Biography
Michael Pagnotta is a veteran entertainment publicist, artist manager, music supervisor, music publishing executive, producer, pop culture analyst and regular SiriusXM radio guest host. He has appeared in the acclaimed documentary New Wave: Dare To Be Different about the influential Long Island NY radio station WLIR and the Channel 5 special Last Christmas: George Michael. . He is a regular contributor to Reelz channel celebrity biography series Cashed Out Life, Death and Money.
Pagnotta founded Reach Media Relations, Inc., a New York City- based media and marketing firm, in November 1990, following stints at The Peter Max Studio, Rogers & Cowan and Straight Arrow Publishing (Rolling Stone, US). His clients have included many of the best known alternative, rock and pop artists of the past four decades including Prince, George Michael, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie's Tin Machine, The Beach Boys, Moody Blues, Clarence Clemmons, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Yaz (Yazoo), Tears For Fears, VCMG, Bush, Erasure, Book Of Love, Kid Moxie, Morrissey, The B-52's, Vince Clarke, Andy Bell, Paul Westerberg, John Cale, Donny Osmond, Debbie Gibson, Roxette, Engelbert Humperdink, Jack Jones, The Three Tenors and Johnny 'Rotten' Lydon among many others.
Seven of his former clients, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, BB King, The Moody Blues, Prince, The Cure and Depeche Mode, have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He was also the former longtime spokesman and media advisor to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the mary-kateandashley brand and their company, Dualstar Entertainment Group. His exclusive representation of the Olsens and their various business endeavors lasted for fourteen years, from 1992 until January 2006. He has been widely quoted as an expert on teen, tween and preteen marketing and media issues as they relate to music, television and film.
He has been active in children's, young adult and mainstream book publishing and branding representing New York Times Bestselling authors Tonya Hurley (ghostgirl, The Blessed trilogy, Feathergirl), Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, Pretty Boy Floyd) and RL Stine (Goosebumps, Fear Street). His corporate clients have included Spin Magazine, Sony Music, Dualstar Entertainment, Mute Records, RayGun magazine, Parachute Press, the Morbid Anatomy Museum and many others.
Mr. Pagnotta is credited as music supervisor for two television series: So Little Time (2001-02 Fox Family, Nickelodeon) and In Action (2001-02 ABC TV Disney One Saturday Morning) as well as a series of direct-to video feature films for Warner Brothers starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen including Winning London, Getting There, When In Rome, Holiday in The Sun and the Challenge. He consulted on the feature films New York Minute (WB) and the indie film Bullfighter.
He has produced several acclaimed short films including Best FriEND, Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute To Paul Bowles and Solo-Me-O, all directed by Tonya Hurley and is executive producer of the concert documentary Erasure: Road To Nashville and The Erasure Christmas Radio Show.
Pagnotta joined independent music publishing company Schubert Music Publishing in August of 2019 as head of Creative/A & R in New York, signing electronic music songwriter, composer and recording artist Kid Moxie to the firm .
Mr. Pagnotta owned and operated The Spoken Word, a retail spoken word audio store in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood, with his business partner Gennaro Coppola from 1995 - 98. The shop carried hard-to-find recordings of poets reading their own work, interviews, historical speeches, stage plays and old time radio broadcasts.
He lives in New York with his wife Tonya Hurley and daughter Isabelle Rose.
