Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018,[1][2][3] and contributed to four songs which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100.[2]
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen Kurstin
May 14, 1969
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Record producer
- multi-instrumentalist
- songwriter
- Keyboards
- guitar
- bass
- drums
- vocals
Kurstin collaborated with Adele on the albums 25 and 30. He co-wrote and produced "Easy on Me," [4] the first single from 30, which hit the US Hot 100 only five hours after its release and broke all-time records on Spotify with 24 million plays within the first 24 hours it was available.[5] He also co-wrote, produced and played most of the instruments on Adele's record-breaking 2015 single "Hello". Among others, he has worked with Sia, Kelly Clarkson, Halsey, Maren Morris, Dido, Beck, Paul McCartney, Pink, Lily Allen, Harry Styles, and the Foo Fighters. He often plays guitar, bass, keyboards and drums, and engineers and programs the music of which he produces.[2][6]
Kurstin began his career as a jazz pianist and later co-founded Geggy Tah. He worked with singer Inara George to form the collaborative duo the Bird and the Bee in 2004.[7]
Early life and education[edit]
Kurstin was born in Los Angeles, California. He is Jewish.[8] He started playing piano at age five. Soon after, he picked up guitar and bass. Kurstin joined his first band at the age of 11, and at 12 co-wrote "Crunchy Water", the B-side to classmate Dweezil Zappa's "My Mother Is a Space Cadet".[9]
In high school, Kurstin focused on jazz piano. After graduation, he moved to New York to study with Charles Mingus' pianist Jaki Byard at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. In addition to coursework, as a student Kurstin played with prominent jazz artists including Bobby Hutcherson, George Coleman, and Charles McPherson.[10] He returned to Los Angeles to finish his degree, and graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in 1992.[9]
In a 2013 interview, Kurstin said that his education in jazz had played a vital role in his pop success. "It's still something I carry over into my pop music work. It's really important to me that the notes I'm choosing strike the right emotional chord."[11][12]
Career[edit]
1994–2004: Geggy Tah, studio and session work[edit]
Kurstin continued to perform with Hutcherson, Coleman, McPherson and others following his graduation. In 1994, he formed Geggy Tah with Tommy Jordan, whom he had met at an LA jam. A friend passed a demo they recorded on to David Byrne, who signed them to his label, Luaka Bop. "They incorporate so many disparate elements into their sound that one senses a new sensibility afoot", Byrne said in 1997.[13]
Geggy Tah released their debut album Grand Opening in 1994; Kurstin played bass, clavinet, guitar, organ, piano, synthesizers and drums, and was credited as a songwriter, producer, programmer, and backup vocalist. In 1996 the band released Sacred Cow. It included the song "Whoever You Are", which became a hit in 2001, after it was used in a television spot for Mercedes-Benz. As the song ascended the charts, Geggy Tah released their final album, Into the Oh.[14][15][16]
In addition to playing with Geggy Tah, Kurstin did session work, one-offs and tours with artists including Beck, Ben Harper, Jon Hassell[17] and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2001, he released an album under the name Action Figure Party on the Verve-affiliated label Blue Thumb Records. Mostly instrumental and in a jazz-funk vein, the album featured guests Flea, Sean Lennon, Soul Coughing's Yuval Gabay as well as musicians who performed with Beck, Air, Gil-Scott Heron and Garbage.[18][19]
Kurstin signed a worldwide publishing deal with EMI (now Sony/ATV) in 2002. While he had consistently written songs since the age of 12, he intensified his efforts, working "day and night, pumping out songs". In addition to writing on his own, he collaborated with songwriters and artists including Sia, whom he met through Beck in 2003.[20][21]
2004–2010: The Bird and the Bee, Lily Allen, Sia[edit]
In 2004, Kurstin was introduced to singer Inara George by a mutual friend, Mike Andrews. Then producing George's solo debut, Andrews hired Kurstin as a pianist for the album. Kurstin and George clicked musically in the studio and together they formed the bird and the bee. Shortly thereafter, they were signed by Blue Note Records chairman Bruce Lundvall.[22] Described by Entertainment Weekly as "space-age pop that cunningly combines bossa nova languidity with Beach Boys-style lushness", they have since released four albums and an EP. Kurstin was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album for the Bird and the Bee's 2015 release, Recreational Love.[23]
[24][25]
After working on tracks with artists including Peaches, All Saints, Pink, the Flaming Lips, and Kylie Minogue, Kurstin was introduced to Lily Allen. Along with other musicians, co-writers, producers and engineers, he worked on her 2006 debut, Alright, Still, which went on to achieve platinum status. For her second album It's Not Me, It's You, Allen worked exclusively with Kurstin; he co-wrote every song and played all of the instruments on the record, which he also engineered 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. With Allen, Kurstin won three Ivor Novello Awards for his work on the double-platinum It's Not Me, It's You. Based in part on the album's success, as well as his work on a bird and the bee record, Kurstin was nominated for his first Producer of the Year Grammy in 2010.[26]
Kurstin's first commercially available collaboration with Sia was "Death by Chocolate", released on her 2008 album Some People Have Real Problems. In 2010, he produced Sia's fifth album, We Are Born. It reached number 2 in Australia and number 37 in the US. It won ARIA Music Awards for Best Pop Album and Best Independent Release.[27]
2011–2016: Kelly Clarkson, the Shins, Pink, Adele[edit]
In 2012, Kurstin earned his first number 1 song in the United States and two Grammy Award nominations for Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)", which he co-wrote and produced. He reunited with Clarkson in 2013 (on Wrapped in Red) and in 2015 (on Piece by Piece). "I think what makes him stand out as a producer is his skill as a musician", Clarkson said. "He can play anything phenomenally. His abilities as a musician give him an advantage, because he doesn't have to rely on anyone else to interpret his vision."[28] In 2012 Kurstin produced and wrote or co-wrote five songs for the Grammy-nominated Pink album The Truth About Love, including its first single, "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)". The album was Pink's first number 1 in the United States; it charted in the Top 10 in 31 countries, and as of 2016 had been certified seven-times platinum. Later in 2012, he began production on Tegan & Sara's Heartthrob and worked closely with the Shins' James Mercer on Port of Morrow, which debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200.[29]