Songwriter, producer, engineer and drummer Marti Frederiksen has had his fingers in some of the best hits of the last decade, co-writing “Jaded” by Aerosmith, “Undo It” by Carrie Underwood, “Sorry” by Buckcherry, and “Love Remains the Same” by Gavin Rossdale. You wouldn’t guess it from those rough-edge tracks, but Marti was a 10th grade choir boy. It didn’t last.

“The teacher was assigning parts and handing parts out, and I was waiting for the others to pick it up.” As usual, Marti was restless, and that drives his ideas. He could hear the big picture, pick out the possibilities, and create new harmonies. “So I started making up new parts and singing them.” The teacher caught on, and she didn’t have much patience for a childhood prodigy rearranging the score. “It got me kicked out of choir.”

But that was OK. Marti had other things going on, playing drums in a garage band and writing originals when he was only 15. “I thought we were the next big thing.”

Three of Marti’s LA-area bands landed record deals, and that led Marti to producing. Soon he was with Virgin Records co-writing and producing for the Southern rock-tinged Brother Cane, including two songs that reached No. 1 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts.



Those hits drew the attention of John Kalodner with Columbia Records, who brought him in to work with Aerosmith for “Nine Lives.” Big-time co-writing credits opened the door for Marti to work with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol and Mick Jones of Foreigner. He even found himself singing lead vocals in the fictional band Stillwater for the movie “Almost Famous.”

But his work with Aerosmith was only beginning. They welcomed him into the studio for their thirteenth album, and they came back out with “Jaded” – co-written by Marti and Steven Tyler – leading “Just Push Play” to platinum status within only a month of release.

Working with Marti, Steven Tyler said, “it’s like when you lay a beautiful quilt on a beautiful bed. Marti can add to something that’s already there as if it’s always been there. He’s pretty genius like that.”

“Jaded” opened the door to a string of collaborations with artists, songwriters and producers, and they paid off: “Maybe” by Sick Puppies, “Mama’s Song” by Carrie Underwood, and “Sick” by Adelitas Way, all of them hits, in addition to “Sorry,” “Love Remains the Same,” and “Undo It.”

Engineer Mike Plotnikoff worked with Marti on a lot of those songs, including “Crawling Back to You” and “Outta My Head” by Daughtry, and “When You're Young” by 3 Doors Down. “Over the past seven years, Marti has written and has at least one song which is usually the first single on almost every record I have recorded,” Plotnikoff said.

“He can come in and write a hit song from scratch, or sometimes he'll just come in as song doctor and say, ‘Hey that song is great the way it is – maybe it just needs this simple tweak,’ or he’ll say it’s good the way it is. To the artist, and also to myself, this is very important because we know when we bring Marti in, it’s all about getting the best songs for the record, not just someone who wants to get their song on the record.”

Collaboration is the key to great songwriting for Marti, who finds inspiration and energy in working with the artists and fellow writers. “When I first met Marti, I was a bit intimidated by his credits and discography,” said frequent collaborator Kara DioGuardi. “On our second writing session, he grabbed the guitar and started singing this incredible melody. I usually wrote the melodies because I wasn't the greatest lyricist. For me, my melody always helped dictate the lyrics. But, Marti's melodies were so good that the lyrics just fell into place. That song (‘The Real Thing’ by Bo Bice) went on to win us both a BMI award.”

Marti’s fast, instinctive songwriting style has paid off with Tyler too. “I’m addicted to adrenaline,” Tyler said, finding himself always on tour or making an album or promoting. “But when Marti’s around I’m writing all the time.”

Tyler spoke of meeting up with Julian Lennon at the Sunset Marquis, and on a whim they decided to write a song together in Lennon’s room with Marti and Mark Spiro. “Marti started playing this guitar piece – he’s really good at that – and we had the song ‘Someday’ in two-and-a-half hours.”

Aerosmith has turned to Marti again to work on their upcoming 14th album, “Music From Another Dimension.”

With all these rock credentials, why the frequent shift into writing songs for country stars like Sara Evans and Rascal Flatts? For Marti, a good song is a good song. Strip away a different lyrical style and a bit of instrumentation, and there’s not a lot of difference between rock and country.

And the move from LA to Nashville, where he owns Westwood Studios? Marti’s following the music, and the artists. “A lot of it is country, but there are a lot of artists coming here to record, coming here to collaborate because they get the song and the sound they need,” he said. At the historic Westwood Studios that Marti now owns in Nashville, he works to do just that – give artists what they need to succeed. Sometimes that means being not just a songwriter, collaborator and producer, but also a group psychologist.

“What I do when I’m producing is trying to keep everybody happy, trying to keep everybody interested, trying to keep everybody productive, dealing with people’s feelings and keeping them in the mood to be productive,” Marti said. “Because as soon as you lose interest, you lose the song.”

For all the hits, for all the awards, the big names and the exposure, Marti’s passion is for working with artists – rock, pop and country, established stars and up-and-comers – to create great songs.

“I like it all, man. I like it all,” he said. “I work with anything that’s interesting.”