Wayne Wilkins

Early life

Wilkins became exposed to music very early in life and was taking piano lessons by age 4. Wilkins soon earned a scholarship to a music conservatory as a child. Growing up Wilkins also played organ at cathedrals and other venues around London.

Wilkins went on to Royal College of Music in London. Wilkins had other intellectual interests outside of music and also graduated with a physics degree from Imperial College.

While in college one of Wilkins early jobs was teaching piano lessons. He also interned at Townhouse Studios and Olympic Studios where he received further training in engineering, mixing, and producing.

Music career

While Wilkins was interning at Olympic Studios he got the opportunity to work for famous engineer Spike Stent. Stent's resume includes working with such artists as Madonna, Beyoncé, Björk, Lily Allen, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Oasis, U2, Usher, and Lady Gaga. Working for Stent provided Wilkins the opportunity to program for the engineer and work on high budgeted recordings. During his tenure with Stent Wilkins was able to work with producers and artists such as Timbaland, Oasis, Rodney Jerkins, Madonna and U2. Wilkins was able to work on the No Doubt "Rock Steady" album which Wilkins says later on afforded him higher profile opportunities for him to work on in the industry.

In 2000 Wilkins started working independently. The first band Wilkins produced after going independent was The Corrs. Since The Corrs Wilkins has gone on to produce and write for many more prominent artists.

In May 2004 multiplatinum Grammy nominated singer Natasha Bedingfield released "Single", a song co-written and co-produced by Wilkins. The song went on to reach No. 3 on the UK Singles Top 75 chart.

Natasha Bedingfield followed "Single" with "These Words" released in August 2004. Co-produced and co-written by Wilkins, the song climbed to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and reached No. 17 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced another hit for Natasha Bedingfield, "Love Like This", which also featured Sean Kingston. The song released in September 2007 went platinum, to the top of Billboards Dance/Club Play Songs, and to No. 11 on Billboards Hot 100.

Grammy nominated singer Keri Hilson released her debut single "Energy" off of her gold album "In a Perfect World..." in May 2008. Wilkins cowrote and coproduced the single with fellow prominent members of production team The Runaways, Sam Watters, Rico Love, and Louis Biancaniello.

In early 2008, Wilkins co-wrote We Break the Dawn alongside Solange Knowles and Andrew Frampton for R&B singer Michelle Williams third album "Unexpected." He was also involved in creating the remix for the same song.

In June 2008 Shontelle's "T-Shirt" was released and co-written by Wilkins. The single was a dance hit in the United Kingdom and the United States. Reaching No. 1 on UK's Urban Chart and No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club songs.

Beyoncé released her double platinum and 5x Grammy winning album "I Am... Sasha Fierce" in November 2008 which included the Wilkins' Production and co-written single "Sweet Dreams". The song went on to reach platinum status and landed at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In May 2009 former American Idol winner Jordin Sparks released the single "Battlefield". Wilkins cowrote and coproduced the song that reached the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100. With this song Wilkins assisted the platinum singer in achieving her third top 10 Billboard Hot 100 single.

British artist Cheryl Cole released the single "Fight For This Love" in October 2009 taken from her multiplatinum album "3 Words". Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced the single which went platinum in the UK and topped Billboard's UK Songs Chart and the BBC's UK Singles Chart.

In July 2014 Cheryl Cole released the single "Crazy Stupid Love" from her fourth studio album. The song topped the BBC's UK Singles Chart at number one. Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced the song, which also features British rapper Tinie Tempah.

Awards and nominations

-2005 BMI London Award for "These Words"

-2006 BMI London Award for "Single"

-2007 BMI London Award for "Love Like This"

-2008 BMI Pop Award for "Love Like This"

-2008 BMI London Award for "T-Shirt"

-2009 Grammy nomination Album of the Year – Beyoncé – I Am… Sasha Fierce

-2009 BMI Pop Award for "Battlefield"

-2010 BMI London Award for "Battlefield"

-2010 BMI London Award for "Sweet Dreams"

Musical Influences

Wilkins has cited artists such as Michael Jackson, David Foster, Whitney Houston, Chicago, John Williams, and Oscar Peterson as having a major influence on his style and tastes.

Songwriting

With his writing techniques, Wilkins prefers to start with chord progressions as opposed to lyrics. He has said he attempts to be a "vessel" in which music just flows out of him naturally. He prefers writing and producing together to see the song all the way through both processes to make sure it's a hit. When writing Wilkins chooses not to use many sounds but only what is completely necessary. He says he tends to write simple lyrics that people can grasp with a running theme throughout the song. He likes to write simple chords to pop songs and focuses on the melody. When he can Wilkins prefers co-writing. Generally Wilkins focuses on the music and the melody and collaborates with lyricists.

Mixing and Engineering

Early in his career Wilkins worked under mixing engineer Mark "Spike" Stent of EMI. Wilkins knows how to record and also professionally mix recordings. Wilkins prefers to record an artist where they are most comfortable so he travels to where the artist is with portable gear.

Gear

Wilkins' gear generally consists of an Apple Logic, a MacBook Pro and an Apogee Symphony Mobile System. Wilkins has stated his gear allows him to record anywhere in the world.

Croydon Boy/Ego Frenzy/Wayne Wilkins Music Group/Blow The Speakers

Wilkins started his own record label, Croydon Boy, in 2013, and signed Tiny Dancer.

Wilkins runs his own production company Wayne Wilkins Music Group, and publishing companies, Ego Frenzy and Blow The Speakers. Producers and songwriters T-Wiz, Ollie Spano, and Glass are signed to Ego Frenzy. Wilkins is currently interested in developing new artists. Wilkins has said that he scouts new talent on YouTube and Myspace.