Blue attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he studied Communications focusing on Media Law.[1] Blue played drums while in college.[1] He interned for the local CBS TV News Department.[1] Blue then attended Loyola Law School in Los Angeles to pursue a career as an attorney.[1] Blue passed the bar exam and found work as a lawyer, but lost passion for the profession.[1] Blue became a music journalist for Billboard, HITS, and Entertainment Weekly, and eventually published his own magazine, Crossroads, which focused on discovering unsigned artists.[1] He also pursued a career in acting and appeared in television commercials.[1]
Blue joined Zomba Music Publishing in 1995 and became the label's vice president of A&R while also teaching classes at UCLA.[2] He met Brad Delson at UCLA, then a student, who became his intern.[2] Blue mentored Delson and took interest in his band, Linkin Park, which he had just cofounded with Mike Shinoda. Blue played a pivotal role in Linkin Park's early history. He helped the band find vocalist Chester Bennington.[3] After Blue left Zomba and joined Warner Records, he signed Linkin Park to their first record deal.[4]
Blue also developed and co-wrote with Macy Gray.[4] After recording Gray's demos, Blue secured a deal for the artist with Epic Records and led to him co-writing the top-10 hit "Still" for Gray.[citation needed] During this time Blue also signed rock bands Korn and Limp Bizkit to publishing deals.[5]
Beyond A&R, He has directly collaborated with artists to write and produce music. Blue wrote Hoobastank's "So Close, So Far", while also producing Better Than Ezra's album Before the Robots.[6] He was also the executive producer for Queen of the Damned'ssoundtrack.[6] In 2007, Blue collaborated with The Last Goodnight to co-write the song Pictures of You, which won a BMI Pop Award.[6] He also performed all the drums and percussion on the band's debut album, Poison Kiss.[6] In 2008 he developed, co-wrote, and co-produced the debut album for Steadlür.[citation needed]
In 2012 Blue signed, co-wrote, and developed WERM after discovering the band on Music Xray.[citation needed] In 2020, Blue released, One Step Closer, From Xero to #1; Becoming Linkin Park, a book detailing his early work with Linkin Park.[5] He also worked on a docu-series covering history of A&R.[7]