Steve McCutcheon (born 15 January 1972), known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British

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 ...

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 ...

and

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern British music, with contributions to 30 number one singles in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Career

Early career

Mac got his break in the music industry in the early 1990s when he wrote and produced the

Nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

hit "

(I Wanna Give You) Devotion "(I Wanna Give You) Devotion" is a song by English electronic group Nomad, released in 1990 (UK/Europe) and 1991 (US). It was the second single from their only album, ''Changing Cabins'', released later in 1991. It was a number-one hit in Greece a ...

", that reached no.2 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1992, he became part of dance group

Undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...

, who had several European hit singles, including "

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

" and "

Never Let Her Slip Away "Never Let Her Slip Away" is a song written by American musician Andrew Gold, who recorded it for his third album, '' All This and Heaven Too'' (1978). The single reached number five on the UK Singles Chart and number 67 on the ''Billboard'' Ho ...

". He then met songwriter

Wayne Hector Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including "World of O ...

, with the pair striking up a partnership that has seen them co-write and produce a range of chart songs. Mac has gone on to work with some of the most recognised names in the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

. He has written, co-written and produced hits for musicians including

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently re ...

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

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 temporar ...

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British v ...

, and many other UK and international singers. From his Rokstone Studios in London, the artists he has written and produced for have racked up over 200 million sales worldwide during his career. As well as a string of no.1 UK and international hits, Mac has also penned top 10 singles for artists such as

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who has released six studio albums. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'', was released in June ...

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 p ...

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 g ...

The Saturdays The Saturdays were a British-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and have been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vaness ...

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved natio ...

, and

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut stud ...

, among others.

Work with Westlife

The producer has had a long-standing collaboration with Irish boyband,

, dating back to the late 1990s. This artistic partnership resulted in him co-writing and producing four no.1 UK singles for the band. He has co-produced another five no.1 hits and produced three top five singles. Mac also co-wrote and produced the band's 2000 hit Christmas single, " What Makes a Man" reaching no.2 in the UK singles chart.

2010–2017

Mac won the first of his two

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

in 2010 for co-writing and producing the no.1 single "

Beat Again "Beat Again" is the debut single by English boy band JLS. It was released on 12 July 2009 as the lead single from their self-titled debut studio album '' JLS'' (2009). The song was written by Wayne Hector and Steve Mac and produced by Mac. The ...

" for British pop/R&B band, JLS. In 2012, the producer worked with a host of artists including

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band consisting of group members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes and, until his death in 2022, Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldwide contract to ...

Susan Boyle Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer. She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the Britain's Got Talent (series 3), third series of ''Britain's Got Talent'', singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from '. Bo ...

Il Divo Il Divo (; ) are a multi-national classical crossover vocal group. The male quartet, which originated in the United Kingdom in December 2003, consists of tenors Urs Bühler, David Miller, and Sébastien Izambard. It also included baritone ...

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

, and

Gareth Gates Gareth Paul Gates (born 12 July 1984) is an English singer-songwriter and actor. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show ''Pop Idol'' in 2002. As of 2008, Gates had sold over 3.5 million records in the UK. He is ...

. Mac was recognised in 2012, and then again in 2013 by picking up the

ASCAP 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 ...

Song of the Year Award. The awards were in recognition of co-writing and producing the hits "

Glad You Came "Glad You Came", also known as "I'm Glad You Came", is a song by British-Irish boy band the Wanted, released on 10 July 2011 as the second single from their second studio album, '' Battleground''. The song was written by Steve Mac, Wayne Hecto ...

" for The Wanted, and " You Make Me Feel..." by

Cobra Starship Cobra Starship was an American dance-pop band founded in 2005 by Gabe Saporta (ex- Midtown), and headquartered in New York City. He recorded the first album as a solo project, '' While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets''. Saporta later enlist ...

, respectively. Between 2013 and 2015, Mac worked with several musicians include

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After ...

