Greg Kurstin

Greg Kurstin is among the producers and songwriters who defined the sound of pop music in the 2010s. He is best known for his chart-toppers with singers such as Adele, Kelly Clarkson and Sia, but he’s worked with artists across a wide range of genres, from rock and indie to dance, country and hip-hop. The multi-instrumentalist, who often performs on the songs he co-writes and produces, puts his ability to adapt and improvise down to being a performing musician himself. The Los Angeles-born and based Kurstin started playing piano at age five and earned his first songwriting credit at 12 for a track by schoolmate Dweezil Zappa. After a stint in New York where he studied jazz at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, he returned to LA where he’s launched three projects over the course of his career: the alternative rock group Geggy Tah (active between 1994 and 2001) and the jazz-pop acts Action Figure Party—a solo avatar under which he put out an eponymous LP in 2001—and the currently active duo The Bird and the Bee, which he formed with singer Inara George in 2006. In between, Kurstin spent years as a session player and sideman for such alternative rock artists as Beck and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, before breaking through as a songwriter and producer for UK-based acts—most notably Lily Allen, whose first three albums he co-helmed. The 2010s turned out to be his most successful decade, during which he scored multiple global top-40 hits including the US number-one singles “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” by Kelly Clarkson, “Hello” by Adele and “Cheap Thrills” by Sia. His work with these artists, as well as with Beck and the Foo Fighters, have earned him several Grammy nominations and wins, including for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018. Perhaps Kurstin’s strongest association has been with Sia, with whom he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2015 in the Best Original Song category for “Opportunity” from the soundtrack to the 2014 film adaptation of Annie. In 2023, he and Sia topped the charts in India with “Hass Hass”, a collaborative single with Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh for which Kurstin was given lead billing.