Benny Blanco

Benny Blanco
Background information
Birth name	Benjamin Levin
Born	(1988-03-08) March 8, 1988
Origin	Reston, Virginia, US
Genres	Pop R&B hip hop pop rock electronica dance-pop synthpop
Occupations	Rapper songwriter record producer musician remixer record label owner
Years active	1994–present

Benjamin Levin (born March 8, 1988), professionally known as Benny Blanco, is a rapper, songwriter, record producer, musician, remixer and record label owner. He has written, co-written and produced songs for artists, including Ed Sheeran ("Don't"), Justin Bieber ("Love Yourself"), Major Lazer ("Cold Water"), Maroon 5 ("Moves like Jagger", "Don't Wanna Know", "Payphone", "Maps", "Animals"), Katy Perry ("Teenage Dream", "California Gurls"), Rihanna ("Diamonds"), Kesha ("Tik Tok"), Taio Cruz ("Dynamite"), Wiz Khalifa ("Work Hard, Play Hard"), Gym Class Heroes ("Stereo Hearts"), Tory Lanez ("Luv") and many more.

Blanco has received five BMI Songwriter of the Year Awards and is a recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is responsible for selling over 100 million albums worldwide.

Life and career

Career beginnings

Blanco, a Virginia native, began by making beats in his bedroom and his first serious exposure to music came in 1994 with the cassette singles: Nas's "The World Is Yours" and "I Swear" by All-4-One. Blanco's rapping earned the attention of The Source and executives at Columbia Records. Levin eventually secured an apprenticeship with producer Disco D.

In 2007, Blanco and Spank Rock collaborated on Bangers & Cash, a collaborative EP. Blanco went on to work with Amanda Blank and Santigold.

2008–present

Blanco was mentored by songwriter and producer Dr. Luke.

He worked on several tracks on Maroon 5's album Overexposed, including the lead single "Payphone", featuring Wiz Khalifa.

On June 13, 2013, Blanco was awarded with the Hal David Starlight Award at the 44th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony, awarded to young artists who have already made an impression on the music industry. In his acceptance speech, he joked, saying, "They picked the wrong person, I'm in a room with people I should probably be serving food to."

Record labels

In 2014, Blanco started two imprint labels under Interscope Records. He founded Mad Love Records, signing the band Rixton in conjunction with their manager Scooter Braun's School Boy Records, as well as Ryn Weaver, and Tory Lanez. His second label, Friends Keep Secrets, was started for Blanco to sign and develop passion project artists in an indie-spirited manner. FKS's current roster includes Cashmere Cat, BenZel (Blanco's own artist project with Two Inch Punch), and Jessie Ware.

