Wayne Wilkins is a British record producer, songwriter, record engineer and record mixer. He has produced and written for artists such as

Rick Astley Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and radio personality, who has been active in music for several decades. He gained worldwide fame in the 1980s, having multiple hits including his signature song "Ne ...

Cry for Help "Cry for Help" is a song by British dance-pop singer Rick Astley, released as the first single from his third studio album, '' Free'' (1991). It was written by Astley and Rob Fisher, formerly one half of the 1980s pop outfits Naked Eyes and Cl ...

"),

Natasha Bedingfield Natasha Anne Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is a British singer and songwriter. Bedingfield released her debut album, '' Unwritten'', in 2004, which contained primarily up-tempo pop songs and was influenced by R&B music. It enjoyed intern ...

(" These Words", "

Single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

" and " Love Like This"),

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

(" Sweet Dreams"),

Cheryl Cole Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. Born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, she rose to fame in late 2002 upon winning a place in Girls Aloud, a girl group created through ITV's '' Popstar ...

Fight For This Love "Fight for This Love" is the debut solo single by English singer and Girls Aloud member Cheryl Cole, recorded for her debut studio album, ''3 Words'' (2009). It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as the lead single on 2009 by Fascina ...

", and "

Promise This "Promise This" is a song by English recording artist Cheryl Cole, taken from her second studio album ''Messy Little Raindrops'' (2010). It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as the album's lead single on 24 October 2010 by Fascinati ...

"), and

Jordin Sparks Jordin Sparks-Thomas (born December 22, 1989) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2007 after winning the sixth season of ''American Idol'' at age 17, becoming the youngest winner in the series' history. Her self-titled debu ...

Battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...

").

Early life

Wilkins was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, London. He began taking piano lessons by the age of four. Wilkins earned a scholarship to a music conservatory as a child. Growing up, he played organ at cathedrals and other venues around London. Wilkins went on to

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

in London. Wilkins later graduated with a physics degree from

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. While in college one of Wilkins early jobs was teaching piano. He also interned at

Townhouse Studios The Town House (also known as Townhouse Studios) was a recording studio located at 150 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush in London, built in 1978 under the direction of Richard Branson for Virgin Records. The studios changed ownership and eventuall ...

and

Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a renowned British independent commercial recording studio based in Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, including Jimi Hendr ...

where he received further training in engineering, mixing, and producing.

Career

While Wilkins was interning at

he got the opportunity to work for famous engineer

Spike Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sh ...

. Stent's resume includes working with such artists as

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 ...

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complem ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

, U2, Usher, and

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

. Working for Stent provided Wilkins the opportunity to program for the engineer and work on high budgeted recordings. During his tenure with Stent Wilkins was able to work with producers and artists such as

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

, Oasis,

Rodney Jerkins Rodney Roy Jerkins (born July 29, 1977), also known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists. Jerkins has won multiple Grammy Awards. Among hi ...

and U2. Wilkins was able to work on the

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...

Rock Steady Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish ...

'' album, which Wilkins says later on afforded him higher profile opportunities for him to work on in the industry. In 2000, Wilkins started working independently. The first band Wilkins produced after going independent was

The Corrs The Corrs are an Irish family band that combine pop rock with traditional Irish themes within their music. The group consists of the Corr siblings, Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle, mandolin, ukulele), Sharon (violin, keyboards, vocals), Car ...

. In May 2004,

released "

", a song co-written and co-produced by Wilkins. The song went on to reach No. 3 on 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 ...

. Natasha Bedingfield followed "

" with " These Words" released in August 2004. Co-produced and co-written by Wilkins, the song climbed to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and reached No. 17 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s Hot 100. Natasha Bedingfield Album & Song Chart History | Billboard.com/ref> Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced another hit for

, " Love Like This", which also featured Sean Kingston. The song released in September 2007 went platinum, to the top of ''

''s Dance/Club Play Songs, and to No. 11 on 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 streaming ...

Keri Hilson Keri Lynn Hilson (born December 5, 1982) is an American R&B singer, songwriter and actress. She was born and raised in Decatur, Georgia and spent most of her youth working with producer Anthony Dent as a songwriter and background vocalist for ...

released her debut single "

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

" off her gold album '' In a Perfect World...'' in May 2008. Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced the single with fellow prominent members of production team The Runaways,

Sam Watters Samuel Joshua Watters (born July 23, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive. Watters was a member of the multi-platinum selling 1990s R&B group Color Me Badd and co-authored many of their hits including "I ...

