Joel Someillan

Joel Someillan (born May 10, 1966) is a Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated American songwriter, engineer and producer. Based in Miami, Florida, Someillan has written, performed on and produced music for a wide variety of Latin artists including Gloria Estefan, Jon Secada and Jennifer Lopez.

Early life

Joel Someillan was born in Miami, Florida to Cuban parents who fled communism and moved to the United States in 1960. Spurred on by his father, a fan of American jazz, Someillan began playing guitar at age 13 and soon after formed his first band. At Miami Senior High School his interest in music grew as he studied guitar and played in in both the school’s jazz and marching bands. After studying business at Miami-Dade College and Florida International University, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts attending Berklee College of Music where he majored in Music production and Engineering, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1993.

Career

Post-college Joel began working engineering and production jobs for a number of Boston area artists, most notably Bobby Lee Rodgers from The Codetalkers. After moving back to the Miami area in the late 90s Someillan joined Emilio Estefan's production group in Miami at the height of that period’s "Latin music explosion". It was here that Someillan worked with some of the industry’s most notable Latin artists including Chayanne, Carlos Ponce, Daniel Paez, Shakira and Obie Bermudez. His work on Thalía's album Arrasando garnered him his first Latin Grammy for Best Engineered Album in 2001. He won another Best Album Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Album in 2004 for Bermudez’ Todo el Ano and was nominated for the same award for Chayanne’s Cautivo (2005). A talented music programmer, Someillan collaborated with DJ and remixer Pablo Flores in programming the beats and synthesizers for dance club remixes by Ricky Martin, Carlos Vives, Marc Anthony, Will Smith, Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.

Through the children’s entertainment production company Jollipop, co-founded in 2004 with production partner George Noriega, Someillan has written or co-written and produced hundreds of songs for children's television shows. His work on the Nickelodeon shows Dora The Explorer and Go Diego Go! earned him Emmy and NAACP Image Awards nominations. He co-wrote the music for the live stage show production of Go Diego Go! Live: The Great Jaguar Rescue and the Dreamworks/Livenation production Madagascar Live, and he has contributed his writing and production talents to the Baby Abuelita interactive sing-along and toy series.

Selected Discography