carter, Ruth Ellsworth} |
| Jiminy Glick In Lalawood soundtrack (from IMDb): | |
| xxxx/2004 | Going All Night {with Kirsten Proffit} |
| xxxx/2004 | To Believe (performed by Bruce Witkin) |
| xxxx/2004 | Here Now With Me {with Kirsten Proffit} |
| xxxx/2004 | Tech-no Hospital {with Doug Nahory} |
| xxxx/2004 | What Cha Got {with Doug Nahory} |
| xxxx/2004 | Going Off The Hook {with Matt Davis} |
| xxxx/2004 | I Got To Know {with Martin Short} |
| xxxx/2004 | Raid Rap (performed by Bruce Witkin) |
| xxxx/2004 | Red Hot Man {with Kirsten Proffit, Doug Nahory} |
Also see Kids: I Wanna Be Me; Supremium: Chemical Imbalance, Tales: (click images to enlarge)
Bruce Witkin Partial Discography
The following entries are taken from a combination of searches on Barnes & Noble, Google and other sites, and scans of some recordings from my own collection. It is not meant to be a complete list and may very well have a lot of omissions! Additions and corrections are always appreciated!
Performer
| 1995 | Adam Ant: Wonderful. Bass, Mellotron, Background Vocals |
| 1997 | Supremium: Chemical Imbalance. Lead Vocals, Guitars |
| 2000 | Vanessa Paradis: Bliss. Bass, Guitar, Double Bass |
| 2000 | James Intveld: Somewhere Down The Road. Electric Bass |
| 2000/2003 | Adam Ant: Antbox. Bass Guitar |
| 2001 | Vanessa Paradis: Au Zenith. Choir, Chorus, Basse |
| 2001 | Linus Of Hollywood: Let Yourself Be Happy. Bass, Shaker |
| 2001 | Supremium: Tales. Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals |
| 2003 | Peter Malick: Chance & Circumstance. Bass, Guitar |
| 2005 | The Blasters: 4-11-44. Bass |
| 2005 | Tim Burgess: I Believe [Bonus Tracks]. Upright Bass |
| 2006 | Wisely: Parador. Bass |
Engineer
| 1997 | Jack Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness |
| 1999 | Henry Phillips: No. 2 |
| 2000 | Vanessa Paradis: Bliss |
| 2001 | Midnight in the Patch: Tribute to Smashing Pumpkins |
| 2001 | Flammable: Tribute to the Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| 2001 | Tribute 2 Prince: Sexykinkyjazzysmooth |
| 2001 | Ozma: Rock and Roll Part Three |
| 2001 | Freedom: Tribute To Rage Against The Machine |
| 2002 | Pickin' On Lonestar |
| 2002 | Steel Guitar Tribute to ZZ Top |
| 2002 | Even Better Than The Real Thing: A U2 Tribute |
| 2002 | Pickin' on Travis Tritt: A Tribute |
| 2002 | The Steel Guitar Tribute To Garth Brooks |
| 2002 | L.A. Guns: Waking the Dead |
| 2003 | Kim Fox: Return to Planet Earth (drum engineering) |
| 2003 | Peter Malick: Chance & Circumstance |
| 2004 | Peter Malick & Norah Jones: New York City: The Remix Album |
| 2004 | Ari Hest: Someone to Tell |
| 2005 | L.A. Guns: Tales from the Strip |
| 2005 | The Blasters: 4-11-44 |
| 2006 | Driveblind: Driveblind |
| 2006 | Wisely: Parador |
| 2007 | Pickin On Brooks & Dunn: Special Edition |
| 2008 | Linus Of Hollywood: Attractive Singles |
| 2008 | James Intveld: Have Faith |
Mastering
| 2001 | Opening the Doors: The Blues Tribute to the Doors |
Producer
| 2001 | Ozma: Rock and Roll Part Three |
| 2001 | Linus Of Hollywood: Let Yourself Be Happy |
| 2001 | Supremium: Tales |
| 2001 | Freedom: Tribute To Rage Against The Machine |
| 2002 | Ozma: The Doubble Donkey Disc |
| 2003 | Peter Malick: Chance & Circumstance |
| 2003 | Once Upon A Time In Mexico: Soundtrack (Sands Theme: co-producer) |
| 2007 | Sweeney Todd Motion Picture Soundtrack ("vocals for Mr. Depp") |
| 2008 | Linus Of Hollywood: Attractive Singles |
| 2008 | James Intveld: Have Faith |
Please
if you
have any corrections or additions!