Discography

Title	Year	Album	Songwriter	Producer
"Send Some Shooters"	2007	Hell Rell – Eat with Me or Eat a Box of Bullets		Y
"Shake That"		Spank Rock – Bangers & Cash	Y	Y
"B-O-O-T-A-Y"			Y	Y
"Pu$$y"			Y	Y
"Bitch!"			Y	Y
"Loose"			Y	Y
"Circus"	2008	Britney Spears – Circus	Y	Y
"Shattered Glass"			Y	Y
"Lace and Leather"			Y	Y
"Broken Pieces"		Lil Mama – Voice of the Young People		Y
"Hot n Cold"		Katy Perry – One of the Boys	Y	Y
"I Kissed a Girl"			Y	Y
"Don't Ask Why"		Vanessa Hudgens – Identified		Y
"Amazed"				Y
"Set It Off"				Y
"Identified"				Y
"Watch You Go"	2009	Jordin Sparks – Battlefield	Y	Y
"Tell Me What Your Name Is"		Ciara – Fantasy Ride	Y	Y
"Dollhouse"		Priscilla Renea – Jukebox	Y	Y
"Touch Me"		Flo Rida – R.O.O.T.S.	Y	Y
"Don't Trust Me"		3OH!3 – Want	Y	Y
"Rich Man"			Y	Y
"So Human"		Lady Sovereign – Jigsaw	Y	Y
"Pennies"			Y	Y
"Stupid Love Letter"		Friday Night Boys – Off the Deep End	Y	Y
"Dynamite"	2010	Taio Cruz – Rokstarr	Y	Y
"Eenie Meenie"		Justin Bieber and Sean Kingston – My World 2.0	Y	Y
"Blah Blah Blah"		Ke$ha – Animal	Y	Y
"Tik Tok"			Y	Y
"Party at a Rich Dude's House"			Y	Y
"Dancing With Tears in My Eyes"			Y	Y
"Blind"			Y	Y
"Your Love Is My Drug"			Y	Y
"Somebody to Love (Remix)"		Justin Bieber and Usher – Versus	Y	Y
"California Gurls"		Katy Perry – Teenage Dream	Y	Y
"Teenage Dream"			Y	Y
"My First Kiss"		3OH!3 – Streets of Gold	Y	Y
"Streets of Gold"			Y	Y
"Double Vision"			Y	Y
"Please Don't Go"		Mike Posner – 31 Minutes to Takeoff	Y	Y
"Cheated"			Y	Y
"We R Who We R"		Ke$ha – Cannibal	Y	Y
"Sleazy"			Y	Y
"Blow"			Y	Y
"Grow A Pear"			Y	Y
"Who Dat Girl"		Flo Rida – Only One Flo	Y	Y
"Get Over U"	2011	Neon Hitch – Non-album singles	Y	Y
"Bad Dog"			Y	Y
"Silly Girl"			Y	Y
"(Drop Dead) Beautiful"		Britney Spears – Femme Fatale	Y	Y
"Gasoline"			Y	Y
"No Sleep"		Wiz Khalifa – Rolling Papers	Y	Y
"Stereo Hearts"		Gym Class Heroes – The Papercut Chronicles II	Y	Y
"Ass Back Home"			Y	Y
"Moves Like Jagger"		Maroon 5 – Hands All Over	Y	Y
"Come N Go"		Pitbull – Planet Pit	Y	Y
"She Doesn't Mind"		Sean Paul – Tomahawk Technique	Y	Y
"Fuck U Betta"	2012	Neon Hitch – Non-album singles	Y	Y
"Gold"			Y	Y
"Heart Attack"		Trey Songz – Chapter 5	Y	Y
"Masquerade"		Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded	Y	Y
"Payphone"		Maroon 5 – Overexposed	Y	Y
"Beautiful Goodbye"			Y	Y
"Work Hard, Play Hard"		Wiz Khalifa – O.N.I.F.C.	Y	Y
"Naked Love"		Adam Lambert – Trespassing	Y	Y
"Seasons"		Rome – Dedication EP	Y	Y
"Oz of Love"			Y	Y
"Die Young"		Kesha – Warrior	Y	Y
"C'Mon"			Y	Y
"Thinking of You"			Y	Y
"Crazy Kids"			Y	Y
"Supernatural"			Y	Y
"Last Goodbye"			Y	Y
"Diamonds"		Rihanna – Unapologetic	Y	Y
"Turn Around"		Conor Maynard – Contrast	Y	Y
"Blow"		Ke$ha – Deconstructed	Y	Y
"Die Young"			Y	Y
"Supernatural"			Y
"Natalie"		Bruno Mars – Unorthodox Jukebox	Y	Y
"If I Lose Myself"	2013	OneRepublic – Native	Y	Y
"Something I Need"			Y	Y
"Fall Down"		Will.i.am – #willpower	Y	Y
"Thunder"		Jessie J – Alive	Y	Y
"Other Side of Love"		Sean Paul – Full Frequency	Y	Y
"Shame"		Keith Urban – Fuse	Y	Y
"This Moment"		Katy Perry – Prism	Y	Y
"It Takes Two"			Y	Y
"Cannonball"		Lea Michele – Louder	Y	Y
"Make a Move"		Gavin DeGraw – Make a Move	Y	Y
"Top of the World"		Mike Posner – Pages	Y	Y
"Losing Sleep"		John Newman – Tribute	Y	Y
"Just Another Night"	2014	Icona Pop – This Is... Icona Pop	Y	Y
"We All Want the Same Thing"		Rixton – Let the Road	Y	Y
"Hotel Ceiling"			Y	Y
"Me and My Broken Heart"			Y	Y
"Appreciated"			Y	Y
"Maps"		Maroon 5 – V	Y	Y
"Animals"			Y	Y
"Leaving California"			Y	Y
"My Heart Is Open"			Y	Y
"Shoot Love"			Y
"Black Widow"		Iggy Azalea – The New Classic	Y	Y
"Don't		Ed Sheeran – x	Y	Y
"Why Try"		Ariana Grande – My Everything	Y	Y
"Be My Baby"			Y	Y
"Wait on Me"		Rixton – Let the Road	Y	Y
"Tough Love"		Jessie Ware – Tough Love	Y	Y
"You and I Forever"			Y	Y
"Say You Love Me"			Y	Y
"Kind of... Sometimes... Maybe"			Y	Y
"Champagne Kisses"			Y	Y
"Baby Don't Lie"		Gwen Stefani – Non-album single	Y	Y
"Caught in the Middle"		Charli XCX – Sucker	Y	Y
"The Fool"	2015	Ryn Weaver – The Fool	Y	Y
"Lifted Up (1985)"		Passion Pit – Kindred	Y	Y
"Whole Life Story"			Y	Y
"All I Want"			Y	Y
"Until We Can't (Let's Go)"			Y	Y
"Kill Em with Kindness"		Selena Gomez – Revival	Y	Y
"Same Old Love"			Y	Y
"When Love Hurts"		JoJo – III.	Y	Y
"R.I.P. 2 My Youth"		The Neighbourhood – Wiped Out!	Y	Y
"Fire and the Flood"		Vance Joy – Dream Your Life Away	Y	Y
"Straight Into Your Arms"			Y	Y
"...goingtohell"		Miguel – Wildheart	Y	Y
"Love Yourself"		Justin Bieber – Purpose	Y	Y
"Sitting Pretty" featuring Wiz Khalifa		Ty Dolla $ign – Free TC	Y	Y
"Say It"	2016	Tory Lanez – I Told You	Y	Y
"Luv"			Y	Y
"Friends" featuring Bon Iver and Kanye West		Francis and the Lights		Y
"Cold Water" featuring Justin Bieber and MØ		Major Lazer – Music is the Weapon	Y	Y
"See Her Out (That's Just Life)"		Francis and the Lights – Farewell, Starlite!	Y	Y
"Comeback"
"Can't Stay Party"
"I Want You to Shake"
"May I Have this Dance"
"My City's Gone" featuring Kanye West
"Running Man / Gospel OP1"
"It's Alright to Cry"
"Friends" featuring Bon Iver and Kanye West
"Thank You"
"True Colors"		The Weeknd – Starboy	Y	Y
"Attention"

