Paul Riser

Paul Riser, Sr. is a Detroit-born arranger, composer, trombonist, producer, and longtime member of the Funk Brothers whose work has helped shape the sound of Motown and American popular music for more than six decades.

Classically trained and grounded in Detroit’s rich traditions of jazz, gospel, and R&B, Riser joined Motown Records in the early 1960s and became one of the label’s most respected arrangers and musicians. Working alongside some of the greatest artists, producers, songwriters, and musicians of the era, he developed an unmistakable approach to arrangement — using strings, horns, rhythm, and dynamics to deepen the emotion and storytelling already present in a song.

His arrangements can be heard on an extraordinary collection of enduring recordings, including The Temptations’ “My Girl” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Diana Ross’ “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “If I Were Your Woman,” Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ “The Tears of a Clown,” and Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” and “Rocket Love.” His work has also extended well beyond Motown, with credits spanning artists including Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Phil Collins, Quincy Jones, Gladys Knight, Anita Baker, Raphael Saadiq, KEM, Tina Marie, and many others.

Riser received a Grammy Award for his arrangement of “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009. His contributions have also been preserved through the Motown Museum, The HistoryMakers, and other cultural and music archives.

Yet Riser’s story is about more than individual records or accolades. He was part of a remarkable creative community at Motown where arrangers, musicians, producers, songwriters, and artists worked collectively to create music that would transcend its moment. He has often spoken about the importance of serving the song by bringing technical discipline and musical imagination together without overshadowing the artist or the story.

That philosophy has endured. Riser’s arrangements continue to be heard, sampled, studied, licensed, and rediscovered by new generations through recordings, film, television, advertising, and contemporary music. His work remains a living example of how music created decades ago can continue to carry cultural meaning and generate new value.

More than six decades after his work first emerged from Hitsville U.S.A., Riser’s arrangements remain in circulation through film, television, advertising, sampling, and contemporary music. His music has most recently reached new audiences through its inclusion in the trailer for the 2026 studio release Supergirl.

Today, Riser’s enduring legacy offers a unique firsthand perspective on the creative, cultural, and economic value of music catalogs and on the importance of preserving, protecting, and creating new life and value from the work of the creators who made music history.

At Mondo.NYC, Riser brings a rare firsthand perspective to the conversation about musical legacy: not simply as a participant in Motown history, but as one of the creators whose work helped make that history and whose music continues to find its way into the culture today.