| Klaus Derendorf | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California |
| Genres | Pop, Rock, R&B, Dance |
| Occupations | Songwriter (lyric and melody), Instrumentalist (guitar, bass, keyboards), Music Producer, Music Publisher |
| Years active | 1990-present |
| Associated acts | Charice, Cheryl Cole, Carlos Santana, Josh Groban, Tiffany Page, X Factor, The Voice, Beto Cuevas, RBD |
Klaus Derendorf, also known as "Klaus D," is a Los Angeles based record producer and songwriter with millions of worldwide record sales to his credit including two Number 1 albums on the Billboard Charts.
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Klaus is of German descent but was raised in several different countries due to his family living and working abroad. Klaus is fluent in English, Spanish and German and credits his musical diversity to different influences from the US, Europe and Latin America. He picked up the guitar at age 9 and began playing and writing songs in junior high school bands from age 13, eventually settling in Los Angeles.
After finishing high school, Klaus started working with producer Rick Parashar in Seattle, Washington recording rock bands in the 1990’s. He spent most of the 90’s as a guitarist and songwriter in Los Angeles recording as well as touring with a variety of artists before focusing exclusively on producing and songwriting. Klaus credits 15 time Grammy winning producer David Foster and A&R executive Jaymes Foster for giving him his first production jobs at the Warner Music Group.
After participating in the beginning of the TV-Idol era with the Pop Stars USA project, which launched Eden’s Crush, Klaus went on to produce Carlos Santana’s album Shaman as well as many other contemporary albums.
Klaus was elected to the board of governors of the L.A. Chapter of NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) for the term of 2010-2012, and is actively involved in all current industry issues as well as the election process of The Grammys.
Notable producing and writing credits include Josh Groban's 'Closer', Australia's Stephanie McIntosh's 'Tightrope', Eden's Crush's 'Popstars' (feat. Nicole Scherzinger) and many others.
In 2008, Klaus has reportedly been working on tracks with such stars as Delta Goodrem, Beto Cuevas, British artists Tiffany Page, Amy Pearson and Australian rockers Michael Paynter and The Androids.
Recently he has been writing and producing records with Oprah and David Foster protege Charice, The X Factor (UK) judge Cheryl Cole of UK act Girls Aloud, Latin stars Anahi and Christopher Uckermann, formerly of RBD, and several other artists.
Beto Cuevas's debut album featuring 2 tracks co-written by Klaus was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2009.
Cheryl Cole's track "Didn't I" , produced by Klaus, and co-written with Cole and Andrea Remanda was released as the B-Side to Cheryl's solo debut single "Fight for this Love" and debuted at Number 1 in UK and Ireland in October 2009 selling just under 300.000 copies in its first week.
Charice's debut album was released by Warner Music on May 11, 2010 and debuted in the Top 10 Billboard 200 album charts. [1] The album also reached Number 1 on the Japanese charts in summer 2010.
In November 2010 Klaus was asked by Sony Music and X Factor Producers to write and produce the winner's single for the X Factor Australia finalists. On November 15th 2010 Australian TV network Channel 7 aired a segment with Klaus and the final 4 finalists. Klaus produced and co-wrote the winners single "Somewhere in the world" for X Factor winner Altiyan Childs, which was released on SyCo / Sony Music on November 23rd 2010 and instantly debuted at Number 1 on iTunes. [2]
In February 2011 Klaus produced and co-wrote the debut single "Heal" by 15-year-old German teen sensation Andrea Renzullo, finalist on another SyCo Television show, Germany's Got Talent ("Das Supertalent"). According to media reports, Sony Music released the single in March 2011.[1]
On October 1st 2011 Klaus's record "One Thousand Voices", the new theme song of the hit TV show "The Voice", debuted at Number 1 in The Netherlands.[2]The song was recorded and performed by the judges of "The Voice of Holland" for the 2nd season of the show, with Klaus co-writing and co-producing the record.[3]
Rumored to be a perfectionist, Klaus often hires top mixers such as Chris Lord-Alge, Manny Marroquin and Dave Pensado for his records.