Who is Timothy Zachery Mosley?

Who is Timothy Zachery Mosley?,[1] better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, and singer. Timbaland has produced albums and singles for a number of artists from the mid-1990s to the present day.[1]
Timbaland's first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine...the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine; the album was both a commercial and critical success. After further successful work on Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott's 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. He also released several of his own albums, often joined by fellow rapper Magoo. Between 2003 and 2005 he mainly worked together with Brandy, next to works with Jay-Z, Lil' Kim and Bubba Sparxx. Timbaland is one of the highest-paid people in the music industry, having earned $22 million in 2008, according to a 2008 Forbes article, "Hip Hop Cash Kings." According to the "Keep It Fit" Campaign, Timbaland was paid $45M during year 2007-2008 for the production of tracks for other artists.

He was born March 10, 1971 and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Originally a disc jockey known as "DJ Timmy Tim"[2] or "DJ Tiny Tim",[3] Mosley began making hip hop backing tracks on a Casio keyboard. While in high school, Mosley began a long term collaboration with rapper Melvin Barcliff, who performed under the name of Magoo. The teenaged Mosley also joined the production ensemble S.B.I. - "Surrounded By Idiots" - which also featured Neptunes producerPharrell
.[3]and partner Magoo.
Singer/rapper Missy Elliott
heard his material and, taken by Mosley’s unique sense of rhythm, began working with him .[4] She and her R&B group Sista auditioned for DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the successful R&B act Jodeci. DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland, after Timberland construction boots, which were popular in hip hop fashion.[5]
Sista, Timbaland, and Magoo became part of DeVante's stable of Swing Mob signees known as "Da Bassment" crew, joining artists such as R&B singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa (Smoke E. Digglera, Static Major and Digital Black), and the girl group Sugah.[3] Timbaland did production work on a number of projects with
DeVante
, including the 1995 Jodeci
LP The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel"the theme song to Seasame Street, and Sista’s debut LP 4 All the Sistas Around the World, which was shelved and never released.
Elliott began receiving recognition as a songwriter for artists such as R&B girl group
702 and MC Lyte

. Due to Timbaland's connection with her, he was often contacted to produce remixes of her songs. One of these, the remix to 702’s "Steelo"

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in 1996, became Timbaland’s first major production credit.[6]


In 1996, Ginuwine released his debut album, Ginuwine...the Bachelor,

which was produced by Timbaland.[7] The album was both a commercial and critical success.[7] On many of the tracks, Timbaland can be heard either rapping or providing ad-libs, similar to what both
Elliott and Puff Daddy

were doing at the time; Timbaland’s deep voice was usually vocoded to give it an electronic sound.[7] While work was being completed on Ginuwine...the Bachelor, R&B artist Aaliyah contacted Timbaland and Elliott to write and produce songs for her second album, One in a Million

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.[8] The tracks that were crafted for Aaliyah featured musical arrangements similar to those on Ginuwine...the Bachelor.[8] One in a Million went on to sell over 11 million copies worldwide.[9]

Asian instrumentation is present through much of his early work (Xscape’s "My Secret" remix,


especially, with a sitar outro and Timbaland ad-libbing.

"Let’s take a little trip...to India"), but was most successful and prevalent with "Big Pimpin'"

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in 1999, which sampled directly from Hossam Ramzy's "Khusara Khusara,"

a belly dance version of the song "Khosara" originally made famous by Egyptian singer


Abdel Halim Hafez in the 1950s.

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Elliott's 2001 hit single, "Get Ur Freak On"

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from her third album, Miss E...So Addictive, also used a speedy Tabla drumline typical of Hindustani classical music.Nas' 1996 multi-platinum album I AM was also partly produced by Timbaland

.[10]

Timbaland produced songs including Ludacris' "Roll Out

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(My Business)",[11] Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito",

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[12] Petey Pablo's "Raise Up",

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[13] and Beck's cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs"

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during this period.[14] He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "

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We Need a Resolution"

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(featuring himself rapping a verse), "More Than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U".

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[15]
Timbaland & Magoo’s second album together was slated for release in November 2000. Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés -- some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian, Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck’s vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the final version, which instead featured Timbaland singing alongside Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah.[16]

The first release on Beat Club was the debut album by Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001, Dark Days, Bright Nights.

