Lucas Secon, (born 3 November 1970) also known by the stage name Lucas, is a record producer, songwriter and rapper. He has written and produced for artists including

the Pussycat Dolls The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the burlesque troupe ...

, Alesso, Britney Spears,

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...

, Kylie Minogue,

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won ...

and

Mos Def Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...

. Secon has won a BMI Award and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards and an MTV Award.

Early life

Secon is the son of Berta (née Moltke) and Paul Secon.The Michigan Daily: "Lucas takes the "lid off" of hip hop"
9 December 1994 His mother is a painter from Denmark and served as the former head of the Danish Academy of Arts; while his father - who was of Jewish descent - was a musician, songwriter, music critic, '' Billboard'' reporter, and businessman who co-founded the retailer Pottery Barn. Paul Secon's songs were performed by

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

the Ink Spots The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style presaged the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely ac ...

, Rosemary Clooney, and

the Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies an ...

, who recorded Secon's composition "You Never Miss the Water (Till the Well Runs Dry)".

Career

1990–1994: solo career

Signed to

Uptown Records Uptown Records is an American record label, based in New York City, founded in 1986 by onetime rapper Andre Harrell. From the late 1980s into the early 1990s, it was a leader in R&B and hip hop. During the 1990s, aided by its A&R worker Sean ...

by Andre Harrell, Secon debuted in 1990 with the album ''To Rap My World Around You''. In 1993, he signed with Atlantic Records' East Coast hip hop and dance music record label,

Big Beat Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as th ...

, and released his 1994 album, the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

-influenced '' Lucacentric''. It also spawned the single " Lucas with the Lid Off", which peaked at #29 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and became his only Top 40 hit as a solo artist. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the single, directed by

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...

, received a

Grammy Award for Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...

nomination at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards and a

MTV Video Music Award The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video categor ...

nomination for Best Male Video in 1995.

Songwriting and producing career

Following the release of ''Lucacentric'', Secon moved into music production and songwriting.

Awards and nominations

Lucas Secon has been nominated for Grammy and MTV awards, and in 2010 won a BMI London Award in Pop Music for The Pussycat Dolls ''

I Hate This Part "I Hate This Part" is a song by American girl group the Pussycat Dolls from their second album, '' Doll Domination'' (2008). The song was written by Wayne Hector, Lucas Secon, Jonas Jeberg, Mich Hansen and produced by the latter two along with R ...

''. * Grammy nomination in Best Dance/Electronica album for "Wonderland" by Steve Aoki * BMI airplay award for The Pussycat Dolls ''I Hate This Part''

Personal life

Secon's son, Fabian, is also a recording artist

Discography

Albums

*1990: ''To Rap My World Around You'' *1994: '' Lucacentric''

Singles and EPs

*1991: "Show Me Your Moves" - Uptown/

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

*1994: "Wau Wau Wau" -

*1994: " Lucas with the Lid Off" - Big Beat *1994: "CityZen" - WEA *1996: "Comin’ Out to Play" (featuring Junior Dangerous) - Mercury *2001: "My Feet Hurt" (featuring Blue) - Open-Door Records *2001: "My Feet Work" -

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secon, Lucas 1970 births Living people Danish rappers Musicians from Copenhagen American people of Danish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American male musicians American male songwriters American record producers