Paul Epworth

Paul Richard Epworth (born 25 July 1974 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire) is an English music producer, musician, and songwriter. His production and writing credits include Adele, Rihanna, Florence and the Machine, Coldplay, Cee Lo Green, Foster the People, U2, John Legend, Lianne La Havas, Paul McCartney, Bruno Mars, Glass Animals, Plan B, Crystal Castles, Friendly Fires, Bloc Party, Annie, Chapel Club, Primal Scream, The Rapture, Jack Peñate, Kate Nash, and Maxïmo Park amongst many others. On 12 February 2012 at the 54th Grammy Awards, he won four Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Album of the Year (Adele's 21), and Song of the Year and Record of the Year (for "Rolling in the Deep"). He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song alongside Adele, for "Skyfall". His sister Mary Epworth is a singer and songwriter. He is a member of the Music Producers Guild. He also has a record label, Wolf Tone, whose artists include Glass Animals, Rosie Lowe and Plaitum. He has won 'Producer of the Year' at the BRIT Awards three times, the most recent in 2015. He has been nominated for a Grammy at the 59th Grammy Awards for his work on Adele's record breaking album 25.

Lomax

From 2002 to 2004 Epworth provided lead vocals and guitar for the band Lomax. He later remixed two songs from the band's catalogue – "Reiterator" and "Modern Life".

Remixing

Epworth is well known for his remix work under the name Phones. He began to gain recognition with this moniker based on his work with Bloc Party's track "Banquet"; he has since provided remix work for New Order, U2, P-Diddy, Goldfrapp, Nine Inch Nails, Simian Mobile Disco, The Streets, Interpol, Tom Vek, Death from Above 1979, Annie, and most recently Coldplay. His debut of original material under the Phones name, "Sharpen the Knives"/"Worryin", was released on French label Kitsuné in November 2006. In 2008 he announced he had killed off the Phones moniker but has said he continues to remix anonymously.

In early 2006 Epworth began making music under another alias, Epic Man. His debut single, "More Is Enough", featured Plan B and was featured on the soundtrack for Need For Speed: Pro Street and was released on Good & Evil Records, a subsidiary of 679 Recordings. He has since returned to his Phones name and there are no known plans to release under Epic Man again.

Production and Writing

In 2004-05, Epworth produced a quartet of critically acclaimed releases, including two Mercury Music Prize nominations in Silent Alarm by Bloc Party and A Certain Trigger by Maximo Park, the bulk of The Futureheads eponymous debut (including the hit Kate Bush cover "Hounds Of Love"), and Capture/Release by The Rakes as well as singles by Babyshambles and The Long Blondes. He also wrote and produced tracks for British rappers, Kano ("Don't Know Why") and Plan B ("No Good" and "Where You From") This was followed in 2006 by production work on Pieces of the People We Love by The Rapture and the debut album by French band Black Strobe, entitled Burn Your Own Church.

In 2007, Epworth began to contribute more co-writing credits alongside his production. For example, his production on the number one debut album Made of Bricks by Kate Nash included a writing credit on the hit single "Foundations" (for which he was nominated for an Ivor Novello songwriters award.) In 2008, Epworth produced much of Sam Sparro's eponymous debut album which entered the UK album charts at number 4 and the Primal Scream single, "Can't Go Back", along with the title track of their recent album Beautiful Future. Epworth also completed production duties on much of the new Bloc Party record, Intimacy and co-wrote and produced Friendly Fires track "Jump In The Pool".

Early 2009 saw Epworth co-writing and recording Jack Peñate's critically lauded second album Everything Is New including the singles "Tonight's Today" and "Be the One". He also co-wrote and produced tracks for Florence and the Machine's debut album Lungs, including the hit single "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" along with the album tracks "Howl", "Cosmic Love", "Hurricane Drunk" and "Blinding". He also worked further with Friendly Fires on a single version of the track "Skeleton Boy" and produced the forthcoming single by The Big Pink, "Stop the World". In February 2009 he won best newcomer at the inaugural Music Producers' Guild Awards. In Spring 2009, Epworth co-produced another single with The Big Pink entitled "Dominos", and a new Friendly Fires single "Kiss of Life".

Summer 2009 brought Epworth his third and fourth Mercury music prize nomination in the shape of Florence and the Machine's Lungs and Friendly Fires' eponymous debut. He also finished album tracks for Norwegian pop artist Annie for her delayed album Don't Stop; wrote the "Zingolo" for Cadbury's "Fair Trade" advert, featuring Ghanaian MC Tinny; and mixed the track "Silva & Grimes" for Holy Fuck's Latin lp. He finished up the year working on new tracks by London MC/Singer Plan B for his number 1 album The Defamation Of Strickland Banks including the top 10 single "Stay Too Long", and tracks for Canadian duo Crystal Castles (including single Celestica), writing with Grammy winner Adele, singer Sky Ferreira and producing a single version of album track "Tonight" with The Big Pink.

In February 2010 Epworth won both the Brit Award and the Music Producers' Guild Award for Producer Of The Year and also won Music Week's Producer of the Year Award in April.

Early 2010 saw Epworth deliver tracks for London band Chapel Club's forthcoming LP and begin work on both Friendly Fires' and Florence and the Machine's second LPs. He also signed a solo deal with Columbia Records, with an album due late 2010 or early 2011. Epworth added his production hand to Primary 1's forthcoming album, including lead single "Princess". Summer 2010 saw him provide production on two versions of Cee Lo Green's cover of Band of Horses' "No One's Gonna Love You", and for the single "It's OK".

Late 2010 and early 2011 saw the release of the acclaimed Epworth co-written and produced worldwide number one single "Rolling in the Deep" from Adele's 21. The album features three Epworth co-writes with Adele, which he produced "I'll Be Waiting", while "He Won't Go" was produced by Rick Rubin. Summer 2011 saw Epworth working on The Big Pink's forthcoming LP Future This and the critically acclaimed Ceremonials by Florence and the Machine.

On 12 February 2012 at the 54th Grammy Awards, he won four Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Album of the Year (Adele's 21), and Song of the Year and Record of the Year (for "Rolling in the Deep").

In 2013 Epworth and Adele received the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 70th Golden Globe Awards for the song "Skyfall". Epworth and Adele also received the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 85th Academy Awards for "Skyfall".

In late 2015 Adele released her third, record breaking album 25, which features two tracks co-written and produced by Epworth, "I Miss You" and "Sweetest Devotion". 25 has since been nominated for Album of the Year at the 59th Grammy Awards which will take place on 12 February 2017.

In 2016, Epworth produced two tracks for The Stones Roses, "All for One" and "Beautiful Thing" which he also mixed. He was Executive producer on the Glass Animals album "How To Be A Human Being" which was released on his record label Wolf Tone. Paul also co-wrote and produced the Usher track "Chains" Ft Nas, Bibi Bourelly.

Singles (as Phones)

• 2006 "Sharpen the Knives / Worryin"

Singles (as Epic Man)

• 2006 "More Is Enough" (feat. Plan B)

Production and Writing

Albums

Remixes

Academy Awards

Billboard Music Awards

BMI London Awards

BMI Pop Awards

BRIT Awards

BT Digital Music Awards

Critics' Choice Movie Awards

Golden Globes Awards

Grammy Awards

Houston Film Critics Society

Ivor Novello Awards

MTV Europe Music Awards

MTV's Song of the Year

MTV Video Music Awards

People's Choice Awards

Q Awards

Satellite Awards

Skatta Social TV Awards

Soul Train Music Awards

Swiss Music Awards

Teen Choice Awards

UK Music Video Awards

VEVOCertified Awards

World Soundtrack Academy Awards