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[17] The loss of Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland, whose work was less omnipresent after 2001. In a phone call to the MTV show Total Request Live, Timbaland said:
She was like blood, and I lost blood. Me and her together had this chemistry. I kinda lost half of my creativity to her. It's hard for me to talk to the fans right now. Beyond the music, she was a brilliant person, the [most special] person I ever met.
—Timbaland, MTV[18]


Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet’s debut album, Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Elliott’s fourth and fifth LPs,

Under Construction and This Is Not A Test!.[19] He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil’ Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period.[20] Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake’s solo debut, Justified, including the song "Cry Me a River".

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[21] Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx

album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, Under Construction, Part II. Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community.[22]
Timbaland continued to produce hit singles and albums for artists; in 2004 Timbaland-produced singles by LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop, and Jay-Z became staples on urban radio, and he produced the bulk of Brandy’s fourth album, Afrodisiac.[23] The Timbaland-produced song "I'm So Fly"

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on Lloyd Banks’s
2004 debut album The Hunger for More is significant in that it was the first official Timbaland production bearing a co-production credit from Danja, who would go on to become a requisite collaborator with Timbaland in the future.






[24]

Embracing an international audience, Timbaland co-wrote two tracks (Exodus

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'04 and Let Me Give You My Love) and produced three tracks of the bilingual Japanese Pop star Utada Hikaru’s debut English album, Exodus.




[25] He continued working on tracks for Tweet and for Elliott’s sixth album, The Cookbook: "Joy

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(feat. Mike Jones)", and "Partytime"

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[26] and continued to expand his reach with production for The Game and Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fourth studio album, Rebirth.)[27]


Timbaland started a new label distributed by Interscope, Mosley Music Group, bringing some talent from his former Beat Club Records label.[28] On the new label are Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E..[29] During 2006, Timbaland had seven singles receiving airplay worldwide by Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake. Additionally, Timbaland also appears in most of the videos.[30]

In early 2007, Timbaland mentioned he wanted to work with female artist Britney Spears on her album Blackout. However, Spears had refused. This came during the time she was in a rehabilitation center in Malibu. Timbaland provides vocals on the singles the Pussycat Dolls's "Wait a Minute",

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Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous"

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and "Ice Box"


by Omarion,

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all of which climbed the U.S. charts. In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK,[31] Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had been working on tracks with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.[32] Timbaland worked on seven songs for Björk’s new album, including "Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "Innocence",[33] and he later worked on tracks for the new Duran Duran album, Red Carpet Massacre,

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including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake.[34] Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs N Harmony's LP, Strength & Loyalty[35] and the song "Ayo Technology"

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on 50 Cent’s album Curtis.[36] Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on Ashlee Simpson's third CD, Bittersweet World, including the song "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)".[37]

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On April 3, 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists such as 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called Timbaland Presents Shock Value. The first single, "Give It to Me" featuring Nelly Furtado and Timberlake, topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.[38] The fourth single from the album, a remix of the OneRepublic song "Apologize",

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was in the Billboard Hot 100 top ten for 25 weeks, the longest any song of the 2000s has spent in the top ten of the chart

.[39]

A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me",

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when Timbaland anonymously called out Storch, rapping, "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man". Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch in an interview with MTV personality Sway Calloway.[40] Storch responded with the track "Built Like That"

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A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously called out Storch, rapping, "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man". Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch in an interview with MTV personality Sway Calloway.[40] Storch responded with the track "Built Like That" on February 26, 2007, featuring Philadelphia rapper NOX, which caused a final response by Beat-Club-rapper D.O.E. on the song "Piano Man". The end of the feud was confirmed by Timbaland in the final issue of Scratch Magazine.
on February 26, 2007, featuring Philadelphia rapper NOX, which caused a final response by Beat-Club-rapper D.O.E. on the song "Piano Man". The end of the feud was confirmed by Timbaland in the final issue of Scratch Magazine.[41]
In November 2007, Timbaland and his then-fiancee Monique Idlett became parents to a baby girl Reign.[42] Monique was also a publicist working at Timbaland's Mosley Music Group record company.

In early 2007, Timbaland was accused of plagiarism regarding his work on the Nelly Furtado track "Do It".

