Theseattletimes's Blog

Joe Stern-McGovern: Into the Whirlwind March 12, 2010

http://www.universalartists.net

Joe Stern-McGovern wasn’t born or raised in Seattle, but he certainly holds a fondness for the Emerald City deep in his heart. It was in Seattle that Joe Stern-McGovern would find his lot in life following a tour in the US Navy as an air traffic controller at the tender young age of 17 at NAS Miramar’s famed, Top Gun School. With no more than a single visit, Joe Stern-McGovern had been indelibly hooked into the great Pacific Northwest way of life.

Top Gun School, NAS Miramar

Invited to perform at a friend’s wedding at the last moment, the groom of the day requested Joe Stern-McGovern sing a ballad, an inside joke as he was keenly aware from their experiences rocking the microphone of the karaoke in the heart of the U District that Joe Stern-McGovern was acutely tone deaf. Never the one to back out of a challenge, Joe Stern-McGovern took the microphone and control of the room as he belted out that which took all by surprise, their first rap ballad inspired by love for the union of man and wife.

It was at this joyous occassion that Joe Stern-McGovern happened to cross paths with local and national legend, Sir Mix A Lot of ‘Baby’s Got Back’ fame. He was taken into their production team as both a rapper and producer, quickly learning the ropes and tactics necessary to survive the corporate music industry. When Sir Mix A Lot left the now defunct, Nasty Mix Records, for Warner Bros., he brought Joe Stern-McGovern along for the wildest ride of his life.

A member of Sir Mix A Lot’s notorious, Rhyme Cartel, Joe Stern-McGovern was soon featured in the MTV video, One Time’s Got No Case, as the star rapper’s mouthpiece and consigliere, Goldstein, albeit a Flock of Seagulls hairdo and a grin which still revealed a set of shiny braces. The album, Mack Daddy, went on to reach multi-platinum status both in the US and abroad.

The Bionic Rapper

Discontent with working behind the scenes, Joe Stern-McGovern sought the limelight of stardom as a rapper in his own right. Although Joe Stern-McGovern found success on the local college radio circuit, he was discouraged by his mentor, Sir Mix A Lot, to take his act abroad. While lighter shaded acts such as 3rd Base and Vanilla Ice had made headway, the days of Eminem status were a dream and two decades away.

Inspired by Sir Mix A Lot’s faith in him, Joe Stern-McGovern headed to Tokyo. He had worked previously as an English Second Language instructor abroad, and taken to the Japanese language rather handsomely. Within no time, Joe Stern-McGovern found his own name as the self-titled, Bionic Rapper, reaching gold level status by spitting out rhymes which would come to amaze even the most steadfast disbeliever.

2 Hours before the Tokyo Dome

In spite of his success, Joe Stern-McGovern sought a life with a deeper sense of achievement, taking his path into his longest passion, songwriting. As a freelance songwriter throughout Japan, he came to work for major Japanese labels such as Warner-Pioneer, Columbia Records Japan, Tokuma Records, Polystar, and even Sony Records Japan, where he finally found his nest for the following 6 years while attending law school at prestigious CIEE at Waseda University with a major in International Law.

Upon completion of his studies in Japan, he went on in search of improving and honing his literary skills through travels throughout Latin America, South America, East Asia, and the United States. Additionally, he completed his Master’s Degree in International Relations from the US International University at Scripps Ranch, graduating at the top of his class. The honors student went onto post-graduate studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara in Political Science for his PhD in Political Science with a concentration in International Law.

Joe Stern-McGovern, Global Agent & President of Universal Artists

It seems to the untrained eye Joe Stern-McGovern has led a charmed life, but the reality is far different, which is why his story stands out as a true example of the American Dream. Born in the late ’60s, he soon became a child of the rampant wave of divorces which were so prevalent throughout the 70s and early 80s.

With the divorce of his parents, Joe Stern-McGovern was cast into a dark voyage which took him up and down the West Coast as his mother sought her own identity through the trials of alcoholism, addiction to pills, and depression, a challenging combination to say the least. For the large part of his childhood, Joe Stern-McGovern grew up in a life of poverty, hunger, and violence as his mother desperately sought her next fix.

If matters could possibly be worse, Joe Stern-McGovern’s father went from leaning on his children in a perverse way, only to abandon himself and his siblings as he found love in his second marriage, a story typical of many such men and the day. Visits with his father were numbered, and the family began to wane with the increase of his mother’s ill vices.

Joe Stern-McGovern with H-Town's The Brigade

Joe Stern-McGovern took a job at the young age of 10 years old, working with the local Oregon community paper selling subscriptions door-to-door from school’s closing at 3pm until midnight 7 days a week. The situation became such that Joe Stern-McGovern’s income from this thoroughly taxing job was virtually the sole source of income supporting the family. Indeed, he and his sisters went many a night scrambling for their next meal, living virtually homeless, and often having to resort to shoplifting to fill their empty stomachs. To them, life on the streets was a reality no child should ever know.

A child of persecution and neglect, Joe Stern-McGovern appears to have bounced back in the grandest of fashion, rising from one corporate entity to the next, grandly finding his way now as President of the prestigious, international agency, Universal Artists, known globally as UAI.

Upon taking control of his position at the helm, he turned what had appeared for all purposes a virtually bankrupt entity, and drove what little was left straight to the bank. Many thought Joe Stern-McGovern would take the agency public, but instead he opted for sole control over the reins. He wanted complete power over every aspect of the organization, an action which many balked at, but little did they know what lay ahead.

Joe Stern-McGovern, President of UAI

Within 2 years, Universal Artists had taken a geometric rise both in capital and stature, catapulting the name of Joe Stern-McGovern as well as that of his cohorts through sensational acts such as Shaka Productions, Ms. Fame, The Brigade, and the notorious, Black Flock Gang. Recent rumors claim he may have even signed the enviable, Christian, of Christian Levi fame, to a 7 year, low 7 figure contract with untold promise.

In the beginning, Joe Stern-McGovern heralded his own name in the most boisterous manner, only to find his name and image carried through word of mouth and through periodicals, journals, radio, cable, and television worldwide. He seems to be the man of the hour, an unstoppable force known to many as truly, “Bionic”.

It’s our pleasure to announce recent collaborations between Joe Stern-McGovern, Shaka Productions, the Black Flock Gang, and perhaps Seattle’s own, Funk Daddy, in the coming album simply yet eloquently titled, “Funk”. Seattle is prepared, willing, and anxious to receive what many consider a hometown hero back into the fold for his coming arrival which is said to be sometime in June, but don’t mark your calendars just yet!

7 Figure Producer, Shaka of Shaka Productions

Sources throughout the industry such as those at Sony Records, Warner Brothers, EMI, Virgin Records, and Interscope are all currently vying for the sultan of swag, the ultimate feather in any corporations hat, Shaka of Shaka Productions and his force from either heaven or hell, perhaps both, the one and only, Black Flock Gang aka BFG. Should the anticipated offers come in at the reported high 7 figures, one can anticipate even further delay in the return of Seattle’s favorite son as he proceeds from one success to the next, moving without pause for reflection as through his own particular genius he is cast into the whirlwind.

Manuel Simmons, Freelance

www.theseattletimes.wordpress.com