“I just don't see why I can’t do things,” says Simon Illa, a music producer who’s worked on everything from pop and rap to gospel and rock (plus everything in between). Simon earned an East Coast Emmy nomination for his music, has been dubbed “Philadelphia's Hottest Producer” by Blender Magazine and “...one of the world’s most foremost and phenomenal musical producers” by Urban Mogul Magazine.
Growing up, Simon was surrounded by music. His dad played guitar in a band. His mother loved music. The grandparents who raised him listened to everything from Lionel Richie and Enya to Johnny Cash and The Carpenters. His brother even got into the act—infusing the home with sounds like The Police and Nine Inch Nails. Simon listened to it all and started taking piano lessons plus playing guitar when he was 13. At 15, he began recording.
Simon says his ability to roll his way so far to the top of a traditionally-unforgiving industry is the result of a combination of life circumstances and events, his upbringing, his drives, and his talents. The death of his mother when he was 3 and his estranged father’s suicide when he was 23 propelled his attitudes on autonomy and initiative. So did a grandmother who raised him to relish his independence and never wait for anyone to help him despite the fact that he lives with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (also known as Brittle Bone Disease).
“If I needed something, I would find a way to get it. Throughout my childhood, I was never told what I could not do. The attitude was pretty much that I was encouraged to find my own limits. Even as a kid, I was riding a skateboard and a big wheel bike (sometimes to the dislike of doctors),” says Simon. “But grandma would always say ‘I let him do what he thinks he can do. Because, who is better at knowing his limits than him?’”
That’s the way of life that’s helped Simon steadily earn momentum within the music industry. In 2001, he moved his production company, Unbreakable Music Group, LLC., to the east coast. “I had traveled by myself a bit by this time, so I trusted my instincts enough to know that I would be okay. The night one of my friends dropped me off at the train station in Indianapolis, I told him I didn't really think I would be back, at least not for quite a while...I remember waking up on the train in the middle of that night thinking ‘what the hell am I doing?’…But that’s how I operate, if we are comfortable all the time, there really can't be any progress.”
For the most part, Simon explains, life with Osteogenesis Imperfecta doesn’t affect his career. “My main job is to create music, whether that’s producing, writing or vocal arranging. So my ‘disability’ has nothing to do with what comes out of the speakers. At the end of the day it’s about my music. There are a few things, such as studios that I may not be able to work at or certain venues where bands or groups perform that I can't get to because of stairs, but it really doesn’t impact what I do.”
The fact that Simon continues to achieve a great level of success and generate the support of mainstream media leads him to believe that many people in an industry historically seen as discriminatory against those with disabilities are gaining new perspective. Simon explains, “So many people are opening their eyes to say ‘Okay this guy makes these great records, the chair and the ‘disability’ have nothing to do with that.’”
Most recently, Simon started the Unbreakable Music Foundation to raise money to buy music equipment for young people with disabilities. “There is so much great music technology now that allows me to do what I do, I think that younger people can have early opportunities that I never had,” says Simon.
As Simon works to help others achieve their goals and chases his own around the world, he says he rarely encounters road blocks. “I remember being in Miami earlier this year with friends on the John Legend tour and sitting on the beach before I flew back to Atlanta and thought to myself ‘I just went from my apartment in Atlanta to the airport, flew to Miami, got to the hotel, took care of my business, hung out for a weekend and I am about to head back to Atlanta on a plane—with no personal assistant.’ And I have done this dozens of times,” he says. “I’m not sure how to explain it, but I believe when you’re honest, sincere, and understanding, the world just flows in your favor.”
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