Ilan Kidron (born 22 April 1976), also known as iKid, is a Sydney-based singer songwriter with over one billion combined streams, best known as the lead singer for Australia's multi-platinum selling dance music act

The Potbelleez The Potbelleez are a three-member Irish-Australian electro-house and dance music group, which formed in 2003 as a duo by DJs Dave Goode (a.k.a. David Greene) and Jonny Sonic (Jonathon Murphy). In 2005 they were joined by rapper Blue MC (Ma ...

. As a writer he is a double

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

, double APRA award winner and has two ''Billboard'' Latin #1s.. Kidron co-wrote

breakthrough single, " Don't Hold Back", which peaked at No. 5 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

and was certified 3× Platinum by

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

. Kidron has worked with artists such as

Kygo Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll (; born 11 September 1991), known professionally as Kygo (), is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He first received international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track " I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his De ...

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (; born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer-songwriter, television personality, and actress. Born in Pristina, modern-day Kosovo, she rose to prominence when she featured on DJ Fresh's 2012 single, "Hot Rig ...

Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...

Chance The Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' (2012) during one of his high school suspension ...

, Hayden James,

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

Tommy Trash Thomas Matthew Olsen better known by his stage name Tommy Trash, is an Australian DJ, record producer, and remixer. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California and signed to Ministry of Sound Australia. Biography Early life Thomas Ol ...

, B.o.B,

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

Paul Mac and Sam La More and publishing/production companies

Universal Music Publishing Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a global Music publisher (popular music), music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Publishing has been ranked the #1 music publisher in market share by Billboar ...

and Norway's

Dsign Music Dsign Music is a Norwegian songwriting and music production company, established in 2004 consisting of the members Robin Jenssen, Anne Judith Stokke Wik, Nermin Harambašić, Ronny Vidar Svendsen, JINBYJIN and Adrian Thesen (pizzapunk).Music N ...

Early life and influences

Ilan Kidron was born on 22 April 1976 in London, England. During his school life he learned to speak fluently in several languages and, as a classical graduate from the

Sydney Conservatorium of Music The Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM) — formerly the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music, and known by the moniker "The Con" — is the music school of the University of Sydney. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious music ...

, Australia, is an accomplished guitarist, flautist and pianist. Kidron studied screen composition at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and also spent time studying at the International Music Centre Ashram in

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

, India. Kidron plays a wide array of music. Though he comes from a background in "rock, folk, jazz, klezmer and a crooner" music, Kidron moved into dance music when he joined

. When describing his transition to dance, Kidron stated, "You got to find new ways to dig deep and dance music's a really good way of doing that because it's built around tension and release. The song-writing takes on a bigger form with dance music, and it's accentuated by this amazing soundscape."

Career

Early career

Early in his career, Kidron was part bands Dr Smooth and the Medicine Groove and

Dopamine Dopamine (DA, a contraction of 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine) is a neuromodulatory molecule that plays several important roles in cells. It is an organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families. It is an amine synthesized ...

. As part of

, he won the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

Band Competition in 1993. He then moved on to join the band

Glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

, and did hundreds of performances around Australia. Kidron spent a few years as multi-instrumentalist for the band, Universe with Steve Balbi. As part of Universe, he released the single ''Be My Gun'' in October 1998.

The Potbelleez

As part of

, Ilan Kidron has released over six Top 50 Hits and two Top 20 Albums. Kidron has received two APRA Song Writing Awards for "Best Dance Work of the Year" for the songs '' Don't Hold Back'' and ''From the Music'' in 2009 and 2012 respectively.

Other works

In January 2012, Kidron formed a songwriting and production team, named "The SchooKids", with Dutch producer Louis Schoorl. The team co-wrote and produced the lead single " Gotcha" for the Australian film '' The Sapphires''. The song was performed by Australian singer

Jessica Mauboy Jessica Hilda Mauboy (; born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the Australian Idol (season 4), fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and s ...

. The team currently writes for various Australian artists such as Mauboy and Reece Mastin. Kidron's works include

's " Come with Me", which debuted at No. 3 on the Australian Charts and charted in 17 countries and won an award an award at the ASCAP Latin Music Awards for 'Top Pop Song', Finnish Pop singer Isac Elliot's "New Way Home" which peaked at number one on the Official Finnish Singles Chart. and Australian dance producer

nominated hit "Need Me To Stay" which charted at number one on the ARIA Club Hits chart. Kidron also co-wrote

Jack Vidgen Jack Vidgen (born 17 January 1997) is an Australian singer and television personality, best known for winning the Australia's Got Talent season 5, fifth season of ''Australia's Got Talent'' as a teenager. He subsequently signed a recording cont ...