Rico Love Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wiscon ...

, and

Louis Biancaniello Louis John Biancaniello is an American songwriter and record producer. Career Biancaniello's skills were developed while working alongside producer Narada Michael Walden with whom he produced hits for Shanice '' I Love Your Smile'', Whitney ...

. In early 2008, Wilkins co-wrote "

We Break the Dawn "We Break the Dawn" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Michelle Williams (singer), Michelle Williams. It was written by Solange Knowles, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins and produced by Wilkins and Frampton for Williams' third stud ...

" alongside

Solange Knowles Solange Piaget Knowles (; born June 24, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, performance artist, and actress. Expressing an interest in music from an early age, Knowles had several temporary stints as a backup dancer for Destiny's Child, wh ...

and Andrew Frampton for Michelle Williams' third album '' Unexpected''. He was also involved in creating the remix for the same song. In June 2008,

Shontelle Shontelle Layne (born 4 October 1985), known mononymously as Shontelle, is a Barbadian singer and songwriter. She released her debut album ''Shontelligence'' in 2008. Her second album, '' No Gravity'', was released in 2010. Her singles "T-Shirt ...

's "

T-Shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

" was released. It was co-written by Wilkins. The single was a dance hit in the United Kingdom and the United States. Reaching No. 1 on UK's Urban Chart and No. 1 on ''

''s Hot Dance Club songs.

released her

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 pres ...

winning album, '' I Am... Sasha Fierce'', in November 2008 which included the Wilkins' production and co-written single " Sweet Dreams". The song went on to reach platinum status and landed at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Sweet Dreams – Beyoncé | Billboard.com/ref> In May 2009, former ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' winner

released the single "

". Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced the song that reached the top 10 of ''

s Hot 100. With this song Wilkins assisted the singer in achieving her third top 10 Billboard Hot 100 single. In 2009, he worked with Irish pop band

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 ...

for a track "Sound of a Broken Heart" included in their ''

Where We Are ''Where We Are'' is the ninth studio album by Irish boy band Westlife. It was released on 27 November 2009 in Ireland and on 30 November 2009 in the UK through S Records, RCA Records and Sony Music, the band's tenth album under them. ''Where We ...

'' album where it charted at No. 2 in both

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

and

Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by the ...

released the single "

" in October 2009, taken from her album '' 3 Words''. Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced the single which went platinum in the UK and reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. In July 2014, Cheryl Cole released the single " Crazy Stupid Love" from her fourth studio album. The song topped the UK Singles Chart. Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced the song, which also features British rapper

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...

Further information

Musical influences

Wilkins has cited artists such as

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

, and

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

as having a major influence on his style and tastes.

Songwriting

With his writing techniques, Wilkins prefers to start with chord progressions as opposed to lyrics. He has said he attempts to be a "vessel" in which music just flows out of him naturally. He prefers writing and producing together to see the song all the way through both processes to make sure it's a hit. When writing Wilkins chooses not to use many sounds but only what is completely necessary. He says he tends to write simple lyrics that people can grasp with a running theme throughout the song. He likes to write simple chords to pop songs and focuses on the melody. When he can Wilkins prefers co-writing. Generally Wilkins focuses on the music and the melody and collaborates with lyricists.

Mixing and engineering

Early in his career, Wilkins worked under mixing engineer

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed She ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

. Wilkins knows how to record and also professionally mix recordings. Wilkins prefers to record an artist where they are most comfortable, so he travels to where the artist is with portable gear.

Gear

Wilkins' gear generally consists of an

Apple Logic Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which later went by Em ...

, a MacBook Pro and an Apogee Symphony Mobile System. Wilkins has stated his gear allows him to record anywhere in the world.

Singles

Awards and nominations

*2005 BMI London Award for " These Words" *2006 BMI London Award for "

" *2007 BMI London Award for " Love Like This" *2008 BMI Pop Award for " Love Like This" *2008 BMI London Award for "

" *2009

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 ...

nomination Album of the Year –

– I Am… Sasha Fierce *2009 BMI Pop Award for "

" *2010 BMI London Award for "

" *2010 BMI London Award for " Sweet Dreams"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, Wayne Living people Year of birth missing (living people) English record producers English songwriters English people of Indian descent Mixing engineers