Greg Wells

Greg Wells
Wells in 2011
Background information
Origin Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Genres Rock, pop, classical, jazz
Occupation(s) record producer, songwriter, mix engineer, musician
Instruments Piano, organ, keyboard, synthesizer, drums, percussion, guitar, bass
Years active 1998 - present
Associated acts The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Twenty One Pilots, Adele, Grace VanderWaal, Keith Urban, Dua Lipa, Otep, Rufus Wainwright, Deftones, Pink, Katy Perry, Kelsea Ballerini, OneRepublic
Website GregWells.net

Greg Wells is a Canadian multiple Grammy nominated musician, songwriter and record producer[1] based in Los Angeles. Wells has songs on over 120 million units sold. He has produced and written with Adele, Dua Lipa, The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Keith Urban, Twenty One Pilots, Kid Cudi, Grace VanderWaal, Rufus Wainwright, Katy Perry, Deftones, Creeper Lagoon, Mayer Hawthorne, Theophilus London, Weezer, Kelsea Ballerini, OneRepublic, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Pharrell Williams, Ella Eyre, The All American Rejects, Otep, Aerosmith, Burt Bacharach, Celine Dion, Crash Test Dummies,[2][3] Elton John, Jars of Clay, and the Count Basie Orchestra.

A renowned musician, there are feature articles about Wells' drumming in Modern Drummer,[4] as a pianist in Keyboard Magazine, as a synth programmer in Electronic Musician, as a songwriter in American Songwriter and Billboard Magazine, and as a producer, mix engineer, and music maker is featured on the cover of Mix Magazine with Ryan Tedder in the May 2017 edition.

Wells has designed a signature series of software plugins with Waves Audio and is a member of the Mix with the Masters program based in France.

Early life

Wells grew up in the small city of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, the son of a United Church of Canada minister.[5] At age 11, he developed Perthes' disease and was in a wheelchair unable to walk for two years. Wells attended Adam Scott CVI,[6] learned to play several instruments,[4] and joined many musical ensembles in his hometown from the local orchestra to club bands to being a church organist/choir director, as well as DJ-ing dances and running a weekly radio show on Trent University Radio CFFF-FM. He studied classical piano, drums, pipe organ, orchestral percussion and music theory at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music and attended the Humber College Jazz Music Program in Toronto on drums, piano, and guitar.[4]

Career

After moving from Peterborough to Toronto at age 17, Wells worked as a live and studio musician with jazz, classical, and pop musicians, including Rob McConnell and Kim Mitchell.[7] He joined the Kim Mitchell Band at age 19. Wells recorded keyboards and backing vocals on Mitchell's, Rockland, toured Canada several times with the band, and won the award for Best Keyboardist at the 1990 Toronto Music Awards as a result of his work with Mitchell (and Wells performed with Mitchell at the awards show on drums).

Wells was awarded a Canada Council arts grant to study in Los Angeles[4] with Clare Fischer, famed composer and string arranger for Prince. He traveled to Los Angeles at age 21 with the intention of returning to Canada, but Fischer began recommending Wells as a pianist. Wells joined k.d. lang's band soon afterward,[3] performing with her on the 1993 Grammy Awards where she won Best Pop Female Vocal.

Working with the support of music manager Miles Copeland and music publisher Barbara Vander Linde at Rondor Music, Wells started producing records and writing songs. His first recorded song as a songwriter was with Aerosmith on Nine Lives, which was followed by "The Reason" on Celine Dion's album, Let's Talk About Love. Wells continued to branch out, producing Rufus Wainwright and Otep. Songwriter Kara DioGuardi started collaborating with Wells in 2003 and partnered with him in several pop projects. Wells then produced, mixed and played most of the instruments on Mika's debut album Life In Cartoon Motion.

In 2007, Wells produced both Timbaland's and OneRepublic's version of the song, "Apologize". Wells began working with Katy Perry and has written and produced on all of her albums.[8] The two continue to collaborate in 2015 as Perry performed "By the Grace of God", penned by Perry and Wells, at the 2015 Grammy Awards.

Philanthropy

Wells gives away a new drum kit from his Instagram and Twitter account every 3 months[9] to people around the globe who want drums but don't own any, and also partners with Roland Corporation to give away a keyboard every three months.[10] Wells donates three annual music scholarships to the Humber College Music Program where he attended in Toronto.[11]

Awards

Wells received the prestigious Pensado Giant Award at the 2017 Pensado Awards for achievements in the field of record-making.[12]. Wells has received two Grammy nominations for his work with Katy Perry and Mika. In June 2015, Wells was awarded an honorary degree from his alma mater music college, Humber College in Toronto. Wells was nominated as producer of the year at the 2000 Canadian Juno Awards.[13]

Personal life

Wells is married to Swedish songwriter Nina Woodford. He has five children. He works out of his studio in Los Angeles that he built called Rocket Carousel Studio.

Selected recording, performance and production credits

References

  1. ↑ GRAMMY.com
  2. ↑ James H. Marsh (1999). The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Canadian Encyclopedia. pp. 583–. ISBN 978-0-7710-2099-5.
  3. 1 2 Larry LeBlanc (27 February 1999). "Dummies Hand In their Latest Set". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.: 18–21. ISSN 0006-2510.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Features: Greg Wells". Modern Drummer, Stephen Belans, July 2016.
  5. ↑ "Musician returns to church that seeded career". Peterborough Examiner, By Jessica Nyznik, March 7, 2016
  6. ↑ "Peterborough’s music pedigree a secret no more". My Kawartha, Dec 12, 2014 by Paul Rellinger.
  7. ↑ Larry LeBlanc (27 February 1999). "Dummies Hand In their Latest Set". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.: 18–21la. ISSN 0006-2510.
  8. ↑ Jo Berry (31 March 2011). Katy Perry: California Gurl. Orion Publishing Group. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-1-4091-3362-9.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ Larry LeBlanc (February 12, 2000). "Morissette leads Canada's Juno nomination list". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.: 45–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  14. ↑ Belmont and Belcourt Biographies (March 2012). Adele: An Unauthorized Biography. Price World Publishing. pp. 16–. ISBN 978-1-61984-065-2.
  15. ↑ Billboard.com delivers Music Chart Coverage- Find Digital Music Charts Archived May 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
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