Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, musician and songwriter. Described as "the perfect DIY writer and producer", Kurstin has been associated with releases that have cumulatively sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. He has won five Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year in 2017 and 2018.
Kurstin co-authored, produced, and played most of the instruments on the record-breaking single 2015 Adele, "Hello". Among these, he has worked with Sia, Beck, Kelly Clarkson, Ellie Goulding, Pink, the Shins, Tegan and Sara, Lily Allen, and Foo Fighters. He often plays guitar, bass, keyboard and drums, and the engineer and record program he produces.
As a "very successful" musician, Kurstin began his career as a jazz pianist and later founded Geggy Tah. He has worked with Inara George on The Bird and the Bee since 2004.
Video Greg Kurstin
Early life and education
Kurstin was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He started playing piano at the age of 5; soon after that, he picked up his guitar and bass. Kurstin joined his first band at the age of 11, and co-wrote "Crunchy Water", b-side for Dweezil Zappa's classmate "My Mother Is a Space Cadet" at 12. Kurstin was a Jew.
In high school, Kurstin focuses on jazz pianos. After graduating, he moved to New York to study with pianist Charles Mingus, Jaki Byard at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. In addition to the courses, as a student Kurstin plays with leading jazz artists including Bobby Hutcherson, George Coleman, and Charles McPherson. He returned to Los Angeles to finish his degree, and graduated from the California Institute of Art with the BFA in 1992.
In a 2013 interview, Kurstin said that his education in jazz has played an important role in his pop success. "It's still something I bring to my pop music It's important to me that the note I choose will touch the right emotional chord."
Maps Greg Kurstin
Careers
1994-2004: Geggy Tah, studio and work sessions
Kurstin continued to perform with Hutcherson, Coleman, McPherson, and others after his graduation. In 1994, he formed Geggy Tah with Tommy Jordan, whom he met at an LA clock. A friend passed the demo they recorded to David Byrne, who signed them to his label, Luaka Bop. "They combine so many different elements into their voices that someone feels a new sensitivity is going on", Byrne said in 1997.
Geggy Tah released their debut album Grand Opening in 1994; Kurstin plays bass, clavinet, guitar, organ, piano, synthesizer and drums, and is credited as a songwriter, producer, programmer, and backup vocalist. In 1996 the band released Sacred Cow . This included the song "Whoever You Are", which became a hit in 2001, after being used on television for Mercedes Benz. As the song climbs the charts, Geggy Tah releases their last album, Into the Oh .
In addition to playing with Geggy Tah, Kurstin performs work sessions, one-offs and tours with artists including Beck, Ben Harper, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2001, he released an album called Action Figure Party on the Verve label-affiliated Blue Thumb Records. Flea, Sean Lennon, Soul Coughing's Yuval Gabay, as well as musicians featured with Beck, Air, Gil-Scott Heron, and Garbage appear on the recording.
Kurstin signed a worldwide publishing deal with EMI (now Sony/ATV) in 2002. While he has been consistently writing songs since the age of 12, he intensified his efforts, working "day and night, pumping out songs". In addition to writing his own, he collaborated with songwriters and artists including Sia, whom he met through Beck in 2003.
2004-2010: The Bird and Bee, Lily Allen, Sia
In 2004, Kurstin was introduced to singer Inara George by a friend, Mike Andrews. Later producing George's solo debut, Andrews hired Kurstin as a pianist for the album. Kurstin and George clicked on the music in the studio and together they formed The Bird and the Bee (styled as "birds and bees"). Shortly thereafter, they were signed by Blue Note Records chairman Bruce Lundvall. Described by Entertainment Weekly as an age-space pop that cunningly combines lethargic bossa nova with Beach Boys-style luxury, they have released four albums and EP. Kurstin was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album for the release of Bird and the Bee 2015, Recreational Love .
After working on tracks with artists including Peaches, All Saints, Pinks, Flaming Lips, and Kylie Minogue, Kurstin was introduced to Lily Allen. Along with other musicians, co-authors, producers and engineers, he worked on his debut in 2006, Okay, Still , which later achieved platinum status. For the second album Not Me, It's You , Allen works exclusively with Kurstin; he co-wrote each song and played all the instruments on the recording, which he also designed and produced. The album's first single, "The Fear", spent four weeks at number 1 in the UK, and the album hit number 5 in the US and charted in the top 10 in eight other countries. Together with Allen, Kurstin won three Ivor Novello Awards for his work on double-platinum Not Me, It's You . Partly based on the success of the album, as well as his work on bird and bee records, Kurstin was nominated for the first Grammy Producer of 2010.
