Years active 2005–present Role Musical Artist | Name William Larsen Labels IDAP, BMG | |
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Born September 15, 1986 (age 37)
Oslo, Norway ( 1986-09-15 ) Occupation(s) Record producer, songwriter Genres Pop music, Hip hop music, Rhythm and blues Associated acts Tish Hyman, Jessie J, Sean Kingston, DJ Mustard Similar People Jaa9 & OnklP, Jaa9, Lars Vaular, OnklP, Kaveh | ||
Record label BMG Rights Management | ||
William Wiik Larsen (born 15 September 1986) is a Norwegian record producer and songwriter. After crafting many multi-platinum songs in his home country, he has produced and co-written several global and US hits like "Am I Wrong" for Nico & Vinz ,"H.O.L.Y." for Florida Georgia Line, "Stay" for Kygo and "Play That Song" for Train. He currently resides in Los Angeles CA.
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Early life
Larsen was born in Oslo, Norway. His father was a professional musician in the 80’s, and his mother a singer. Having an substantial musical influence as a child got him pursuing the same path, and at an early age he started experimenting with instruments, drum machines, keyboards and turntables. At the age of 6 he started playing the drums in the school band. He later moved on to study drums and percussion at the Norwegian Academy of Music (Norges Musikkhøyskole) at the age of 10. At age 14, Larsen started to enter Scandinavian DJ competitions, among them the DMC National DJ Championships which he won 2005 and 2006, to go on to represent Norway in the World finals (DMC World DJ Championships).
2004
In 2004, Larsen joined the music-collective and record label Pass It Records, where he released the official mixtape Homework the same year. During his time at Pass It Records he was a tour DJ for several of the countries hip hop acts. In 2005 he stopped DJ’ing and went on to solely focus on music production under the name Nasty Kutt.
2007-2008
In 2007, his longtime collaborator, manager and Pass It owner/founder/managing director, Julian Alexander, decided to close down Pass It Records. The pair then decided to work together on launching their own production and publishing company IDAP Music in 2008.
In the years to come, Larsen worked in the Norwegian music industry as a hip hop/pop producer with 21 IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) Certifications, 5 of them being multi-platinum.
2009-2012
In 2009, he had his first major U.S placement with the song City Lights featuring Bun B from Method Man and Redman's album Blackout 2. The Def Jam/Universal release debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The same year Larsen started his collaboration with Envy (now known as Nico & Vinz).
In 2010, IDAP Music released its first album as a label, Gatekunst. The annual project, in conjunction with Forente Minoriteter, was held specifically to help youth build their musical talent. The Norwegian government endorsed workshop project focused on young talent being mentored and given the chance to work with already established artists.
In 2011, IDAP Music in collaboration with Universal Music, launched the company’s second label project, the single Min Ting, at VG-lista Topp 20. The single featured rappers like Norwegian Vinni from Paperboys, Yosef from Madcon, Lars Vaular og OnklP, and Swedish rappers Timbuktu & Promoe.
2013
He made the permanent move to the US November 2013. In April he also signed a worldwide Joint Venture deal with IDAP Music & BMG Chrysalis. The same year he changed his moniker to Will IDAP.
Nico & Vinz
The collaboration between Larsen and Nico & Vinz started in 2009. Their first single One Song, produced by Larsen, became their breakthrough in Norway, and charted at #19 on the Norwegian billboard and received massive airplay. The music video for the song also won a Norwegian Grammy for video of the year. While this was the only song he produced for their debut album, he had a much bigger part in their follow up album which got a worldwide release through Warner Music. Larsen and Nico & Vinz reconnected in 2011, and together with Larsen they created the sound for the follow up album Black Star Elephant. The first song they recorded was Am I Wrong, which did well and topped the iTunes charts in over 40 countries. The album was recorded in Oslo, Botswana and Los Angeles. Larsen produced 10 songs on their international album Blackstar Elephant.