Ian Alec Harvey Dench (born 7 August 1964) is an English songwriter and musician. He is the guitarist and principal songwriter for EMF, who scored a major international hit reaching number 1 in the United States with " Unbelievable" in 1991. It was voted one of

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

's 'Greatest Guitar Riffs'.

Early life

Ian Alec Harvey Dench was born in Cheltenham. His father, Harold Dench, taught Ian

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

. He attended The Crypt School in Gloucester from 1975, where one year at Prizegiving, his chosen prize of "100 Greatest Rock Licks" was somewhat frowned upon, compared to the preferred academic tomes of others. Dench began his music career playing in a Gloucester City

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band called Curse. He then formed the

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

-based band Apple Mosaic, who were signed to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

and released the single "Honey If".

EMF

In 1989, Dench met the other members of EMF, and within a few months of playing together, they were signed to a major label. Their debut hit, "Unbelievable", was written by Dench although credited as EMF, and reached number three in the UK singles chart. Six months later, the song reached number one in America. In an interview with ''Spin'' in September 1991, Dench commented on the dynamics within the band, stating that: "I'm the musical director, but I couldn't do it without them. They provide so much attitude. The band split in 1997 due to musical differences.

Post EMF and songwriting career

After leaving EMF, he found independent success with the band Whistler, signed to Wiiija Records. Whistler released two albums, ''Whistler'' and ''Faith in the Morning''. In 2007, Dench wrote the duet " Beautiful Liar" for

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

and

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

, and "

Tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

" for ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' winner

Jordin Sparks Jordin Sparks (born December 22, 1989) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2007 after winning the American Idol (season 6), sixth season of ''American Idol'' at age 17, becoming the youngest winner in the series' history. He ...

with Amanda Ghost, with whom he had worked since 1995 when they wrote for Ghost's '' Ghost Stories'' album.

's 2008 album '' I Am... Sasha Fierce'' saw a further three Dench and Ghost collaborations: "Disappear", "Ave Maria", and "Satellites". Dench co-wrote "Colours" on the Prodigy's 2009 album, '' Invaders Must Die'', and "Red" a top 5 hit for Daniel Merriweather in the UK in May 2009. "

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", another collaboration with Amanda Ghost, was the third single from the album, '' She Wolf'' by Shakira. From March 2009 until November 2010, Dench was Vice President of A&R at

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

in New York, where he A&R'd albums by Alice Smith and Augustana and signed the acts Progress in Color and HeyHiHello. In 2011, Dench collaborated in the writing of "Bedroom Hymns" from

Florence and the Machine Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band formed in London in 2007 by lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, drummer Christopher Lloyd Hayden and harp ...

's '' Ceremonials'' album, and her collaboration with

ASAP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a member of the hip hop music, hip hop coll ...

, "I Come Apart". In 2013, Dench collaborated on the Sub Focus track " Endorphins", reaching number 10 in the UK chart; the title track from '' The Conversation'' by

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

; and "Astronaut" and "Run" by Joel Compass. The singer-songwriter

Jamie Cullum Jamie Paul Joseph Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, pianist, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He h ...

sang two Dench-penned songs in the ITV series '' The Halcyon'' in 2016. In 2017, it was announced that Dench was heading up a new record label, LGM Records, with former Goldheart Assembly frontman James Dale, where the two developed and signed indie pop band Friedberg. The label was featured in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' and other publications before founding a digital advertising agency called SINE Digital. In 2018, Dench worked with Amanda Ghost and Marius de Vries on the song "The Wonder" for the musical ''

King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...

'' on Broadway.

Awards

Dench won an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

for "Beautiful Liar" in the Best Selling British Song Category in 2008. In 2009, he was nominated for a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

as co-writer of "Once in a Lifetime", sung by Beyonce as the part of the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

from Beyoncé's film, '' Cadillac Records''. He was nominated for two

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

in 2010, one as co-producer of two tracks on Beyoncé's album '' I Am... Sasha Fierce'', which was nominated as Album of the Year and the other for "Once in a Lifetime".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dench, Ian 1966 births Living people English male songwriters English rock guitarists Ivor Novello Award winners Musicians from Cheltenham Alumni of the Ruskin School of Art