Starsmith

Starsmith (born Finlay Dow-Smith, 8 July 1988, Bromley, England) is a multi-platinum selling British songwriter, producer, remixer and DJ. He is best known for his writing and production work with artists such as Ellie Goulding, Jess Glynne, Kylie Minogue, and Clean Bandit as well as his own solo work. He studied a classical music degree at the University of Surrey^[1] majoring in performance on saxophone. He has also received widespread acclaim for the remixes he created for Lady Gaga, Robyn, Timbaland, Katy Perry, Passion Pit, and Marina and the Diamonds amongst many others.^[2] His remix of "Bad Romance" was chosen as the lead remix of the track on Lady Gaga's hugely successful 2010 remix album, The Remix.^[3] He was nominated for the Music Producers Guild Breakthrough Producer of the Year award in 2011^[4] and then again for the Remixer of the Year in 2012.^[5]

Early career

He is good friends with singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding and in addition to producing the majority of her debut album Lights also co-wrote five tracks on the album, which following its release on 1 March 2010, went straight to No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart. The album has gone on to sell nearly 2,000,000 copies worldwide. He teamed up again with Goulding on her second number-one album, Halcyon, producing and co-writing three songs on the album,^[6] which debuted in the top 10 in both the UK and the US in October 2012.^[7] He produced tracks for Diana Vickers' debut album, Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree which also went straight to No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart in May 2010. He had subsequent UK Number 1 album cuts in 2010 with both Cheryl Cole and Kylie Minogue.^[8] He co-wrote and produced the track "Burn" for Clare Maguire's debut album in 2011.

Starsmith toured with Goulding in 2009 and 2010, and also played with her on Later... with Jools Holland in 2009, playing bass guitar. He is a noted instrumentalist, additionally playing piano and guitar, but his main instrument is the saxophone (tenor or alto); the saxophone solo on his 2013 rework of the Hall and Oates track "I Can't Go for That" is performed by himself.

He spent the majority of 2010 working on his own solo album, but in a post on his blog in early 2011^[9] he revealed that he had decided to postpone releasing the album and was instead focusing on songwriting and production. However, one song from the album sessions, "Lesson One", which he co-wrote and produced with Alan Braxe, was released later that year on Braxe's Vulture label.^[10]

In December 2011, he was the subject of an episode of the Red Bull and Vice documentary series, The Producers.^[11]

Latest work

In March 2014, the track "Dead In The Water" that he co-wrote and produced with Ellie Goulding was included in the promotion and soundtrack for the film Divergent,^[12] which opened at No.1 at the Worldwide Box Office.^[13]

Charli XCX revealed that she had worked alongside him writing a song for Britney Spears' latest album; however, the track did not make it onto the final album.^[14][15]

In June 2014 he revealed he had signed with Ministry of Sound to release his new solo music.^[16]

Songwriting and production discography

Remixography

References

External links

• Starsmith at Soundcloud