Mark Ronson

Moving to New York when he was eight, Mark Ronson was inspired by local hip-hop mixtapes to raid his family's record collection and start DJing. Building a reputation for diverse, funky sets, he became a regular on the city's club scene while studying at NYU during the 1990s. Ronson started producing tracks for Nikka Costa in 2001 before collaborating with Mos Def, Ghostface Killah and Rivers Cuomo on debut album 'Here Comes the Fuzz' (2003). The album made little impact but Ronson became a regular DJ at Justin Timberlake's New York club Suede and started his own label Allido Records. Producing tracks for Robbie Williams, Lily Allen and Christina Aguilera, his reputation started to rise again until his work on Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' (2006) album turned him into one of the world's hottest producers. Using a host of guest vocalists including Daniel Merriweather, Santigold and Lily Allen, his second solo album 'Version' (2007) featured covers of mainly British indie songs being given the signature soul-pop Mark Ronson treatment. Singles 'Stop Me' (originally by The Smiths) and 'Valerie' featuring Amy Winehouse (originally by The Zutons) both made it to Number 2 in the UK charts with the album also peaking at the same spot. Ronson returned to the studio to produce albums for Kaiser Chiefs, Daniel Merriweather and Duran Duran before recruiting Boy George, Q-Tip and Simon Le Bon for guest appearances on his third solo album 'Record Collection' (2010). In October 2014 Ronson released the single 'Uptown Funk' with Bruno Mars, which featured on his fourth studio album 'Uptown Special'. The single become a worldwide smash hit, topping the singles charts in numerous countries, including spending 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and seven weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart. In 2015 the song won Best British Single at the Brit Awards, and the following year won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. In 2018 Ronson formed the electro duo Silk City with fellow producer Diplo. Their 2019 single 'Electricity' featuring Dua Lipa won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. The same year, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing 'Shallow', which featured in the film 'A Star Is Born' (2019). Ronson's fifth studio album 'Late Night Feelings' was due for release in June 2019.