Single peaks

The following singles peaked inside the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 Airplay (Radio Songs) and/or the UK Singles Chart.

• 2008: "I Kissed a Girl" (Katy Perry) number one
• 2008: "Hot n Cold" (Katy Perry) number one
• 2008: "Circus" (Britney Spears)
• 2009: "Don't Trust Me" (3OH!3) number one
• 2009: "Tik Tok" (Ke$ha) number one
• 2010: "Eenie Meenie" (Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber)
• 2010: "Blah Blah Blah" (Ke$ha)
• 2010: "Your Love Is My Drug" (Ke$ha) number one
• 2010: "My First Kiss" (3OH!3 and Ke$ha)
• 2010: "California Gurls" (Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg) number one
• 2010: "Please Don't Go" (Mike Posner)
• 2010: "Dynamite" (Taio Cruz) number one
• 2010: "Teenage Dream" (Katy Perry) number one
• 2010: "We R Who We R" (Ke$ha) number one
• 2011: "Blow" (Ke$ha)
• 2011: "No Sleep" (Wiz Khalifa)
• 2011: "Stereo Hearts" (Gym Class Heroes and Adam Levine) number one
• 2011: "Ass Back Home" (Gym Class Heroes)
• 2011: "Moves Like Jagger" (Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera) number one}
• 2012: "Payphone" (Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa) number one
• 2012: "Work Hard, Play Hard" (Wiz Khalifa)
• 2012: "Heart Attack" (Trey Songz)
• 2012: "Die Young" (Ke$ha) number one
• 2012: "Diamonds" (Rihanna) number one
• 2013: "Cannonball" (Lea Michele)
• 2014: "Me and My Broken Heart" (Rixton) number one
• 2014: "Maps" (Maroon 5) number one
• 2014: "Animals" (Maroon 5) number one
• 2014: "Black Widow" (Iggy Azalea) number one
• 2014: "Don't" (Ed Sheeran) number one
• 2015: "Fire and the Flood" (Vance Joy) number one
• 2015: "Same Old Love" (Selena Gomez) number one
• 2015: "Love Yourself" (Justin Bieber) number one
• 2016: "Cold Water" (Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ ) number one
• 2016: "Luv" (Tory Lanez) number one

Awards and nominations

• Grammy Awards
  • 2016: Producer of the Year: Non-Classical (Nominated)
  • 2016: Best R&B Song: "LUV" - Tory Lanez (Nominated)
  • 2016: Album of the Year: "Purpose" - Justin Bieber (Nominated)
  • 2016: Song of the Year: "Love Yourself" - Justin Bieber (Nominated)
  • 2014: Album of the Year – x – Ed Sheeran (Nominated)
  • 2014: Best Pop Vocal Album – x – Ed Sheeran (Nominated)
  • 2013: Best Urban Contemporary Album – Unapologetic – Rihanna (Won)
  • 2013: Best Pop Vocal Album – Unorthodox Jukebox – Bruno Mars (Won)
  • 2013: Best R&B Song of the Year – "Heart Attack" – Trey Songz (Nominated)
  • 2013: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance – "Payphone" – Maroon 5 (Nominated)
  • 2013: Best Pop Vocal Album – Overexposed – Maroon 5 (Nominated)
  • 2012: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance – "Moves Like Jagger" – Maroon 5 (Nominated)
  • 2011: Album of the Year – Teenage Dream – Katy Perry (Nominated)
• Songwriters Hall of Fame
  • 2013: Hal David Starlight Award (Won)
• BMI Awards
  • 2014: Songwriter of the Year (Won)
  • 2013: Urban Songwriter of the Year (Won)
  • 2012: Most Performed Pop Song – "Moves Like Jagger" – Maroon 5 (Won)
  • 2012: Songwriter of the Year (Won)
  • 2011: Songwriter of the Year (Won)

External links

• Benny Blanco on Myspace
• Benny Blanco on Twitter