Steve Chrisanthou

Steve Chrisanthou is a British songwriter, producer, engineer.^[1] He is a Grammy Awards nominee ^[2] an Ivor Novello Awards nominee,^[3] a Brit Awards nominee^[4] and a MOBO Awards winner for his co-write with John Beck (songwriter) and Corinne Bailey Rae with the song "Put Your Records On." In 2008 Chrisanthou won a National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences award for his vocal engineering on River: The Joni Letters, a Grammy winner by Herbie Hancock^[5]

Early life

Chrisanthou was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England on 21 January 1967 to a Greek Cypriot father and English mother. He started playing guitar at the age of nine. Chrisanthou played guitar in various local bands and did session work from the age of fourteen.

Personal life

Chrisanthou married award winning wildlife artist Stella Mays ^[6] in 2005. They have two children. Chrisanthou also has a child to a previous partner. He is based in Cragg Vale, West Yorkshire, England.

Music career

Chrisanthou began his production career around 1998 with a number of local artists and eventually signed a production/publishing agreement to Goodgroove Songs ^[7] in 2004. Goodgroove is part-owned by ex-BBC Radio 1 DJ Gary Davies.

Fellow Bradfordian songwriter/producer John Beck introduced Chrisanthou to Corinne Bailey Rae and they began to write and demo material for her first eponymous album Corinne Bailey Rae (album). It was released in February 2006 by EMI. The first single from the album Put Your Records On, released in 2006, was co-written with Beck and Bailey Rae and produced by Chrisanthou with additional production from Jimmy Hogarth. The single went on to sell over one million copies.^[8] The follow-up single Trouble Sleeping was also written by the same personnel and achieved Top 40 in the UK in 2006.^[9] The first album eventually went on to sell over four million copies worldwide.^[10] It was nominated for many international awards, including a Grammy^[11] and won a MOBO.^[12] In 2007 Put Your Records On won an ASCAP Award^[13] for 'Song Of The Year'. Songs from the first album were also featured in the 2006 film Venus (film).^[14]

In 2005 John Beck (songwriter) and Chrisanthou, along with writer Charles Hutchinson, wrote 'Show A Little Faith' which appeared on the Charlotte Church album Tissues and Issues.

In 2007 Chrisanthou recorded River (Joni Mitchell song) with Corinne Bailey Rae for Herbie Hancocks River: The Joni Letters

Chrisanthou produced four tracks on Corinne Bailey Rae's second album The Sea (Corinne Bailey Rae album) released in Jan 2010.^[15] The album was nominated for a Mercury Prize.

Chrisanthou has gone on to produce and co-write with many artists^[16] such as Dragonette - Chrisanthou wrote the 2007 single Take It Like A Man (Dragonette song) from the album Galore (Dragonette album), Michael Bolton - Chrisanthou co-produced many of the tracks on the 2009 album One World One Love), Will Young, Paloma Faith, Lianne La Havas, a rare co-write with Ashford & Simpson and Bobby McFerrin. Chrisanthou has also worked with many artists such as Jenniffer Kae, Greta's Bakery, Simon Webbe, Terri Walker and Indiana (singer) - Chrisanthou co-wrote her 2014 UK Top 40 song Solo Dancing ^[17] and Eliza Doolittle (singer) - Chrisanthou co-wrote and produced the 2011 release Mr Medicine^[18]

Chrisanthou has co-written and co-produced two songs from the forthcoming third album by Corinne Bailey Rae called The Heart Speaks in Whispers which will be released on 13 May 2016. Both songs will be the first singles off the new album. He also has co-produced two further songs on the album. Chrisanthou produced Davy Knowles' album 'The Outsider' in 2015^[19] and continues to nurture up-and-coming artists.^[20]

Chrisanthou has recently formed a publishing company called Trinity Songs with John Beck (songwriter) and Matthew Rumbold.

References