New York Times (June 11, 2000)

Roundabout Way to Childhood Dream

In the late 1980's, when Jeff Cohen was a student at Oceanside High School, he gave up guitar lessons for basketball games and track meets. Nowadays, his priorities have switched and the hurdles he is conquering are musical.

Mr. Cohen, 34, is the composer of "Truth About Romeo," the theme song of the WB series "Jack and Jill." His music can also be heard on "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek" ("Promise Me This" was featured on the season finale).

During Easter week, three of his songs reached MP3.com's rock Top 10, only to be nudged out by Bob Marley. In July, a song ("Crazy for This Girl") that he co-wrote for the duo Evan and Jaron, will be released by Columbia Records.

"When I was a kid, I'd sing little songs into a tape recorder and give the cassettes to my sisters," said Mr. Cohen, whose musical landscape changed at 13, when his mother bought him Jackson Browne's "Hold Out" to take to summer camp.

"I couldn't stop listening to it for that whole month," he said. "The combination of lyrics and melodies drew me in."

When he returned home, he went to the Roosevelt Raceway Flea Market in Garden City every Sunday to buy a Jackson Browne album, until he had them all. He is obsessive that way with his music. He has seen James Taylor, another musical idol, in concert more than 30 times.

In high school he began listening to harder-edged music like Elvis Costello, Van Morrison and the Rolling Stones. He didn't get serious about playing guitar and composing until college at Franklin and Marshall, in Lancaster, Penn., where he majored in government and English, hoping to be a lawyer.

He decided against law. "I knew I wanted to work in music," Mr. Cohen said, "but I wasn't a good enough songwriter or musician."

He said he thought he could help bands out "because I had a decent sense of what was a good song."

In 1989, he got a secretarial job in the licensing and collections department of BMI, one of the two major music licensing companies. A year later he moved to the writer-publisher relations department, which deals directly with musicians.

He introduced himself to Mark Fried, then director of writer-publisher relations. "I wanted his job" Mr. Cohen said.

"I explained that I went out every to see bands on my own, and that I would love to do that for BMI," he said. "He sent me out that very night to try to secure a band. The next morning I came back and he asked, 'Did you see them?'

"I said: 'See them? I'm having lunch with them today'"

Six months later he became Mr. Fried assistant.

He signed the Spin Doctors, Joan Osborne, Lisa Loeb and other up-and-coming artists to BMI.

In 1994, Mr. Cohen took over his boss's position when Mr. Fried became senior director. Mr. Cohen siad he wanted to keep own interests from interfering with the interests of writers he represented, so he kept his musical aspirations a secret. But he confided in Charlie Feldman, vice president of writer-publisher relations, who said: "I knew that it was imminent that he would leave and pursue his career. He was just such a great songwriter."

During this time, Mr. Cohen and his friend Pete DeMeo, a drummer from Seaford, formed Pancho's Lament, which mades its debut at Mr. Cohen's 28th birthday party. They performed only once a year.

Mr. Cohen was busy traveling around the world, including Scandinavia where he began booking the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo.

His performing and songwriting was something he just did for fun, but his friends, who heard his "Pancho's Lament" CD, kept telling him to pursue it professionally. The recording displayed a compelling singer and pop songs with depth.

In 1998, after a brief, but serious illness, Mr. Cohen began rethinking his priorities, realizing he wanted to pursue his music.

In 1999, he represented BMI at a cultural exchange program in Cuba featuring Bonnie Raitt and Burt Bacharach. There, he met Roxanne Lippel, senior vice president of music at the WB network, who, through a mutual friend, got hold of "Pancho's Lament" when she returned home. "I just knew him as a BMI guy," Ms. Lippel recalled, "but when I heard his demo, I thought it was fabulous."

At that time, Ms. Lippel was looking for a theme song for the new show, "Jack & Jill." "We're always looking for things we can do inexpensively," Ms. Lippel said. "To be frank, aspiring singer-songwriters cost us less. We pursued different songs, but everyone really liked the way his song worked for the show."

She added: "He's contributed to the show enormously. During the course of 'Jack & Jill,' if we had a scene that needed a song, we'd call him, and go through 18 songs over the phone. Then he'd run down the street to fax us a lyric sheet."

Those in the industry who know him are not surprised about his good fortune, but many are amazed by the suddenness of his success. "I thought he'd take the traditional route and get some cuts, but the TV thing just exploded," Mr. Feldman said.

Mr. Cohen is still soaking it all in. "It's been unbelievably gratifying," he said. "People have even asked for the song, 'Promise Me This' for their weddings." He sells "Pancho's Lament" through his web site, www.panchoslament.com.

Thanks to his experience at BMI helping new songwriters protect their rights, Mr. Cohen learned his lesson well: Every time one of his songs airs, he is gobbling up those royalties.

-Robbie Woliver