Jason Quenneville (born February 23, 1982), professionally known as DaHeala ( ), is a Canadian record producer and songwriter managed by SAL&CO. He has produced for artists such as
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), ...
,
Halsey,
Lil Uzi Vert
Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. They are characterized by their facial tattoos, facial piercings, eccentric hairstyles and androgynous fashion, ima ...
, and
Belly, among others. He was nominated for three
Grammy Awards
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 ...
for his production work on the Weeknd's 2015 album, ''
Beauty Behind the Madness
''Beauty Behind the Madness'' is the second studio album by Canadian singer the Weeknd, released on August 28, 2015, through XO and Republic Records. It features guest appearances from Labrinth, Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey. The album was execut ...
''. Over the course of his career, he has collaborated with producers like
,
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...
,
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popu ...
, and
Metro Boomin
Leland Tyler Wayne (born September 16, 1993), professionally known as Metro Boomin, is an American record producer, record executive, beatmaker, and DJ. He is known for his dark production style and its influence on modern hip hop and trap.
...
.
Early life and career
Quenneville grew up in
Gatineau
Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
in a household that spoke both French and English. At the age of 13, he learned how to DJ at a youth center which led to him learning how to use
FL Studio
FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line.
FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is avail ...
3 (formerly FruityLoops). His first production work was at the age of 23, when he worked on a mixtape (''Death Before Dishonor'') for Belly.
He continued working with Belly on later projects including the 2007 album, ''
The Revolution''.
He also produced all the tracks on Massari's 2005
self-titled debut album.
Quenneville began working with the Weeknd on the singer's 2013 album, ''
Kiss Land''.
He produced every song on the album in collaboration with DannyBoyStyles and the Weeknd himself.
In 2014, he earned a production placement on Rick Ross' album, ''
Mastermind
Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to:
Fictional characters
* Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters:
** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...
'', for the track "In Vein" featuring the Weeknd. He collaborated with fellow producers, Metro Boomin and Rick Rubin, on the song.
In 2015, Quenneville was the executive producer on the Weeknd's album, ''Beauty Behind the Madness''. He also produced and wrote several tracks on the album including "
Often", "
Acquainted", "Dark Times" (featuring
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 r ...
), and "
Earned It".
The last song, alternatively titled "Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)", appeared on the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
to the 2015 film, ''
Fifty Shades of Grey
''Fifty Shades of Grey'' is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It became the first instalment in the ''Fifty Shades'' novel series that follows the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, ...
''.
It was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed t ...
and two Grammy Awards for
Best R&B Song
The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (sometimes known as the R&B Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1969. From 1969 to 2000, it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. Beyoncé has won it a record four times, while B ...
and
Best Song Written for Visual Media.
The nominations were shared among Quenneville, the Weeknd, Belly, and
Stephan Moccio.
The album itself was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regar ...
and won the award for
Best Urban Contemporary Album.
In 2016, Quenneville co-wrote five tracks on the Weeknd's third studio album, ''
Starboy'', including the
title track
A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title.
Title track may a ...
which featured
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...
. For co-writing the song, Quenneville earned a
SOCAN
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...
No. 1 Song Award.
Also in 2016, he co-wrote the
Halsey track, "
Not Afraid Anymore", which appeared on the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
to the sequel film, ''
Fifty Shades Darker''.
Over the course of the next two years, Quenneville produced and wrote tracks for several other artists including
Lil Uzi Vert
Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. They are characterized by their facial tattoos, facial piercings, eccentric hairstyles and androgynous fashion, ima ...
("UnFazed" featuring the Weeknd),
French Montana
Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...
("A Lie" featuring the Weeknd),
and
Nav ("What I Need").
In 2020, Quenneville co-wrote and produced tracks on the Weeknd's fourth studio album, ''
After Hours'',
including the 2019 single, "
Blinding Lights
"Blinding Lights" is a song by Canadian singer the Weeknd. It was released on November 29, 2019, through XO and Republic Records, as the second single from his fourth studio album, '' After Hours'' (2020). The song was written and produced by t ...
", which eventually became the ''
Billlboard'' #1 Greatest Hot 100 Hit of
All Time in 2021.
In late March 2020, the Weeknd released three bonus tracks on the album, all of which were produced by DaHeala.
Discography
Nominations and awards
References
External links
DaHeala on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:DaHeala
1982 births
Canadian record producers
Black Canadian musicians
Canadian songwriters
Living people
Musicians from Gatineau
Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year winners