Louis Biancaniello was playing music professionally and signed to a record contract by the age of 9, so this Novato guy knows a bit about the recording industry.

Today he is a chart-topping producer, musician and songwriter with credits on 143 albums and collaborations with thousands of performers and producers. He broke into the big time more than 20 years ago and worked with Grammy winner Narada Michael Walden, one of the most renowned producers in music. Today, Biancaniello’s chief partner is Sam Watters from the band Color Me Badd, and they have a new company that is working joint ventures with major labels.

Biancaniello’s studio is a museum in its own right, with platinum and gold records hanging on the walls and photos everywhere of stars such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson and Jessica Simpson.

In the first of a two-part series, Novato Patch videographer/photographer Dieter Zander visited with Biancaniello at the studio along with Louis’ son, Mike, a recent San Marin High School graduate who works with his father. We’ll learn more about Mike in Part 2 next week.