's "Finding You",

Tina Arena Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena (born 1 November 1967) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, musical theatre actress and record producer. She is one of Australia's highest-selling artists and has sold over 10 million records worldwid ...

's "Love You Less", Vandalism's "Coming Alive", Emma Pask's "Season of My Heart", as well as a few tracks from Ricki Lee's fourth studio album. In 2014, Kidron formed the side project Go Comet! (stylised as GO COMET!) and released the song "Worlds Apart", which was used to soundtrack ''

Seven News Seven News (stylised 7NEWS) is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition studios in South Eveleigh, Sydney, while its flags ...

'' stories. The song reached number 68 on the

in August 2014. Kidron has also produced sound tracks for films such the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

Nominated Short Film, Inja. 3

Personal life

Kidron was married to the late Samantha Rebillet and has a son, Gabe. Kidron is an ambassador for the SMILE Foundation Charity as well as an ambassador for the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

. He also supports the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation.

Discography

''Composer/Lyricist'' 2008 * Are You with Me (

) * Don't Hold Back (

) 2008 2010 *Hello (

) 2011 * From The Music (

) 2012 * Gotcha (

) *Finding You (

) 2013 *Saved in a Bottle (

) *Magic Number (

featuring B.o.B) *Come With Me (

) *Love You Less (

) *Coming Alive (

Vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The t ...

& iKid) *New Way Home ( Isac Elliot) *Season of My Heart ( Emma Pask) 2014 *All We Need Is Love ( Ricki-Lee) 2016 *Fire Bird (

Miyavi , better known by his stage name MIYAVI (雅, ''Miyabi'', stylized in all caps), is a Japanese guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor known for his finger- slapping style of playing a guitar. He has been active since 1999, f ...

) 2022 * My Satisfaction (

Ive Ive or IVE may refer to: Music * Ive (group), a South Korean girl group * I've Sound (aka "I've"), a Japanese musical group People * Ive (given name), a Croatian and Slovenian given name * Bert Ive (1875–1939), British-born Australian cinema ...

)

Awards and nominations

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the

(APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters". Kidron has won two awards from six nominations, both for Dance Work of the Year. , - , rowspan="3",

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , rowspan="2", " Don't Hold Back" (David Greene, Ilan Kidron, Jonathan Murphy,

Sam Littlemore Sam Littlemore (born 2 February 1975), also known as Sam La More, is an Australian record producer, songwriter and recording artist working in Sydney and Los Angeles. Littlemore, a member of dance music trio Pnau, is best known for the internat ...

) , , Most Played Australian Work , , , - , Dance Work of the Year , , , - , " Are You With Me" (David Greene, Ilan Kidron, Jonathan Murphy, Sam Littlemore) , , Dance Work of the Year , , , - ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , "

Hello Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...

" (Ilan Kidron, Jonathan Murphy, David Greene,

Justin Shave Justin Shave, better known as Shave, is an Australian music producer/composer and sonic technologist. He also works across the TV, record and advertising industries. Shave has a degree in music, computing science , pure mathematics from t ...

, Marisa Lock) , , Dance Work of the Year , , , - , rowspan="2",

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , rowspan="2", "From the Music" (David Greene, Ilan Kidron, Marisa Lock, Jonathan Murphy, Justin Shave) , , Dance Work of the Year , , , - , Most Played Australian Work , , , - , rowspan="3",

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , "Feed Off Me" (David Greene, Ilan Kidron, Marisa Lock, Paul Mac, Jonathan Murphy, Justin Shave) , , Dance Work of the Year , , , - , "Coming Alive" (Ilan Kidron, Andrew Van, Dorsselaer, Cassandra Van) , , Dance Work of the Year , , , -

ARIA Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

are presented annually from 1987 by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA). Kidron, as part of the Potbelleez, has received four nominations. , - , rowspan="3",

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, , rowspan="3", " Don't Hold Back" , , Breakthrough Artist – Single , , , - , Best Dance Single , , , - , Highest Selling Single , , , - ,

, , "From the Music" , , Best Dance Release , ,

ASCAP Latin Music Awards

announced that Ilan Kidron has won 'Top Pop Song' at the 22nd ASCAP Latin Music Awards in New York City for his work on Ricky Martin's " Come With Me.

References

External links

The Potbelleez Home Page

About The Potbelleez in ''BBC Music''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kidron, Ilan 1976 births APRA Award winners Living people Sydney Conservatorium of Music alumni 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian male singers