Scott Storch — record producer; keyboardist; songwriter with roots in the Russian Empire
Scott Spencer Storch was born on Long Island, New York, on 16 December 1973; one reference work gives 15 or 16 December, and an old claim that he was born in Nova Scotia is mistaken. His father worked as a court reporter and his mother, Joyce Yolanda Storch, was a singer. He grew up in South Florida and in the Philadelphia area. His family on his mother's side is Lithuanian-Jewish, and Wikipedia lists him among Americans of Lithuanian-Jewish descent.
His connection to the Russian Empire runs through his mother's line to his great-great-grandfather, Meyer Machtenberg. Born in Vilna, then in the Russian Empire, on 1 August 1884, Machtenberg sang as a boy in the choir of the city's main synagogue, where he was known as Little Meyer the Soprano; his uncle was cantor at another Vilna synagogue. He emigrated to America at seventeen and became one of the most sought-after synagogue choirmasters on the East Coast, working in New York and Philadelphia with the leading star cantors of the age, recording with Josef Rosenblatt and Moshe Koussevitzky, and training boy choristers including the future opera tenor Jan Peerce. He died in Fort Lauderdale in 1979, when his great-great-grandson was five.
Scott Storch taught himself keyboards in his teens, left school and at sixteen became a founding member of the Philadelphia hip-hop band the Roots, the only white musician in the group, co-writing and playing on its first records, including Organix and Do You Want More?!!!??!. Preferring the studio to touring, he moved to Los Angeles. The rapper Eve introduced him to Dr. Dre, and the keyboard riff Storch wrote for Still D.R.E., released in 1999 and featuring Snoop Dogg, became one of the most recognisable figures in hip-hop.
Over the following years he produced for Dr. Dre, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Beyoncé, Lil' Kim, 50 Cent, Pink, Chris Brown and many others; Complex magazine described him as arguably the biggest producer in hip-hop and R&B between 2003 and 2005. He produced seven tracks on Christina Aguilera's Stripped (2002), including Can't Hold Us Down, and in 2006 was named ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year. He named his production company Tuff Jew Productions, and in later years has spoken openly about his Jewish identity; every doorframe in his Hollywood studio carries a mezuzah.
"His great-great-grandfather Meyer Machtenberg, born in Vilna in 1884, emigrated to America at seventeen and became a leading synagogue choirmaster in New York and Philadelphia."
Migration storyTracing the roots — Vilna, Vilna Governorate (great-great-grandfather Meyer Machtenberg) (now Vilnius, Lithuania)
His mother's family is Lithuanian-Jewish. His great-great-grandfather Meyer Machtenberg was born in Vilna, then in the Russian Empire, in 1884, emigrated to America at seventeen and became one of the best-known synagogue choirmasters in New York and Philadelphia.
Mother Joyce Yolanda Storch, a singer of Lithuanian-Jewish descent; great-great-grandfather Meyer Machtenberg (1884–1979), born in Vilna, choirmaster and composer of synagogue music.
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Vilna, Vilna Governorate (great-great-grandfather Meyer Machtenberg) (now Vilnius, Lithuania). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.