Carl Anthony Falk-Gramer (née Falk; born 17 August 1980 in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
), is a Swedish songwriter, record producer and musician and has worked with artists such as
Demi Lovato
Demetria Devonne Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992), known as Demi Lovato, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), Lovato rose to prominence for pl ...
,
One Direction
One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gr ...
,
5 Seconds of Summer,
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accent ...
,
Ellie Goulding
Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...
,
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
,
Avicii
Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first rec ...
,
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...
,
Charlie Puth
Charles Otto Puth Jr. (; born December 2, 1991) is an American singer and songwriter. His initial exposure came through the viral success of his song videos uploaded to YouTube. Puth initially signed with the record label eleveneleven after pe ...
,
Jason Derulo
Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter. ,
Westlife
Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...
,
Hilary Duff
Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including seven Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, four Teen Choice Awards and two Young Artist Awards. She began her act ...
,
Iggy Azalea
Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born 7 June 1990), known professionally as Iggy Azalea (), is an Australian rapper. At the age of 16, Azalea moved from Australia to the United States in order to pursue a career in music. Azalea earned public recognitio ...
,
Liam Payne
Liam James Payne (born 29 August 1993) is an English singer. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Payne made his debut as a singer in 2008 when he auditioned for the British television series ''The X Factor''. After being ...
.
Biography
As a student Falk attended the
Adolf Fredrik's Music School
Adolf Fredrik's Music School ( sv, Adolf Fredriks Musikklasser) is a general municipal junior high school ( sv, grundskola) in Stockholm, Sweden with a focus on choral music, and highly competitive admission based on audition in singing and mu ...
in Stockholm. He then joined "The Location" in 2002, a new production and publishing-company formed by former
Cheiron
In Greek mythology, Chiron ( ; also Cheiron or Kheiron; ) was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren since he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs".
Biography
Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology ...
-members
Kristian Lundin
Kristian Lundin (born 7 May 1973) is a Swedish composer, music producer and songwriter.
Biography
Kristian's worked on the song " Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)" which he co-produced with Max Martin for the Backstreet Boys. He co-wrote & pro ...
,
Andreas Carlsson
Andreas Carlsson (; born 3 April 1973) is a Swedish music producer and pop songwriter.
Biography
Carlsson was part of the Cheiron Studios team until the studio was closed down in 2000. In January 2001, former Cheiron-members Andreas Carlsson, Kri ...
and Jake Schulz, leasing the former Cheiron Studios.
Falk left "The Location" in 2007 and re-located to Los Angeles in April 2010 to team up with
Rami Yacoub
Rami Yacoub (born 17 January 1975), also known by the mononym Rami, is a Swedish record producer and songwriter and former member of the songwriting/production houses Cheiron Studios and Maratone. Yacoub collaborated extensively with Max Martin ...
and
Steve Angello
Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis ( el, Στέφεν Πάτρικ Γιόζεφσον Φραγκόγιαννης; born 22 November 1982), better known by his stage name Steve Angello, is a Greek-Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record ...
(
Swedish House Mafia
Swedish House Mafia (SHM) is a Swedish house music supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008, were placed at number ten on the ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJ Poll 2011, and have been ...
). Back in Sweden Carl and Rami started their production company and studio – Kinglet Studios.
Since 2010 he has co-written and co-produced hits like "
What Makes You Beautiful
"What Makes You Beautiful" is the debut single by English-Irish boy band One Direction. It served as their debut single and lead single from their debut studio album, '' Up All Night'' (2011). Written by Savan Kotecha and producer Rami Yacoub, ...
", "One Thing", "Live While We're Young", "Kiss You" by One Direction and "
Starships" and "
Pound The Alarm
"Pound the Alarm" is a song by rapper Nicki Minaj, serving as the fourth single from her second studio album, '' Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'' (2012). The song was written by RedOne, Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub, Bilal Hajji, and Achraf Jannusi, with ...
" by
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accent ...
. In 2012 Carl was listed as No. 4 on Music Week Top 100 Songwriters of the year based on the UK's 100 biggest selling singles of the year. The same year "Starships" also made US Billboard history, by both debuting in and spending a total of 21 consecutive weeks in the US Top Ten, passing
The Black Eyed Peas's single "
I Gotta Feeling
"I Gotta Feeling" is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fifth studio album ''The E.N.D.'' (2009). It was written by the group members with the song's producers David Guetta and Frédéric Riesterer. The song was rel ...
". As of February 2013, it has sold 7.2 million digital downloads worldwide. Subsequently, he received two
ASCAP awards
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit Performance rights organisation, performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' ...
for most performed songs of 2012: "Starships" and "What Makes You Beautiful".
Falk worked with
Demi Lovato
Demetria Devonne Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992), known as Demi Lovato, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), Lovato rose to prominence for pl ...
writing "
Shouldn't Come Back" and "
Really Don't Care
"Really Don't Care" is a song by American singer Demi Lovato, featuring English singer Cher Lloyd. The song was released on May 20, 2014, as the fourth and final single from the former's fourth studio album ''Demi'' (2013). Both of them co-wrot ...
" for her 2013 album "
Demi
Demi is a feminine given name with Greek and Latin roots. It was originally a nickname of Demetria, the feminine form of the masculine name Demetrius, which is itself the Latin and English spelling of the Greek name Demetrios.
It is also an Alba ...
". He also worked on "Rest Of Our Life" for
Jason Derulo
Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter. and "
Red Lights" for
Tiesto. Falk reached further success in 2014 when he worked with
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
on the hit single "
One Last Time" for
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...
, reaching no.13 on the Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
In 2015 Falk wrote songs like "
Broken Arrows" and "
Sunset Jesus" for
Avicii
Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first rec ...
, "
Rest Your Love" for
The Vamps, "
Your Type
"Your Type" is a song recorded by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen for her third studio album, ''Emotion'' (2015). She co-wrote the track with Wayne Hector, Tavish Crowe, and its producers Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk. "Your Type" is a 1980s-inspir ...
" for
Carly Rae Jepsen
Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...
, "Lost & Found" for
Ellie Goulding
Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...
and "
Devil Pray" For
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
.
His favourite instrument is the guitar as he tries to "always have guitar on my songs, almost like a trademark". Carl can also play multiple other instruments like bass, piano, violin and drums, which he started to learn from an early age on during his childhood. In 2013 Falk won the STIM Platinum guitar prize.
Songwriting Discography
Awards
Falk has won two
Ascap Pop Music Awards
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
with the songs "
Starships" and "
What Makes You Beautiful
"What Makes You Beautiful" is the debut single by English-Irish boy band One Direction. It served as their debut single and lead single from their debut studio album, '' Up All Night'' (2011). Written by Savan Kotecha and producer Rami Yacoub, ...
", amongst many other of awards and nominations.
Falk received two nominations both in 2012 and in 2013 in the Swedish Music Publishers Awards (SMFF). Both years for Songwriter Of The Year and International Achievement.
He was also nominated for the 2013 Swedish Music Export Award,
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falk, Carl
Living people
1980 births
Swedish record producers
Swedish songwriters
Musicians from Stockholm