Jeff Cohen

Jeff Cohen (born January 28, 1966) is an American songwriter, record producer, and publisher. He is also known for his role in founding the band Pancho's Lament. Early life and education Jeff Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, Cohen would sing songs into a tape recorder and give the cassettes to his sisters. His musical landscape changed at the age of 13, when his mother bought him Jackson Browne’s Hold Out to take to summer camp. He graduated from Oceanside High School in Oceanside, New York, in 1984 and then attended Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he majored in government and English. During his college years, Cohen began to take guitar and songwriting more seriously. He spent the spring semester of 1987 studying at Wroxton College in England before returning to the U.S. and graduating from Franklin and Marshall in 1988. Career BMI Cohen started working at BMI in licensing in 1989 where he helped upcoming bands protect their music and insure they received the royalties they were due. A year later he moved to the writer-publisher relations department, working with such talent as Jeff Buckley, Ani DiFranco, Lisa Loeb, Joan Osborne, Kara Dioguardi, Spin Doctors, Blues Traveller and many more. By 1994 he was promoted to an executive directing role. After a year spent at Warner Chappell Music in 1995, he would return as senior director of BMI in 1996, where he remained until 1999.