Producer and record executive Herb Trawick was born on April 7, 1956, to Jean and Herb Trawick, Sr., in Montreal, Canada. Trawick’s family moved to Ashland, Kentucky, in 1965, where he attended Paul G. Blazer High School. He went on to receive his B.A. degree in communications from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1977.
In the early 1990s, Trawick joined Solar Records as a promoter and artists-and-repertoire representative and by 1995 rose to be head of Solar Records’ marketing and promotion department. He also served as a consultant for several other record labels between 1990 and 2005, including Interscope, Motown, and Def Jam. Over the course of his career, Trawick signed and developed numerous artists who have achieved international recognition, including Brian McKnight, Robin Thicke, and Tyrese Gibson. He founded his own company, The Trawick Group, in 1996 and served as its chief executive officer for seven years. In 2003, he became a partner at Kalimba Entertainment and, in 2007, he began advising Primary Wave, a privately held music publishing and talent management company. In 2006, Trawick produced the Broadway jukebox musical Hot Feet, featuring the music of Earth, Wind & Fire. Five years later, he co-created the weekly YouTube series Pensado’s Place with Dave Pensado. Trawick served as executive producer and co-host of the series.
Trawick’s professional achievements earned him numerous honors and awards, including the Creative Visionary Award from the Living Legends Foundation in 2017 and induction into the Technical Excellence and Creativity Hall of Fame by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) in 2020.
In 2023, Trawick joined the board of directors of the Guitar Center Music Foundation.
Trawick passed away on February 22, 2026.
Herb Trawick was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 4, 2024.