Ivey Merits National Recognition with
Award-Winning Music Production Company
Krista Lee Photography
The next time you tune into The Weather Channel, you will probably hear music produced by Mercer alumnus Steve Ivey, who took what he learned from Mercer’s Townsend School of Music and from Macon’s music scene to create Ivey Music International — an award-winning music production and publishing company located on Music Row in Nashville, Tenn.
Ivey graduated from Mercer in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music voice performance and communications. He began writing and performing songs at Mercer and got his first taste in music production when Dr. Lowen Marshall, former head of the music department, allowed him to do an unprecedented internship at Macon’s Muscadine Recording Studio.
“Dr. Marshall was very nice in allowing me to do my internship at the studio and learn the ins and outs of commercial music, especially in the confines of a very classical music department,” Ivey said.
Ivey incorporated his company one year before he earned his diploma, and he credits Mercer and the skills he learned during his internship to his success. “Without Mercer’s classical base, general music theory and the experience I got at Muscadine, I wouldn’t have been able to do it,” he said.
Since its founding in 1983, IMI has produced more than 1,000 songs and has reached the top of many charts from the United States to Canada to Europe. IMI has written and produced music for many media and consumer brands, including E! Network, PBS, NBC, ESPN2, Ford Motor Company, Nissan, and Bath and Body Works. He has also created music for TV shows, commercials and films.
In May, TWC, which earned a reputation for featuring smooth jazz during its “Local on the 8s” segment, broadened its musical taste to showcase music produced by IMI, which not only expanded the channel’s smooth jazz catalog, but also brought pop rock, country, traditional jazz and urban music into the mix as well.
The TWC-branded music is available for international distribution on more than 100 internet-based music stores, including iTunes, Starbucks, Amazon and MyspaceMusic. IMI is also responsible for TheWeatherChannelMusic.com, which will allow visitors to not only find weather information, but also stream and download music by new and well-known artists.
“The music we are creating at TheWeatherChannelMusic.com will present a fresh sound and look while still offering the great music experience that has been a part of (TWC) for a long time,” Ivey said in a new release announcing the project.
Ivey met and proposed to his wife, Sandy George Ivey (CLA ’85), at Mercer. The couple lives in Brentwood, Tenn., with their children, Simon, 13, and Sid, 12. “I use the skills I learned from Mercer literally every single day,” he said, “but the greatest gift Mercer ever gave me was my great wife.”