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Greg Wells

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For other people named Greg Wells, see Greg Wells (disambiguation).

Greg Wells
Greg Wells
Greg Wells
Background information
OriginPeterborough, Ontario, Canada
GenresRock, pop, classical, jazz
Occupation(s)Record producer, songwriter, musician, mix engineer
Instrument(s)Piano, Synthesizer, drums, guitar, bass, Hammond B3
WebsiteGregWells.net

Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer and songwriter[1] based in Los Angeles. Wells has songs on over 85 million units sold. He has produced and written with Ella Eyre, Dua Lipa, Keith Urban, Holychild, Adele, Greg Holden, Rufus Wainwright, Twenty One Pilots, Katy Perry, Mayer Hawthorne, OneRepublic, Kelly Clarkson, Pharrell Williams, Theophilus London, Weezer, Kid Cudi, The All American Rejects, LostAlone, Pink, Paloma Faith, Otep, Deftones, Aerosmith, Burt Bacharach, Celine Dion, Crash Test Dummies, Elton John, Jars of Clay, Bry, and the Count Basie Orchestra.

Career highlights

  • Adele
    • "One and Only" on Adele's worldwide #1 Grammy winning Album of the Year, 21. Over 30 million units sold.
  • Katy Perry
  • OneRepublic** produced worldwide #1 hit "Apologize". Wells produced the Timbaland remix and the OneRepublic original version, making it one of the most successful selling and charting songs of the decade.[2] "Apologize" has sold in excess of 10 million singles worldwide & stayed at #1 for eight consecutive weeks on Billboard's Pop 100. "Apologize" is now the second-highest legally downloaded song in US digital history.[3] "Apologize" is number 50 on the definitive list of the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Songs from the chart's first 50 years, August 1958 through July 2008; achieving this status after spending 25 consecutive weeks in the top 10.
  • Mika
    • produced, mixed, and played piano, electric guitar, drums and bass guitar on Mika's blockbuster #1 debut single "Grace Kelly" from the album "Life in Cartoon Motion" which sold six million copies.

Biography

Wells grew up in the rural town of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. At age 11, he developed Perthes' disease and was unable to walk for two years. The son of a United Church of Canada minister, the multi-instrumentalist joined many musical ensembles in his hometown from the local orchestra to club bands to being a church organist/choir director, as well as DJ-ing dances and running a weekly radio show on Trent University Radio CFFF-FM. He studied classical piano, drums, pipe organ, orchestral percussion and music theory at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music and attended the Humber College Jazz Music Program in Toronto on drums, piano, and guitar. After moving to Toronto at age 17, he soon became engrossed in the city's music scene as a live and studio musician working with some of Canada's top jazz, classical, and pop musical talent like Rob McConnell and Kim Mitchell. He joined the Kim Mitchell Band at age 19. He recorded keyboards and backing vocals on Mitchell's double platinum album Rockland, toured Canada several times with the band, and won the award for best keyboardist at the Toronto Music Awards as a result of his work with Mitchell.

Wells was awarded a Canada Council arts grant to study with composer and arranger Clare Fischer in Los Angeles. He moved to Los Angeles at age 21 with the intention of returning to Canada, but Fischer began recommending Wells for studio work as a pianist. Wells joined k.d. lang's band soon afterward, performing with her on the 1993 Grammy Awards where she won Best Pop Female Vocal. Working with the support of music manager Miles Copeland and music publisher Barbara Vander Linde at Rondor Music, Wells started producing records and writing songs. His first recorded song as a songwriter was with Aerosmith on Nine Lives, which was followed by The Reason on Celine Dion's blockbuster album Let's Talk About Love that sold 31 million albums worldwide. Wells continued to branch out, producing critically acclaimed artists Rufus Wainwright and Otep. Hit songwriter Kara DioGuardi started collaborating with Wells in 2003 and invited him to partner in her mainstream pop projects. This led to label boss Tommy Mottola calling Wells to produce his brand new artist Mika, who went on to sell 6 million albums on his debut record with Wells producing, mixing, and playing most of the instruments. In 2007, Wells produced both Timbaland's and OneRepublic's version of the song Apologize which went on to become one of the biggest hits in the history of radio. Wells began working with Katy Perry and has written and produced on every one of her albums. The two continue to collaborate in 2015 as Perry performed By the Grace of God from her hit album Prism on the 2015 Grammy Awards, penned by Perry and Wells.

In June 2015, Wells was awarded an honorary degree from his alma mater music college, Humber College in Toronto. In September 2015, Wells became chairman of the board of the Rock School Scholarship Fund, a non-profit organization that grants scholarships to hundreds of children across the United States.

Wells is married to Swedish songwriter Nina Woodford and has four children. He works out of his studio in Los Angeles that he built called Rocket Carousel Studio.

References

  1. ^ GRAMMY.com
  2. ^ Billboard.com delivers Music Chart Coverage- Find Digital Music Charts
  3. ^ http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20080904/LATH03704092008-1.html
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