North Florida Music Hall of Fame

A Jacksonville native, Pete Thornton graduated from Bishop Kenny High and earned an associate in science degree from Full Sail School of Recording in Orlando in 1994. While working as an engineer at Jasmine Recording in Jacksonville, pal Donnie Smith (former road manager for The Outlaws) brought Thornton an unknown band he was managing named Limp Bizkit. At singer Fred Durst’s behest, Thornton later produced successful demos for Jacksonville Beach hard-rock band Cold. Thornton moved over to Judy (Van Zant) Jenness’s studio, Made in the Shade (now defunct), where he worked with blues-belter Susan Tedeschi and rap-rockers Superfly Rodeo. He also helped Atlantic A&R rep Steve Robertson put together a band for singer Brent Smith, called Shinedown. Thornton worked on Shinedown’s demos alongside Orlando producer Tony Battaglia (Mandy Moore, N’Sync). He and Battaglia later developed Jacksonville rock band 3AE, which signed with RCA Records in 2002. Also see 3AE;