Birth name Jason Quenneville | Years active 2003–present | |
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Occupation(s) Record producer
songwriter
engineer Labels Universal Publishing/SAL&CO Nominations Academy Award for Best Original Song Similar The Weeknd, Stephan Moccio, Belly, Doc McKinney, Illangelo | ||
Jason Quenneville (born February 23, 1982), professionally known as Daheala (/da-he-la), is a record producer and songwriter from Canada. He has produced significantly for artists such as The Weeknd, Belly, Massari among others. He collaborates and co-produce with Ben Billions, Danny Boy Styles, Illangelo and Doc McKinney.
Early life and career
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Quenneville moved to Gatineau, Quebec when he was two, and grew up in a bilingual household. At the age of 13, he learned how to DJ at a youth center which lead to him learning how to use FL Studio 3 (formerly Fruity Loops). Without any formal training, he started using production software for sampling and programming. His first production work was at the age of 23, when he worked on a mixtape (Death Before Dishonor) for Belly.
While Daheala is known lush soundscapes in his productions, he often focuses on the sonics and musical feel. He currently uses Ableton Live to make beats, but his versatility often entails switching between numerous DAW’s. Daheala was influenced by producers such as Dr. Dre, Burial, and Rick Rubin.
DaHeala produced 9 of the 12 tracks on The Weeknd's album Kiss Land (2013). After further work for The Weeknd's contribution to The Hunger Games – Catch Fire OST on "Devil May Cry", Quenneville was selected as the primary producer on Rick Ross's track "In Vein" with fellow producers Metro Boomin and Rick Rubin off the #1 Billboard 200 album "Mastermind (Rick Ross album)".
DaHeala has continued to operate as The Weeknd's in-house producer. His current credits include The Weeknd's two smash hits; the platinum single “Often” and “Earned It”, the 4 times platinum hit single from the Fifty Shades of Grey Soundtrack.
Quenneville's close collaboration with The Weeknd lead to executive producing the critically acclaimed "Beauty Behind the Madness" album. Beauty Behind the Madness not only debuted at #1 overall, but also remained there for 3 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and held the #1 album position in 70 countries. In addition, BBTM garnished the American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Album in 2015, while also winning the 'Outstanding Album' at the 47th annual NAACP Image Awards. Beauty Behind the Madness won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 58th Grammy Awards pre-telecast. Feature artists on "Beauty Behind the Madness", include Lana Del Rey, Labrinth and Ed Sheeran.
In 2016, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards for co-writing song "Earned It" from Fifty Shades of Grey; the nomination is shared with The Weeknd, Belly, and Stephan Moccio.
Most recently, Quenneville co-wrote five tracks on The Weeknd’s third studio album, Starboy, including the title track/lead single. Starboy debuted at #1 overall, and was the third-largest album debut of 2016. All 18 songs on the album simultaneously charted on Billboard Hot 100 the week of release. Starboy has the second most simultaneous entries in Billboard Hot 100 history.
Quenneville reappears on the second installment of Fifty Shades' Fifty Shades Darker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack as a producer of Halsey’s “Not Afraid Anymore.”
He is managed by SAL&CO.
Quenneville received a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award for his work in co-writing The Weeknd's hit song "Starboy".