QC Songwriter: Jon Gillette

I talked with Jon Gillette from his home studio here in the Quad Cities. He is a Davenport native that spent a long time Los Angeles as a musician/songwriter. Jon's written with Kevin Martin (Candlebox) Producer Tony Deniro and Evan Ross. He's constantly working on music having written and recorded over 1000 tunes...everything from rock to pop to country.

Jon is always working on music.  Whether it's working on music placement for film & TV or even working on a feature film where some of his music will be featured...he's always creating.

These days he's working on a feature film called "Aliens, Zombies & Stoners" which he calls a "wacky comedy".

He started writing music when he was 5 years old by taking Elvis Presley songs and changing the lyrics to his own.  He moved to the ukulele in the 3rd grade and added guitar & keyboard around 11 years old.  Right after high school he moved to LA to try his hand at music.

The life of a musician is always interesting to me.  Jon's is the classic story. The record companies start courting you...then Barbara Streisand finds out you're working with her manager so he kicks you to the curb and everyone else drops you...

I love talking to people about songwriting.  Normally I talk with local bands that have normal jobs and write from time to time.  They take it very serious...but not to the level Jon has.  He's got writing down to a science.  He'll decide what time of song he wants to write and instinctively knows where the verse ends and the bridge goes.

The idea of pulling an idea out of nowhere and now you've got a 3 minute song that pleases you and that other people will enjoy doing it why Jon continues to do what he does.

"That's an amazing feeling and literally why I keep doing it."

You can check out Jon's music here:

www.jongillettemusic.com or www.bandlab.com/jongillette or www.soundclick.com/jongillette