He is alleged to have plagiarized elements from the song "Acid Jazzed Evening" by Finnish artist Tempest, without giving credit or compensation.[43]

In 2008, Timbaland helped produce many albums for various artists that include Sean Paul's The Next Thing, Madonna's Hard Candy, Brandy's Human[44], Omarion's ,Menudo's upcoming album, Ashlee Simpson's Bittersweet World, Keri Hilson's In A Perfect World, Flo Rida's Mail On Sunday, Letoya Luckett's Lady Love, Lindsay Lohan's Spirit in the Dark, Chris Cornell's Scream, JoJo's All I Want Is Everything, Nicole Scherzinger's Her Name is Nicole, Missy Elliott's Block Party, Matt Pokora's MP3, Keithian's Dirrty Pop, The Pussycat Dolls's Doll Domination, Busta Rhymes's B.O.M.B, Lisa Maffia's Miss Boss, Teairra Mari's Pressed For Time,[45] Jennifer Hudson's debut album, Dima Bilan's Against The Rules, Ashley Tisdale's Miss Independent, Samantha Jade's, My Name Is Samantha Jade, Brittany Murphy's Debut Album.

On February 8, 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album solely on a mobile platform for Verizon Wireless's V CAST cell phone service and was designated its very first "Mobile Producer in Residence." Timbaland will be joined by Mosley Music Group/Zone 4 singer/songwriter

Keri Hilson

to begin work on the mobile album’s first track aboard the fully equipped Mobile Recording Studio. The only track to surface so far is "Get It Girl". In his first effort within the video game industry, he is working with Rockstar Games to produce Beaterator, a music mixing game for the PlayStation Portable to be released in the summer of 2009.[46]
In reference to Timbaland's supposed musical "Midas touch," his name is heard in a lyric of Weezer's 2008 single Pork and Beans. The line reads, "Timbaland knows the way to reach the top of the charts. / Maybe if I work with him I can perfect the art."
Timbaland postponed his Australian Shock Value tour which was originally set for mid July to August . There has not been a press release and no reason has been given. On August 22 Timbaland was scheduled to play at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena and on the same date The Coke Live Festival in Poland. Timbaland has furthermore cancelled his Australian/New Zealand tour, and is suing the promoter of the concert, "Showtime Touring" for failing to pay and tarnishing his image by making it appear as if the concert didn't go ahead because of personal reasons. Instead, it was because the company failed to make its payments to Timbaland.

In September 2008 it was announced that Timbaland will receive the prestigious honor of being inducted into the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin as an Honorary Patron in October 2008. This award is over 300 years old and one honoree is chosen every year for exceptional contributions to society.[47] Timbaland executive producing the movie “Vinyl” which follows the lives of 5 young women facing life altering decisions about their relationships to members of a rock band. Timbaland’s Mosley Media Group is teaming up with Effie T. Brown's Duly Noted Inc. to create the movie. Marcus Spence, President of Mosley Music, Timbaland’s wife and publicist Monique Idlett Mosley, will be producing the film. Shooting starts in spring with Richard Zelniker at the director's helm.

[48]
Timbaland is working on

Shock Value: Volume 2

, alongside british singer

Leona Lewis

[49], due in 2009, his 6th studio album and follow-up to his platinum album Shock Value in 2007.

On June 10, 2008, Timbaland married his long time girlfriend, Monique Idlett, in a civil ceremony presided over by a family pastor in Aruba. Timbaland currently lives in Miami, Florida, with his son Demitrius (who was on My Super Sweet Sixteen).

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Who is Stargate?

Who is Stargate? Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen.

The two together as Stargate have become Grammy-award winning Norwegian record producing and songwriting team that is based in New York City. The team's genres include R&B, pop and hip hop.

Stargate broke into the American recording industry in 2006, with the release of the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "So Sick", produced and co-written by the team and performed by singer Ne-Yo. They also produced and co-wrote with singer Beyoncé Knowles her worldwide hit single "Irreplaceable", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming the biggest song of 2007 and giving Stargate their most successful single to date.

