Howard Paar is an award winning music supervisor and author who was born and raised in London before continuing his career in Los Angeles. He has won four Guild Of Music Supervisors Awards along with ten GMS nominations and two Grammy nominations .
He is a member of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences .
Paar first worked in LA as a club creator/DJ/promoter with such legendary artists as The Specials, The Clash, The English Beat, The Go-Go’s, The Psychedelic Furs, The Cure, The Bangles, Echo & The Bunnymen, and Lydia Lunch.
Known for developing emergent new music scenes particularly ska, mod and the paisley Underground his club, The ON Klub, in collaboration with Sugarhill Records, was also the first locale to present a rap show in Los Angeles. He subsequently became an independent publicist representing clients including MTV, Ian Hunter & Mick Ronson, N.W.A., Jimmy Cliff, Eric Burdon, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Bunny Wailer and Michelle Shocked while also booking Live From LA a TV show that featured interviews emerging figures like Russell Simmons and Run-DMC and full length concerts from a range of cutting edge artists .
He went on to become Vice President, Media & Artist Relations at Polygram Records working with a diverse range of artists including INXS, Def Leppard, Chuck D, Bon Jovi, Kiss, Vanessa Williams, Joan Osborne, James, and X before transitioning to the role of Vice President, Soundtracks at the same company. In this role, Paar worked on many soundtracks including The Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski and Gregg Araki’s Nowhere as well as placing numerous songs in films and creating opportunities for Polygram artists to write themes for TV shows including King Of The Hill and Ellen.
Paar next joined Richard Branson’s V2 Records as Head of Film & TV where he worked closely with artists such as Moby until 1999 when he became an independent music supervisor. He continued to work with Moby whose phenomenally successful album Play, became the first in history to have media placement for all tracks.
Paar continues to music supervise a wide range of critically acclaimed films including Nightbitch, Eileen, Can You Ever Forgive Me , Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, Private Life , 20th Century Women, Diary Of A Teenage Girl, Monster, Bully, and Mysterious Skin as well as groundbreaking TV shows like The L Word.
His work with a diverse range of filmmakers including, Mari Heller, Patty Jenkins, Guillermo Del Toro, Charlie Kaufman, Liz Garbus, Tamara Jenkins, Mike Mills , Larry Clark Quentin Tarantino and Gregg Araki, have helped to earn Paar a reputation for independent vision and authenticity to character, time, and place.
Top Rankin’ his punk/ska noir novel was published by Rare Bird Lit in 2021 which follows his first novel Once Upon A Time In LA (a rock & roll noir novel), published by Over The Edge books in 2014
A member of the Board for The Guild Of Music Supervisors Paar values opportunities to elevate music and visual media.