The first commercially available Kurdish collaboration with Sia was "Death by Chocolate", released on its 2008 album Some People Have Real Problems . In 2010, he produced the fifth album Sia, We Are Born . It reached number 2 in Australia and number 37 in the US. It won the ARIA Music Awards for Best Pop Album and Best Independent Releases.
2011-2016: Kelly Clarkson, Shins, Pink, Adele
In 2012, Kurstin earned his first number one song in the United States and two Grammy Award nominations for Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Does not Kill You)", which he wrote and produced. He reunited with Clarkson in 2013 (in Wrapped in Red ) and in 2015 (on Piece by Piece ). "I think what makes it stand out as a producer is his skill as a musician," Clarkson said. "He can play something phenomenal.His ability as a musician gives him an advantage, because he does not have to rely on others to interpret his vision." In 2012 Kurstin produces and writes or co-authored five songs for the Pink Grammy nominated album, The Truth About Love , including his first single, "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)". This album is the first number of Pink 1 in the United States; it charted in the Top 10 in 31 countries, and by 2016 has been certified seven times platinum. Then in 2012, he started production at Tegan & amp; Sara's
In addition to Clarkson, in 2013 and 2014 Kurstin writes and produces songs that appear on the album by Lana Del Rey, Foster the People, Ellie Goulding, Lykke Li, Katy Perry, and Charli XCX. He co-wrote and produced "Burn" by Ellie Goulding, who is number 1 in the UK for three consecutive weeks, teaming up with Allen, and collaborating with Sia on 1000 Forms of Fear. His most successful album to date, 1000 Forms of Fear debuted at number one on US Billboard 200 and charted at number 1 in Australia and Canada and reached the top five charts in Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. 1000 Forms of Fear earned three ARIA Music Awards. Kurstin was nominated for a Record of the Year Grammy for the album's main single, "Chandelier", and was once again nominated as Producer of the Year.
Kurstin printed a 2014 adaptation of the film Annie and served as executive producer of the soundtrack. With Sia, he created new arrangements for Broadway's original musical songs and co-wrote several new songs for the film, including "Opportunities", where he received a Golden Globe nomination.
Kurstin began working with Beck on his follow-up to the Grammy-winning Morning Phase in 2015. He co-authored and produced "Dreams", the first single from the album "Colors".
Kurstin co-wrote and produced three songs on Adele's 2015 album, 25 , including his first single, "Hello". In an interview with Rolling Stone, Adele said: "This song is a major breakthrough for me with my writing because it's been slow enough until now, and I feel after I worked with Greg [Kurstin] about this , everything poured directly from me. "Kurstin also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboard on" Hello ", which reached number one in 28 countries.It was the first record that exceeded 1 million in digital sales over a period of 7 days.In February 2016, more than 20 million copies worldwide.
2016-present: Producer of the Year, Liam Gallagher, Foo Fighters, No Expectations
Kurstin's fourth album with Sia, This Is Acting , was released in January 2016.
In February 2017, Kurstin won four Grammy Awards. For Adele's 25, he won the Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Record of the Year for his work on Adele's 25. He won the Producer of the Year (Non- Classical) in recognition of his work with Tegan and Sara, Sia and Ellie Goulding.
In March 2017, the BBC reported that Kurstin worked with Paul McCartney on a new studio album. Kurstin co-produced the song "Love" on Kendrick Lamar album Damn, released in March 2017. On June 1, 2017, the single by Liam Gallagher titled "Wall of Glass" was released. The song was written by Gallagher and Kurstin.
Kurstin produced the album Foo Fighters, Concrete and Gold , released on September 15, 2017. In an interview with Music Week, Dave Grohl said: "If you want to survive you have to be a bit I'm just imagining the sounds moving out.Not an alternative instrument and dirt like that, just sonicly to push it out Greg is a genius, he's a brilliant producer and he has this sonic intuition that I've never seen in anyone else. "
In 2017, Kurstin launched No Expectations, a joint venture with Sony/ATV. The first artist to sign a contract with No Expectations was Jesse Shatkin and Wendy Wang.
Discography
Awards and nominations
Golden Globe Awards
Grammy Grammy Awards
Awards Ivor Novello
References
External links
- Official website
- birds and bees
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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