The team has worked with various American artists and received mainstream awards including the Songwriters of the Year accolade at the 2007 ASCAP/PRS Awards. #1 Producers of the Year on the Billboard Hot 100 Year End Chart 2006 and 2008. Hitmakers of the Year in Rolling Stone magazine 2008. According to britishhitsongwriters.com Eriksen is the twenty seventh most successful songwriter in U.K. chart history based on weeks that his compositions have spent on the chart and Hermansen the thirtieth.[1]
Stargate began in 1997 as a song-writing trio, consisting of Tor Erik Hermansen, Mikkel S. Eriksen, and Hallgeir Rustan, in Trondheim, Norway.[2][3] When they first met, Hermansen was a talent scout for the Norwegian branch of the record label Warner Music Group, Eriksen owned a studio,[4] and Rustan was a mechanical engineer before becoming involved in music.[5] While in Norway, they ventured into the British market, mostly writing songs for R&B-pop performers.[5] At this time they called the team Stargate, a name specifically established for their projects in the United Kingdom.[5]
The team's initial successes were in the British market.[2] Stargate's first international success came with English pop outfit S Club, whose 1999 single "S Club Party" reached number one in Australia and the New Zealand. This success was followed with British pop group Hear'Say's single "The Way To Your Love", which peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2001.[6] The team has also produced many Top 10 hits in the United Kingdom for acts such as Blue, Mis-Teeq and Atomic Kitten,[2] and worked with European acts Javine, Shola Ama, Five, and Samantha Mumba.[7][8]
The team had been listening to American hits and "trying to measure up".[2] They remixed American hip-hop and R&B songs, adding layers of melody to suit the European radio audience. In the wake of their early successes, the team had to choose whether to remain in Norway or move to pursue their goals: "We knew that to make the records we really wanted to make, we had to go to America."[2] Hermansen and Eriksen chose to produce records in the United States, while Rustan preferred to remain a producer in Norway because he did not want to leave his family behind.[3][5]
In 2001, Stargate produced and co-wrote songs for American pop singer Mikaila's

self-titled debut album. "So in Love With Two", a track from the album, had reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100,[9] becoming one of the team's earliest co-written singles that appeared on the US charts. It was followed three years later with Mis-Teeq's

"Scandalous",

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which peaked at number 35 on the Hot 100 and number two in the United Kingdom.[4]
In the spring of 2005, Eriksen and Hermansen settled in New York. Initially, their work was slow until they met singer-songwriter Ne-Yo in a hallway at Sony Music Studios in New York. Ne-Yo, who had been working on his debut album, In My Own Words, decided to collaborate with the team, aware that Stargate produced R&B records. After listening to each other's music, a songwriting session ensued and spawned in its second day the song "So Sick", which later topped the Billboard Hot 100 and ushered Stargate into American pop songwriting.[2][4]
In 2006, Stargate broke into the American recording industry with the number-one single "So Sick", recorded by and co-written with Ne-Yo.[10] The team credited "So Sick" as their first big, mainstream American release.[11][12] Stargate and Ne-Yo collaborated on the hit single "Unfaithful" for Barbadian singer Rihanna's 2006 album A Girl Like Me.[2] In the same year, Stargate again collaborated with Ne-Yo for the single "Irreplaceable", recorded by American singer Beyoncé Knowles. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks in 2007.[13] Also in 2006, Stargate gave American singer-songwriter Lionel Richie his first R&B hit, "I Call It Love",

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in 10 years.[14]
With the team's contributions to music, Stargate emerged as the number-one hot producer on the 2006 Billboard Year End Chart.[14] In the following year, Stargate received a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemann). The team received three awards at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards 2007 in Los Angeles, for the songs "So Sick",

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"Sexy Love"

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and "Unfaithful";

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and two awards at the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards 2007 for "So Sick" and "Sexy Love". They were named Songwriters of the Year at the 2007 ASCAP/PRS in London, receiving nine awards including Song of the Year for "So Sick".[15][16]
In 2007, "Beautiful Liar",

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a duet between Knowles and Colombian singer Shakira, became another hit for Stargate, reaching number one in more than 30 countries including the United Kingdom.[17] The song earned Hermansen and Eriksen the Ivor Novello Award for Best-Selling British song. Although "Beautiful Liar" is chiefly an American song, it includes British songwriters Amanda Ghost

and Ian Dench,

thus eligible for the award.[18][19]
At the 2008 ASCAP Pop Music Awards, Hermansen and Eriksen

received five awards for most performed songs, including "Irreplaceable" among the top five.[20][21] Stargate was named Best Hitmakers in Rolling Stone magazine's "Best of Rock 2008".[22] Eriksen and Hermansen received Grammy nominations for five separate songs in six categories for the 2008 Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year for "Irreplaceable", Best R&B Song for "Hate That I Love You" and Best Dance Record for "Don't Stop The Music".[8][23]

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On Ne-Yo's

third solo-album, Year of the Gentleman,

Stargate have produced and co-written four songs, among them the singles "Closer"