, John Newman,

Union J Union J are an English boy band, consisting of members JJ Hamblett, Jaymi Hensley, George Shelley and Josh Cuthbert. Shelley left the group in 2016 and was replaced by Casey Johnson, who left several months later, Cuthbert left the group ...

, The Vamps, and

. He made several contributions to both James Blunt's

Moon Landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United S ...

album that reached no.2 in the UK album chart and The Vamps’ Wake Up album that was a top 10 hit. Mac scored another number one hit in 2016 with " Rockabye" by

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit are an English electronic music group, formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have had four number 1 hits and ten top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart. They direct and produce their own music videos, many of which have been nominated for ...

featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie. The song reached the top of the UK singles chart, staying there for nine consecutive weeks. The single also won in the EDM Winning Songs category alongside his other co-produced track for Clean Bandit and

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recognit ...

, " Symphony". In 2017, Mac picked up the Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year at the Music Business Worldwide A&R Awards and the

Founders Award for "his pioneering contribution to music, global success and a 27 year body of work". The same year, Mac co-wrote

's No. 1 single "

Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album '' ÷'' (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The dancehall and R&B-infused ...

" with Sheeran and

Johnny McDaid John McDaid (born 24 July 1976) is a singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Northern Ireland. He is a member of the band Snow Patrol and has written songs with other artists including Ed Sheeran, P!nk, and Robbie Williams. Early ...

. The song broke chart history, spending 14 weeks at the top of the UK chart, and remaining in the Top 10 of the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...

in the US for 33 weeks. It also claimed the unique achievement of being the most-streamed song of all time on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. He also received another Grammy nomination for

Pink's Pink's Hot Dogs is a landmark hot dog restaurant in the Fairfax District of the city of Los Angeles. It is on North La Brea Avenue, across the street from the Hollywood district on the east. History Pink's was founded by Paul and Betty Pin ...

US top twenty single "

What About Us What About Us may refer to: * ''What About Us'' (Livin Out Loud album), or the title song * ''What About Us?'' (Ruth-Ann Boyle album), or the title song * "What About Us?" (Brandy song), 2002 * "What About Us" (Jodeci song), 1994 * "What About ...

", which he wrote and produced.

2018–present

2018 saw the producer work with some of music's most prolific names such as Scottish group Chvrches,

Years & Years Years & Years is the solo project of British singer Olly Alexander. Originally formed as a band in 2010, Years & Years' music has been described as electropop, mixing R&B and 1990s house elements. The band's debut studio album, '' Communion'', ...

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single " Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ''Born to Do It'', was released in 2000, after which he has re ...

, and

. Mac won the 2018 Brit Award for British Producer of the Year. As well as the Brit Award, he also won both Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year at the Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards 2018 in LA. In another award recognising Mac's work, the multi-platinum hit "

" he co-wrote and produced for Ed Sheeran picked up both a

Grammy Award 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 pr ...

and the

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...

for PRS for Music Most Performed Work in 2017.

Awards

Brit Awards 2018: British Producer of the Year 35th Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards 2018 Songwriter of the Year: Song of the Year – Shape of You, Ed Sheeran , Strip That Down, Liam Payne ft. Quavo , Rockabye, Clean Bandit ft. Sean Paul , What About Us, P!nk Music Business Worldwide A&R Awards 2017 Producer of the Year Songwriter of the Year ASCAP Song of the Year Awards 2013 Glad You Came, The Wanted: (Co-writer & Co-producer) ASCAP Song of the Year Awards 2012 You Make Me Feel... Cobra Starship: (Co-writer & Co-producer) Brit Awards 2010 Song of the Year: Beat Again, JLS (Co-written with Wayne Hector) BMI Awards 2001 Pop Award: Swear It Again, Westlife (Co-written with Wayne Hector)

Songwriting and production discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac, Steve 1972 births Living people Ivor Novello Award winners English songwriters English record producers People from Chertsey