Teddy Riley on what it’s like to create a genre, write with Michael Jackson and nearly lose it all

Written by Dave Roberts

MBW’s World’s Greatest Songwriters series celebrates the composers behind the globe’s biggest hits. Teddy Riley is a founding father of new jack swing, helped reinvent Michael Jackson and was recently inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. World’s Greatest Songwriters is supported by AMRA – the global digital music collection society which strives to maximize value for songwriters and publishers in the digital age.

Teddy Riley has a film about his life in development. And here’s a tip: you’re gonna want to supersize that popcorn, because the bio behind this pic is the stuff of blockbusters.

He actually can’t say too much about the project at this stage – no spoilers on cast or release date. But, as he jokes, ‘that’s ok, what I’m giving you here is the documentary’. It is certainly quite hard-hitting stuff at times.

Riley was born in the St Nicholas housing project in Harlem in 1967 and soon proved himself a musical prodigy, playing various instruments in church and spending a large chunk of his spare time in his uncle’s home-built studio.

It wasn’t all keyboards and self-improvement, however. Riley recalls how an early brush with the law helped shape his life and ambition.

“I was getting in trouble, I was getting arrested, because I was in the streets. One day, a police officer said, ‘What are you, 15?! What are you doing in here?’ I said, ‘I’m trying to help feed my family’. He said. ‘Not like this you’re not. You’re going to end up on Rikers Island helping nobody.’ I didn’t know what that was, but I knew it sounded bad!

“My uncle came and picked me up, and my mom was behind him with the belt. I was walking with my head down because I was embarrassed. When I got home, I got the beating – and that was the evolution and revolution all in one. That was when I changed my life, my heart and everything, that led to me making music and becoming a creator.” Click below to stream the full interview.