|
|
February 25, 2011
Fame gets a foothold
Scooter Braun manages pop-star Justin Bieber.
A.J. SAMUELS
What do you get when you mix “Hard Day’s Night,” “Thriller,” YouTube and Temple Beth Shalom? Scooter Braun. Whatever Braun would have done in life, he would have been a proud, active, committed Jew. Today, at age 29, Braun is a major force in the entertainment industry and the man who both discovered and manages teen pop-star Justin Bieber.
In case you have missed Justin’s virtually unprecedented rise, the story goes something like this: in 2008, Braun came across some amateur music videos on YouTube featuring a 14-year-old singer named Justin Bieber. It was clear to him that the kid had great talent. Braun forged a close relationship with Justin and his mother, became his manager and, within two years, nearly half the girls on the planet had a crush on the young singing sensation.
Today, Justin is the most searched for celebrity on the Internet; just one of his YouTube music videos has had more than 400 million views and Never Say Never, a film about his 2010 concert tour, was released earlier this month.
Recently, I attended a pre-release screening of Never Say Never. I was expecting a trite, cliché, teen movie – not exactly my kind of film – and I left with two impressions. First, I was pleasantly surprised and saw how its message could inspire its viewers to follow their dreams. Second, as a parent, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen to this teenager who was suddenly riding high in the world of superstardom. Who was guiding this still-maturing adolescent and, who, if anyone, was looking out for Justin’s best interests as a person, and not just as a celebrity and talent?
In a recent conversation with Braun, there was one issue that was uppermost in my mind: I wanted to know how he, as a virtual father figure and perhaps the most influential person in this kid’s life, could not be blinded by what Justin represents professionally and financially. More importantly, what is he doing to make sure that Justin, who was a young teenager when the two first met, doesn’t become the next Lindsay Lohan, Corey Haim or Michael Jackson?
I must say, again, I was pleasantly surprised by what Scooter (or Shmuel ben Eliezer, as he introduced himself to me) had to say.
“Look,” he said, “while this is a very complicated matter that I take very seriously, in many ways it comes down to this: with 20,000 people a night telling you that you are the greatest thing on earth, you better be very clear that there is something far more significant above you. Without that awareness, there is no chance of staying grounded.”
Having said that, Braun pointed out something that appears at the end of the film that I didn’t catch. At every concert, just before going on stage, Justin, his mom, Pattie, who is a born-again Christian, and a close circle of friends join together in prayer. And what about Braun, the Jew? He taught this inner circle the Shema, which is how every prayer circle concludes.
Braun was raised in a kosher home, two of his grandparents survived Auschwitz and Dachau and he spent summers at Camp Ramah, including a six-week trip to Israel. Jewish life and Jewish values are important to him and not something that he keeps hidden in the background. He grew up in a close-knit Jewish family and this foundation of the centrality of family is what he says is front and centre in his relationship with Justin.
After discovering the young talent, Braun said, his mother reminded him that Justin would not be just another client; Braun would have to take a different kind of responsibility for this young person. Rule number one, Braun said, is that there can’t be anyone working on Justin’s team who doesn’t have a good heart and trustworthy character.
Justin has a very close relationship with his mother and a good relationship with his dad. Braun is in regular conversation with them about the gamut of parenting issues, including school, friends, setting limits, religion and the like.
While some performing artists have canceled concerts in Israel for political reasons, on April 14, “Bieber fever” will hit Tel Aviv and, a few days later, just to keep things in perspective Braun and Justin plan to sit down to a long Passover seder together.
Never Say Never opened on Friday, Feb. 11. Even casual Bieber fans will find the film to be not only thoroughly entertaining but thought-provoking as well.
A.J. Samuels is a freelance writer covering Jewish life and culture.
^TOP
|
|
