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. 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, broadca ...

, double APRA award winner and has two ''Billboard'' Latin #1s.. Kidron co-wrote The Potbelleez breakthrough single, "

Don't Hold Back Don't, Dont, or DONT may refer to: Films * ''Don't'' (1925 film), a 1925 silent comedy film * ''Don't'' (1974 film), a 1974 film about the monarch butterfly * ''Don't'', a fake trailer from the film '' Grindhouse'' (2007) Songs * "Don't" (Bil ...

", which peaked at No. 5 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, 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 beca ...

and was certified 3× Platinum by

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

. 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 garnered international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track " I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his December 20 ...

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, " Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut stud ...

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín 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 discography spanning Latin pop, pop, dance, reggaeton ...

Chance The Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Bennett released his debut mixtape ''10 Day'' in 2012. He ...

Hayden James Hayden James is an Australian DJ, songwriter and record producer from Sydney. He is signed to the Future Classic label. Personal life Hayden James is married to Sydney artist Jennifer Lia. James became a father in 2020. Career 2013–2018: ...

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to ''Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempor ...

Tommy Trash Thomas Olsen, better known by his stage name Tommy Trash, (born 15 November 1979) is an Australian DJ, record producer, and remixer. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California and signed to Ministry of Sound Australia. Biography Early ...

, B.o.B,

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American 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 Workshop until June 2000) and ...

Paul Mac Paul Francis McDermott (born 17 September 1965), who performs as Paul Mac, is an Australian electropop musician, singer-songwriter, producer and music re-mixer. He was classically trained at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Mac has formed variou ...

and Sam La More and publishing/production companies

Universal Music Publishing Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a North American music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. It was formerly known as MCA Music Publishing until it merged with PolyGram. Universal Music Publishing is the wor ...

and Norway's

Dsign Music Dsign Music is a songwriting and production team. Dsign Music was founded in 2005 by Robin Jenssen, Anne Judith Stokke Wik, Nermin Harambašić and Ronny Vidar Svendsen in Trondheim, Norway. Since the start they have scored more than 60 Billboard ...

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 (formerly the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and known by the moniker "The Con") is a heritage-listed music school in Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the ol ...

, Australia, is an accomplished guitarist, flautist and pianist. Kidron studied screen composition at the

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. The school is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority. History Establish ...

and also spent time studying at the International Music Centre Ashram in

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and 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 t ...

, 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 The Potbelleez. 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. Dopamine constitutes about 8 ...

. As part of

, he won the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

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

Glass Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...

, and did hundreds of performances around Australia. Kidron spent a few years as multi-instrumentalist for the band,

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. A ...

with Steve Balbi. As part of ''Universe'', he released the single ''Be My Gun'' in October 1998.

The Potbelleez

As part of The Potbelleez, 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 ''

'' 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, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and subseq ...

. The team currently writes for various Australian artists such as Mauboy and

Reece Mastin Reece Mastin (born 24 November 1994) is an English-born Australian singer and songwriter who won the third season of '' The X Factor Australia'' in 2011. Mastin subsequently signed with Sony Music Australia. His debut single " Good Night" reac ...

. 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 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, broadca ...

for 'Top Pop Song', Finnish Pop singer

Isac Elliot Isac Elliot Lundén (born 26 December 2000) is a Finnish-Swedish pop singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He is best known for his song "New Way Home" and his debut album ''Wake Up World'' in 2013, both of which gained success in Finland and Nor ...

'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, best known for winning the fifth season of ''Australia's Got Talent'' as a teenager. He subsequently signed a recording contract with Sony Music Australia with his debut single, " Ye ...

'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 ''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 television, high definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while f ...

'' 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, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

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 songwr ...

. He also supports the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation.

Discography

''Composer/Lyricist'' 2008 *

Are You with Me "Are You with Me" is a song by American country singer Easton Corbin. The song first appeared on Corbin's second studio album, '' All Over the Road'' (2012). It was later included on Corbin's third studio album, '' About to Get Real'' (2015). A ...

( The Potbelleez) * Don't Hold Back ( The Potbelleez) 2008 2010 *Hello ( The Potbelleez) 2011 * From The Music ( The Potbelleez) 2012 * Gotcha (

) *Finding You (

) 2013 *Saved in a Bottle ( The Potbelleez) *Magic Number ( The Potbelleez 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, defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owne ...

& iKid) *New Way Home (

) *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, stylized as MIYAVI), 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, first as guitarist ...

) 2022 * My Satisfaction ( Ive)

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 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , rowspan="2", "

" (David Greene, Ilan Kidron, Jonathan Murphy,

Sam Littlemore Sam Littlemore, 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 international number one song Co ...

) , , Most Played Australian Work , , , - , Dance Work of the Year , , , - , "

Are You With Me "Are You with Me" is a song by American country singer Easton Corbin. The song first appeared on Corbin's second studio album, '' All Over the Road'' (2012). It was later included on Corbin's third studio album, '' About to Get Real'' (2015). A ...

" (David Greene, Ilan Kidron, Jonathan Murphy, Sam Littlemore) , , Dance Work of the Year , , , - , 2011 , , "

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 '' Norwi ...

" (Ilan Kidron, Jonathan Murphy, David Greene, Justin Shave, Marisa Lock) , , Dance Work of the Year , , , - , rowspan="2",

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, , 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 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, , "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 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, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...

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

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

, , rowspan="3", "

" , , Breakthrough Artist – Single , , , - , Best Dance Single , , , - , Highest Selling Single , , , - , 2011 , , "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