Who Discovered Vanessa Hudgens?

Aug. 30, 2009 - PRLog -- Beverly Hills, CA --  Legendary music mogul Jay Pugh knows what he does. That's why some of the entertainment industry's hottest celebrities, like Prince, Michael Jackson and one of his greatest finds --Vanessa Hudgens -- chose to work with him.

Assisted by Pugh's genius and titantic ambition, Prince's album, "Graffiti Bridge" (Warner Records) won the 1991 ASCAP Award for Most Performed Songs From Motion Pictures. After the album exploded into the platinum ozone, Rolling Stone magazine stated, "[Graffiti Bridge] reclaims Prince's rare stature as a pop Picasso."

Pugh also collaborated with iconic producer Quincy Jones in arranging music for Michael Jackson's sixth album, "Thriller" (Epic Records). Accompanied by a revolutionary 13 min video, the history-making album received phenominal success and cemented Jackson's position as a predominate 20th Century pop god. "Thriller" was the first studio album in the world to utilize video as a promotional tool.

Disney's "High School Musical" star Vanessa Hudgens was discovered by Jay Pugh in 2003 while shopping in a Blockbuster video.  Hudgens was age 14. He managed her career trajectory by creating a pop R&B group around her called BITTERSWEET. Hudgens later signed with Hollywood Records. After winning the 2006 Teen Choice Awards for "High School Musical," Hudgens became a movie star.

BITTERSWEET now features the outstanding collective talent of three beauties popularly known as CLAIRE, MELINA and KENZIE. BITTERSWEET has wowed audiences at major attractions and events in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Pugh's love of the music industry took flight when he worked with Run-D.M.C., a hip-hop group founded by Joseph Simmons whose brother, promoter Russell Simmons, introduced rapper Kurtis Blow to the mix.

Since then, Jay Pugh has collaborated as either a writer, producer or arranger on nearly 20 movie soundtracks and scores of movie commercials; he has produced for well over 100 of the industry's top artists, including:

*Run DMC
*LL Cool J
*Beastie Boys
*Eric B. and Rakim
*EPMD
*Slick Rick
*MC Hammer
*Too $hort
*Tone Loc
*Boy Wonder
*Cheba B
*Project X
*Above the Law
*LA Dream Team
*Cris Cross
*Morris Day
*Tevin Campbell
*Affinity
*Calico
*Karen White
*14 Karrot Soul
*Pussy Cat Dolls
*Anastasia McPherson
*Milissa Reyes
*Rick James

Legendary actor Steve Railsback ("Helter Skelter" "The Stuntman") is helping members of BITTERSWEET sharpen their theatrical skills for a likely television or motion picture career.  "Yes, the group Vanessa [Hudgens] helped found is still the one to watch for 2010," said Pugh. "It's Bittersweet, hands down."

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Sharon Raiford Bush is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has written for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, the Los Angeles Times, CashBox magazine and for a number of international magazines and trade publications.