Bryan Michael Cox

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Bryan Michael Cox
Background information
Born December 18, 1977
Origin United States Flag of United States
Occupation(s) Songwriter and record producer
Years active 1998–present
Label(s) So So Def Recordings

Bryan Michael Cox (born December 18, 1977)[citation needed] is an award winning American songwriter and record producer.

He is a staff songwriter and producer at Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings. He has co-written and co-produced singles including: Mariah Carey's "Shake It Off"; Danity Kane's "Ride For You"; LeToya's "Obvious"; Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You"; Toni Braxton's "Trippin'"; Usher's "Confessions, Pt. 2" and Kelly Rowland's "Bad Habit". Cox has been professionally producing since 1998, receiving his first formal credit on 1999's "Get Gone" by the R&B Houston-based group Ideal.

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[edit] History

Cox was born in Miami and grew up in Houston, Texas, where he attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While in the eleventh grade he met and was mentored by Greg Curtis (who produced and wrote Keyshia Cole’s 2006 hit, "Love"). From Curtis, who had a studio in Houston, Cox learned the basic foundation of creating songs, including production, using audio equipment, recording, as well as structuring and writing songs.

During his senior year, he was joined at the school by freshmen Beyoncé Knowles and her former Destiny's Child group member LeToya Luckett. His friendship with Beyoncé and her belief in his talent resulted in his first “real” recording session, which consisted of doing three demo songs for the group then known only as “Destiny.” Although the songs were never officially released, Cox expressed that the session led him to truly know he wanted to be a professional music producer.[1]

In 1997 he moved to Atlanta to attend Clark Atlanta University (CAU), where he majored in music. However, his ultimate reason for the move was to break into the music industry. He pursued opportunities within the music industry. Based on information from a campus flyer, he sought out and obtained an unpaid internship with the Noontime production company, in order to obtain experience and opportunities.[2] His hard work paid off as his affiliation with Noontime led to him working with Jagged Edge, which resulted in him meeting Jermaine Dupri. Cox’s relationship with Dupri soon had him producing and writing for Nivea, Monica, Da Brat and Lil' Bow Wow. Although Cox has since co-written and co-produced an extensive body of work (including Hot 100 #1 hits such as Carey’s “Don’t Forget About Us” in addition to Usher’s “Burn,” “Confessions, Pt. 2” and “U Got It Bad”) and won two Grammy awards (for work on albums by Carey and Usher), Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You” marked his first Hot 100 Top 5 hit without Dupri.

Cox has teamed with Christopher Hicks of Noontime to establish the imprint Beatfactory, LLC. In addition to LeToya, its list of artists includes male singer Q. Amey, Bella (a trio of females), and Dirty Rose (a male quartet). Cox also produces for his own Black Baby, Inc. Stating that he's a "vocalist by nature", he is considering recording his own solo project.[3] In the meanwhile, he’s worked on or is working on projects for artists such as Whitney Houston, Omarion, Mya, Avant, Amerie, Musiq, Claudette Ortiz (formerly of City High), Johnta Austin, Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas, Jessica Simpson, Marques Houston, Toni Braxton, Nicole Scherzinger (of the Pussycat Dolls) and Atlantic's Erica Rivera.[4]

He has also worked with Olivia, Frankie J, Faith Evans and Eric West. He has begun working on forthcoming projects by Brandy, Kelly Rowland, Trey Songz, Amerie, Tevin Campbell, Joe, Whitney Houston, Ashanti and Britney Spears.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Awards & nominations

Year Award
2006 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song -- Be Without You (songwriter award)
2005 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album -- The Emancipation of Mimi (producer award)
2004 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album -- Confessions (producer award)
2004 Year End Billboard Hot 100 producers
2004 Year End Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Producers
2003 SESAC Songwriter of the Year 2000-2003
2001 Billboard #5 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Producer of 2001

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Billboard 118 no 10 46 March 11 2006
  2. ^ Auc Alumni.com (October 13, 2004): "Confessions of CAU Grad", by T. Murray
  3. ^ Billboard, Ibid.
  4. ^ BRE Magazine.com: "SESAC Ambassador of Song", by Aurelio Mitjans

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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