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and "Miss Independent", the latter of which had reached number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[24] Stargate received nominations in more than 10 categories for the 2009 Grammy Awards.[25] They won their first Grammy in 2009 in the Best R&B Song category for "Miss Independent",

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performed by Ne-Yo.[26]

Stargate

teamed-up with American hip hop mogul Jay-Z to launch the record label StarRoc. The label, which is based at Jay-Z's The Mic studio in Manhattan, will be a 50/50 partnership with the team and Jay-Z's entertainment company Roc Nation.[27] Eriksen and Hermansen's connection with Jay-Z, who was then the CEO of the record label Def Jam, began with the release of "So Sick". They met through Ty Ty Smith,

A&R from record label Def Jam and a long-time friend of Jay-Z.[11]

In addition to their new venture, Eriksen signed a global co-publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing.[7] According to Music Week, his relationship with EMI will further the publishing company's involvement on Stargate's future projects.[28] Prior to the deal, EMI has been involved with Hermansen's projects for nearly ten years since he signed a deal in 1999.[7] Hermansen and Eriksen will also continue their joint-venture partnership, Stellar Songs, with EMI.[28]
Stargate chiefly produces songs in the genres R&B, pop, and hip hop.[4] Hermansen and Eriksen

grew up as R&B and hip hop fanatics in Norwegian suburbs, where most children listen to Euro pop and American rock.[22] Their interest in music started in the 1980s with breakdance and rap.[3] Eriksen and Hermansen were raised on pop music, growing up listening to music of 1970s pop group ABBA

and Germany-based pop outfit Boney M.

In an article by The New York Times, Barry Weiss,

president of Jive Records, who had hired Stargate to produce songs, "Those influences lend themselves to them making very melodic pop records, with great hooks and choruses."[2] According to the team, they have always loved American music, citing acts such as Prince,

Michael Jackson,

Usher,

Destiny's Child,

and R. Kelly

and the English band Depeche Mode

as their inspiration.[3] The team also cited producers Antonio "L.A." Reid

and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds

of the 1980s R&B band The Deele,

and R&B-pop production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

as their early influences.[4]
In their usual production style, Stargate first creates an instrumental backing track—also common in pop and hip hop productions—from which a collaborator would write lyrics and add vocal melody into.[2] In an interview with About.com, the team explained their style:
We always start out with a musical idea. Great effort goes into creating a solid melodic core. We both play the keyboards and program, but in general Mikkel plays the instruments and controls Pro Tools, while Tor has the executive overlook as well as lyrical input. However, we both are hands on and have no rules or limitations. When we have some killer beats and musical starting points, we hook up with one of our favorite topline writers, who gets cracking on the lyrics and melody. We make sure there's a lot of melody in the track, so it can inspire the writer. Together with the topline writer we work, often tweek and simplify the song, and never quit before we feel we've got a killer hook.[11]
Ben Sisario

of The New York Times described Stargate's music as "sugary, lilting R&B in the Michael Jackson

vein leavened with the kind of melody-rich European pop that paints everything in bright primary colors ... Their work carries on a tradition of Scandinavian bubble-gum artistry that stretches from Abba

to Max Martin"

.[2] Sisario added that, unlike other's producers in the United States, "Stargate signature is more difficult to detect, because to some degree the duo’s style is an adaptable method, not a specific sound".[2] Steve Lunt,

an A&R executive at Atlantic Records, pointed out, however, that "if you put a bunch of Stargate songs together you will see the thread running through them".[2]
Stargate's works have received critical response from mainstream publications. In a review for singer Jordin Sparks' self-titled debut album,

Rolling Stone magazine music critic Sheffield praised Stargate's works, calling them "most of the other winners" in the album.[29]
Critics find some of Stargate's

succeeding works a replica of "Irreplaceable"'s musical formula. Sheffield commented that, in the song "Tattoo" by Sparks, the team "have no shame about churning out 'Irreplaceable'

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replicants forever", reprising the acoustic guitar-drum loop formula.[29] The New York Times music critic Kelefa Sanneh
deemed it "sounds like a cousin" of "Irreplaceable".[30] The release of R&B singer Chris Brown's 2007 single "With You"

produced similar impressions: Sheffield, in his review for Brown's album, noted that "Stargate was just trying to roll out 'Irreplaceable' one more time".[31] Hillary Crosley
of Billboard magazine wrote that "With You" "leans a bit too heavily" toward "Irreplaceable".[32]
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