Martin "Doc" McKinney (born August 27, 1971) is a

Canadian-American Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship. The term ''Canadian'' can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadians ...

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

. McKinney is a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-award-winning producer. He was formerly one half of the duo (now solo act)

Esthero Esthero ( ; born Jenny-Bea Englishman on December 23, 1978 in Stratford, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who lives in Los Angeles, California. The name ''Esthero'' refers both to the singer and formerly to the two-person team of herself ...

. His work with fellow

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

artist

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

, whose McKinney-produced mixtapes ''

House of Balloons ''House of Balloons'' is the debut mixtape by Canadian singer the Weeknd. It was released on March 21, 2011, by the artist's own record label XO. The mixtape was released for free on the Weeknd's website and was the subject of increased media d ...

'' and ''

Thursday Thursday is the Names of the days of the week, day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fi ...

'', were freely released in 2011, was met with widespread critical acclaim. McKinney returned to working with The Weeknd on his third album, '' Starboy'', which he executive produced together with him. The album also won him the 2016 Grammy Award for

Best Urban Contemporary Album The Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for quality works on albums in the urban contemporary subgenre within the R&B field. Honors in several categories are presented at t ...

.Interview with Doc McKinney

Paul Tingen Paul Tingen is a Dutch-born music writer. Tingen wrote ''Miles Beyond: The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967–1991'', published in 2001. He has a monthly column in ''Sound on Sound'' magazine, and he writes music articles for other public ...

. Retrieved on March 31, 2018

Life and career

Born in Canada and raised in Minneapolis, McKinney grew up in the heart of the Twin Cities indie scene and immersed in its ambience. During his adolescent years, McKinney played in various punk rock and hip hop based groups. While the cities' most influential contributions came out of the 1980s, McKinney was immersed in the music scene of that decade. McKinney settled in Toronto in 1994, as an aspiring producer. McKinney was introduced to Jenny Bea Englishman – now known as "

" – which led him to becoming one half of the then duo. The introduction was headed up by then EMI Publishing President, Michael McCarty. After co-writing and producing their entire breakthrough album ''Breath From Another'', McKinney carefully transitioned Jenny-Bea into a solo act so she could return to the studio. McKinney went on to produce

Res Res or RES may refer to: Sciences Computing *Russian and Eurasian Security Network *Spanish Supercomputing Network (''Red Española de Supercomputación'') Energy * RES - The School for Renewable Energy Science * US Renewable Electricity ...

– co-writing and producing her critically acclaimed album, '' HowIDo'', alongside Santi White (Santigold). McKinney has since worked with Santi White (Santigold) on various projects, including her 2008 release of her Solid Gold Mixtape. Since then, McKinney has had the opportunity to work with Sting, Drake, Kelis, Dr. Dre, G-Love, Raphael Saadiq, Mary J. Blige, Sinéad O'Connor, Alice Smith, Amanda Blank, Trouble Andrew, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest), Hawksley Workman as well as Latin artists

Belinda Belinda is a feminine given name of unknown origin, apparently coined from Italian ''bella'', meaning "beautiful". Alternatively it may be derived from the Old High German name ''Betlinde'', which possibly meant "bright serpent" or "bright linde ...

, RBD and Debi Nova.

Personal life

McKinney is a supporter of

War Child (charity) War Child International is a network of three independent non-governmental organisations: War Child UK, War Child Holland, and War Child Canada, each legally, operationally, and financially independent but sharing a common brand identity and m ...

, GEM's –

Girls Educational and Mentoring Services Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) is a non-profit organization that provides services to commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked girls and young women, typically underage youth exploited by pimps and traffickers. ...

, and

Red Hot Organization Red Hot Organization (RHO) is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilati ...

(AIDS Awareness). As an appreciation of his support, he donates his work as a producer/songwriter/engineer.

Selected production discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinney, Doc 1971 births Living people American people of Canadian descent Record producers from Minnesota Businesspeople from Minneapolis Grammy Award winners Songwriters from Minnesota