Greg Wells

Notes

Gregg Wells on Grace:
Greg Wells@greg_wellsvOct 13, 2016: "I've never seen someone so natural in the studio environment. Can't wait to share" @GraceVanderWaal's studio sessions. She's got it.

“I wasn’t sure what I was walking into by working with Grace in the studio,” producer Greg Wells recalls of working with VanderWaal on Perfectly Imperfect. “It was her first time ever in a proper recording studio and I envisioned several different potential horror stories. Within the first 10 minutes of working on music together, I was happily surprised to find that I was working with a real artist who could speak the language of record making.” (Rolling Stone jan 6, 2017)

A fan asked Gregg to kill a rumour that Grace used autotune:
sillyoldfart63@GSillyoldfart63. 7. jan. 2018 @greg_wells @Idovstheworld. pls can you help us shut down a troll. Was @GraceVanderWaal voice autotuned on any part of #JustTheBeginning ? We fans don't think so but a reviewer is claiming so specifically on #SoMuchMoreThanThis thanks if you can help and great job!

Gregg Wells answered:
Greg Wells @greg_wells 7. jan. 2018: "you put a microphone in front of GVW and that’s what she sounds like. It’s the opposite of pulling a rabbit from a hat."

Greg Wells in an interview for the Grammys:
Interviewer: Currently, I noticed that I think you're working on some projects with Grace VanderWaal and Pink. Any details you can share about those particular projects.
Wells: Yeah. They're both fantastic and I learn a lot from working with them both. Grace, I produced her very first EP right after she came off the show. It was just the two of us in the studio. Grace, it turns out, is a real record maker. I wasn't sure what I was walking into. The first thing I said to her was, "I just want you to realize, you're not on the TV show anymore. There's not 50 people coming up to you saying you're wearing the wrong sweater, or whatever." After we got through the first half-day, she had some really great ideas. And then she got more confident, and would say really big things like, "I think the drums should be taken out for that verse." And she was 12 at the time. I thought, really? And then, we took them out and it sounded better. I'm not being patronizing. It really did sound better. … It took me years to get to a point where I had that kind of objectivity. … But, it was definitely a case of her producing me, me producing her, which I love. (taken from a Reddit Post, quoting the interview).

About Greg Wells:
Grammy award-winning, Canadian musician, songwriter, and record producer, Greg Wells, has been dubbed “A Swiss Army Knife” in the recording studio by the legendary Stewart Copeland [of the band ”The Police”] for good reason. As a multi-instrumentalist, he has the ability to artfully mold his productions with incredible precision, craftsmanship, and most importantly, taste. Combining his musicianship with his uncanny abilities as a producer, engineer, and mixer, he has seen album sales top 120 million, with streaming numbers in the billions. With a B. (Puremix.net)

The multiple Grammy nominated mixer, producer, songwriter, and musician has had his hands on numerous #1 and platinum-selling albums. He has produced and co-written all three of Katy Perry’s albums. He helped co-write and produce track “One and Only” from Adele’s 2011 Grammy Winning Album of the Year 21, as well as collaborating with other artists from Keith Urban to Kid Cudi to Mika to Aerosmith. And he has produced and written with Twenty One Pilots, John Legend, Taylor Swift, Rufus Wainwright, Deftones, The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Dua Lipa, k. d. lang, Pharrell Williams, Team Sleep, Creeper Lagoon, Theophilus London, Ariana Grande, Weezer, OneRepublic, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Otep, All American Rejects, Jars of Clay, Jamie Cullum, Celine Dion, Crash Test Dummies, Quincy Jones, Elton John, Burt Bacharach, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the Count Basie Orchestra.

From Bio on Gregwells.net
A renowned musician on many instruments, as a fluent pianist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer has mastered the balance between hands-on help and drawing out an artist’s own sound regardless of genre.

In contrast to many of his peers, Wells’ career has never been about creating an aural stamp to imprint a “signature sound.” Despite his vast knowledge and lifelong interest in music, Wells prefers to be a guiding sensei in the studio rather than an overshadowing presence. “You have to jump into the pool with the artist and quickly assess what’s happening,” says Wells. “You want to hear somebody lost in their own performance with a complete lack of self-consciousness. For me, the goal is to shine the best light on the artist themselves and help them be as true to themselves as possible. I’m more the basketball coach than the player.” It’s this philosophy that has helped Wells write and produce some of the best-selling and highest-charting tracks of the past 15 years.

Wells scored his first mega-hit with Celine Dion’s “The Reason,” a track co-written with Carole King and Mark Hudson. Produced by legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin, the track became a Top 5 hit in Europe and helped the album Let’s Talk About Love sell more than 35 million copies worldwide. Wells’ keen, adept musicality, versatility and mastery of multiple instruments quickly became the worst-kept secret in the industry as artists ranging from OneRepublic (“Apologize”, “Stop and Stare”), pop superstar Pink (“Why Did I Ever Like You”) to singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright (“Across the Universe”) to Adele (“One & Only) all called on Wells to write, produce or perform on the track. “It’s about trying to create something compelling, regardless of genre,” says Wells. “I grew up listening to everything and never wanted to limit myself to one particular sound.”

Prior to producing, the Ontario native had a long, varied history of musicianship. At 3, already self-taught on drums, Wells’ grandmother taught him piano. Professional classical and jazz piano studies would follow four years later, with Wells splitting his lessons between jazz and boogie-woogie and Bach and Beethoven. A debilitating bone disease at the age of 11 left the producer in a wheelchair for two years with casts on both legs, enabling Wells to absorb and internalize a myriad of musical styles.

In 1990, Wells moved to Los Angeles and studied with famed jazz composer, pianist and Prince’s string arranger Clare Fischer. It was Fischer who began recommending Wells for work and eventually, the songwriter would link with legendary music industry executive Miles Copeland, founder of I.R.S. records and manager of The Police. After recording, and subsequently shelving, his own album — “It was a great lesson in what never to repeat” — Wells turned to producing and writing for others.

A renowned musician on many instruments plus a Grammy winning mix engineer, Wells has a core knowledge is essential and rare, and it’s why rapper Theophilus London can roll to Wells’ studio in the morning and Dua Lipa can cut a track later that afternoon with both feeling confident with the results.

Credits on Allmusic.com

Wikipedia

As a rule, we only have bios on artists that Grace has worked with or who have had a part in the creation or production of her music. The amount of information on each of these artists varies greatly, dependent on how much has been readily available. We have tried to identify the artists correctly, but sometimes it has been difficult to determine who exactly is behind the name. Unless otherwise stated, the bios are based on data retrieved at the start of 2021.