Birth name Joshua Steven Gill Role Singer Name Josh Stevens | Years active 1999–present Origin Los Angeles Albums Story of Summer - EP | |
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Genres hip hop dance pop indie-rock Occupation(s) record producer, songwriter, singer, engineer, musician, A&R, CEO Associated acts LMFAO, Pitbull, Capital Cities, Warren G, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Thurzday, Goonrock, Jennifer Lopez, Naima Mora, Rihanna, Beenie Man, Wilmer Valderrama, Lil Jon, Nitzan Kaikov (K-Kov), Young Jeezy, Steve Aoki, Nate Dogg, Lisa D'Amato, Shwayze Record labels Interscope Records, Universal Music Group, Epic Records Similar People LMFAO, Sky Ferreira, Drew Hester, LA Reid, Marvin Humes | ||
Josh Stevens singing Dirt Road Anthem
Josh Stevens (born November 21, 1983) is an American singer, record producer, songwriter and engineer. Raised in Los Angeles. His works are Grammy Award Winning, RIAA Platinum Certified, Billboard Award Nominated, Juno Award Nominated (Canada) and ARIA Music Awards Platinum Certified (Australia). His early career was based around hip-hop working for the likes of Warren G, Snoop Dogg, The Game and Clyde Carson. He however found his modern sound in pop/indie-rock/dance.
Contents
- Josh Stevens singing Dirt Road Anthem
- Early years
- Mental Advisory albums
- LMFAO
- Pitbull
- Jennifer Lopez
- Steve Aoki
- Young Jeezy and Ne Yo
- Eminem and Rihanna
- Present
- Discography
- References
Early years
Josh's early years consisted of writing and free style rapping in his first hiphop group called Mental Advisory where he went by the stage name Speratic. With his two brothers, Jason Whittaker (older) aka Blaximus and Jay Daniels (younger) aka M.A.R.S., Josh did mainly vocals at the time as Jason Whittaker did most of the production and music. One of Mental Advisory's biggest achievements was becoming the entrance music for comedian Mark Curry (actor) live set. After the band members went on to do other ventures, Jason Whittaker became a well established comedian who now goes by Jay Whittaker. Jay Daniels became Dj Jason Craig. The members still work and make music with each other to this day.
Mental Advisory albums
In 2004 Josh attended the Los Angeles Recording School (now Full Sail and Los Angeles Film School) where he received a certificate of engineering. At this point he became an intern under Grammy Winning Record Producer and Mix Engineer Tom Weir at Studio City Sound. This is where he meet long time record executive, co-collaborator and current manager Byron Martinez. As of today Josh still calls Studio City Sound in Studio City [6], Ca his main studio. At about the same time he also became an intern for Grammy Winning Record Producer Niko Bolas. After spending about two years as an intern/assistant he found a live sound Mix Engineer position at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church. He spent just under 2 years there as a head Tech Director. He still works for Saddleback Church as a freelance mixer today. Wanting to get back into more studio work he was asked to be a personal engineer for Warren G. Warren G was instrumental in Josh working with LMFAO and they maintain a strong working relationship to the present day.
LMFAO
Josh co-wrote, engineered and toured on LMFAO's 2010 sophomore album Sorry for Party Rocking. They released the full album on June 17, 2011 in the U.S. It was certified gold in early 2012 and in 2013 was near platinum. The album's first single was "Party Rock Anthem" which spent six consecutive week on the US Billboard Top 100 at #1, and the video, which Josh can be seen shuffling in, as of January 2015 had over 795 million views. The song also peaked at number-one in Canada, the UK, and over ten other countries. The 2nd single was "Champagne Showers". It features English singer-songwriter Natalia Kills which Josh was the recording engineer. The song was performed on American Idol in April 2012. The third single was "Sexy and I Know It but Josh was only accredited as writing the remix version (MADEin82 Remix) for co-writing Sky Blu's verse which was removed and not added to the original, the original was released on October 3, 2011. It reached #1 on the iTunes charts worldwide and #1 on the Australian and Canadian Hot 100. “Sexy and I Know It” also reached #1 in UK, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Austria, Japan and New Zealand, and hit #1 on both Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop Top 100 chart and the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The songs he had the biggest influences on for the album were co-writing and engineering Reminds Me of You featuring Calvin Harris and With You. Aside from writing and engineering for LMFAO's album, he also toured with them in 2011 as one of their djs, monitor mix engineers and a traveling writer/music producer for Sky Blu's label Big Bad University. The worldwide tour highlights were Kesha – Get Sleazy Tour (United Kingdom, North America, Europe) (2011) Sorry For Party Rocking Tour (2012).
Pitbull
June 17, 2011 Josh engineered Pitbull's "Took My Love" (featuring RedFoo, Vein & David Rush) produced by Redfoo for Pitbull's 6th studio album titled Planet Pit. The album debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200. It reached US (RIAA) Platinum and charted in the top 10 in over 10 countries.
Jennifer Lopez
June 8, 2012 Josh engineered and A&R (consulted) Jennifer Lopez's single "Goin' In" featuring Flo Rida and Lil Jon Produced by Jamahl "GoonRock" Listenbee released by Island Def Jam Records. The single reached #1 on US Billboard Dance Charts and the album which was released July 17, 2012 by Epic Records reached US Billboard 200 #20 and US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums #6. On May 23, 2012 the song "Goin In" was performed on American Idol
Steve Aoki
Josh co-wrote and engineered the song Livin' My Love featuring LMFAO and Nervo for Steve Aoki's January 10, 2012 album release titled Wonderland. The album reached #59 on US Billboard 200, #6 on US Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) and was Grammy Nominated in 2013 for Best Dance/Electronic Album. Also went #1 for South Korea International Singles (Gaon)
Young Jeezy and Ne-Yo
February 21, 2012 Josh engineered Leave You Alone by Young Jeezy featuring Ne-Yo and produced by Warren G. The single reached #2 on Billboard US Rap Songs and #51 on US Billboard Hot 100. The single was also on Young Jeezy's sixth studio album TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition. The album debuted at number #3 on the US Billboard 200 and on January 31, 2012, the album was certified gold by RIAA.
Eminem and Rihanna
September 2013 While working as a consultant and writer for Interscope Records Josh was commissioned to submit songs for Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP 2. This resulted in Eminem's "The Monster" ft Rihanna mixed by Dr. Dre and bearing a striking resemblance to one of Josh Stevens requested songs. The song went on to reach #1 on the billboard Hot 100 and is a Grammy Winner for "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" (2015) but proper credit is still pending and has yet to be given to Josh Stevens.
Present
Josh is currently in the process of touring on his latest album titled "Story of Summer" Which is Executive Produced by Byron Martinez and Stadium Music Enterprise (label). The first single is titled "Hill Top". The album features Spencer Ludwig, Foo Fighters Drew Hester, A Perfect Circle Matt McJunkins, Rapper Thurzday, Jason Valverde (Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Jennifer Lopez) & Megan Perry. Producers included K-Kov and Josh Stevens himself. Writers on the album include Mickey Shiloh, Alex Clement, Josh Stevens, K-kov, Lauren C. Mayhew, Byron Martinez, and Loren Smith. It was mixed by Ryan Greene and Eric Racy and mastered by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound, New York.
Josh is also on tour with label mates Naima Mora (America's Next Top Model Winner) and Loren Smith. Each of which he has produced and wrote their latest singles. Naima Mora's "Hour Glass' late March 2015, has the official remix by 102.7 Kiss FM's own Dj Triple XL. Loren Smith's "Break Free" released September 2014 and debuted on NBC's Today Show to a 5 million audience.