Billy Mann is one of those rare figures in music and entertainment who defies the neat little boxes the industry loves to put people in. Call him a songwriter, producer, executive, manager, entrepreneur, investor, podcaster, singer, performer, disruptor, or advocate—he quietly continues to be all of them.

A kid from Philadelphia who once lived in his car, Mann has gone on to help sell over 125 million albums worldwide and generate more than a billion streams, quietly seeding international markets with hits and shaping the sound of global music for three decades. Yet he consistently insists that flaws and failures have been his greatest collaborators. Signed as a solo artist to A&M, Sony, and Elektra Records, Mann toured both independently and as support for industry legends including Robert Plant & JimmyPage, Sting, Keb’ Mo’, Patty Griffin, and Hall & Oates. The shorthand is simple: Mann has worked with nearly everyone. With P!nk, he has been in the trenches since 2002, co-writing and producing career-defining songs (“God Is a DJ,” “Stupid Girls,” “DearMr. President,” “Glitter in the Air”) that cemented her as one of the most fearless voices in modern pop. Add to that collaborations with Celine Dion, John Legend, Take That, Ricky Martin, Cher, Robyn, Joss Stone, Seeed, David Guetta, Jessica Simpson, Belinda, Ty Dolla $ign, Backstreet Boys, Burt Bacharach, Fat Joe, Carole King, Martina McBride, and others—and the list reads like three lifetimes’ worth of playlists. His fingerprints are quietly everywhere. And somehow, he prefers being underrated while consistently landing on the bleeding edge of the zeitgeist.

Maybe it’s because Billy Mann isn’t just an award winning, chart-topping producer/songwriter. He’s also an angel investor and entrepreneur who became the man in the corner office. After selling his first company, Stealth Entertainment, in 2007, Mann joined EMI Music, where he rose to become President of International, President of Global Artist Management, and Chief Creative Officer. He helped guide stars such as Helene Fischer, DJ Flex, Empire of the Sun, Pablo Alborán, and Tiziano Ferro—and even championed David Guetta after hearing what would become his first globalsmash, “When Love Takes Over,” in the back of a Paris taxi en route to a Cold playconcert. Four years later, Mann was appointed President of Creative for BMG North America before partnering with the German music powerhouse to build yet another boutique independent. Most artists barely survive the street and the studio. Mann did both—and the boardroom, too. But titles alone don’t capture him. What makes Mann unusual—and why he remains relevant in an era when many of his peers have faded into nostalgia tours—is that he keeps moving. He founded Manncom Creative Partners, grew his publishing company Green & Bloom, and continually trusted his instinct for developing talent. Over the years, he has successfully backed left-of-center voices such as Allen Stone, Teddy Geiger, Supah Mario, John Ryan, Tre Trax, Julia Gargano, TWhy Xclusive, David Spencer, lovelytheband, and early digital disruptors like Esmée Denters, Alex Aiono, and Charli and Dixie D’Amelio. He produced Hulu’s The D’Amelio Show and launched a charting podcast, Yeah, I Fcked That Up*, which transforms failure into a brand of creative fuel.

And then there’s his second life as an advocate. As an autism parent, Mann went from struggling to navigate the chaos of the U.S. healthcare system to standing in the OvalOffice as his son received the first ceremonial pen from President Obama, who had just signed landmark legislation providing hundreds of millions of dollars to families with special-needs children—a law Mann helped champion. He also co-founded the RemaHort Mann Fund, which has given millions of dollars in no-strings-attached grants to young contemporary artists and quality-of-life grants to cancer patients struggling with expenses insurance doesn’t cover. Mann speaks openly about parenting, creating, resilience, and the messy, beautiful realities of raising a family while sustaining a relentless career.

What really sets him apart, though, is the through-line. Billy Mann is a storyteller. Whether it’s a pop hook, a boardroom pitch, a television format, an angel investment, a podcast confessional, or a late-night text to an artist or executive on the verge of giving up, his superpower is the same: he knows how to take the complicated stuff—fear, ambition, failure, hope—and turn it into something that connects. That’s why he’s lasted. That’s why his contact list runs so deep. That’s why he’s still here. Billy Mann lives in Connecticut with his wife, Gena, and their four children, but his orbit is global. He is equally at home trading stories with Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman (with whom he just formed the Americana-soul duo Chosen Family), cutting a deal in Berlin, assessing a tech company in Mexico City, writing a song in Nashville, or spotting the next pop disruptor on TikTok. Call him a hitmaker, a thought leader, or a survivor of an industry that chews people up. The truth is simpler: Billy Mann has grit and contagious optimism in a world that too often collapses into cynicism. And that’s exactly why he matters.

“If God Is A DJ, life is a dancefloor, love is the rhythm, you are the music. If God is a DJ, life is a dancefloor, you get what you’re given, it’s all how you use it.”