Steve McCutcheon (born 15 January 1972), known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern British music, with contributions to 30 number one singles in the UK Singles Chart.

Career

Early career

Mac got his break in the music industry in the early 1990s when he wrote and produced the

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hit " (I Wanna Give You) Devotion", that reached no.2 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1992, he became part of dance group Undercover, who had several European hit singles, including " Baker Street" and " Never Let Her Slip Away". McCutcheon formed, with Darren Pearce, the duo Gems for Jem. Their single "Lifting Me Higher", sampling the Evelyn Thomas song " High Energy", topped the

UK Dance Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the electronic dance music, dance music genre (e.g. house music, house, trance music, trance, ...

in May 1995. He then met songwriter Wayne Hector, with the pair striking up a partnership that has seen them co-write and produce a range of chart songs. Mac has gone on to work with some of the most recognised names in the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

. He has written, co-written and produced hits for musicians including

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), commonly known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice. W ...

Pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

Little Mix Little Mix are an English girl group that formed on the eighth series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor.'' They are the first group and the only girl group to win the original UK series. The lineup consisted of Leigh-Anne Pin ...

, and many other UK and international singers. From his Rokstone Studios in London, the artists he has written and produced for have racked up over 200 million sales worldwide during his career. As well as a string of no.1 UK and international hits, Mac has also penned top 10 singles for artists such as

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), she starred in the Disney Channel short series ...

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, were an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group consisted of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik (until his departure in 2015), Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. The group sold o ...

The Saturdays The Saturdays are an English-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and has been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa Whi ...

, Leona Lewis, and

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 ...

, among others.

Work with Westlife

The producer has had a long-standing collaboration with Irish boyband,

, dating back to the late 1990s. This artistic partnership resulted in him co-writing and producing four no.1 UK singles for the band. He has co-produced another five no.1 hits and produced three top five singles. Mac also co-wrote and produced the band's 2000 hit Christmas single, " What Makes a Man" reaching no.2 in the UK singles chart.

2010–2017

Mac won the first of his two Brit Awards in 2010 for co-writing and producing the no.1 single " Beat Again" for British pop/R&B band, JLS. In 2012, the producer worked with a host of artists including

, The Wanted,

, Susan Boyle, Il Divo, Boyzone, and Gareth Gates. Mac was recognised in 2012, and then again in 2013 by picking up the ASCAP Song of the Year Award. The awards were in recognition of co-writing and producing the hits " Glad You Came" for The Wanted, and " You Make Me Feel..." by Cobra Starship, respectively. Between 2013 and 2015, Mac worked with several musicians include James Blunt, John Newman, Union J,

, The Vamps, and

. He made several contributions to both James Blunt's

Moon Landing A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959. In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first cr ...

album that reached no.2 in the UK album chart and The Vamps’ Wake Up album that was a top 10 hit. Mac scored another number one hit in 2016 with " Rockabye" by Clean Bandit featuring

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. Paul's first album, ''Stage One'', was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, ''Dutty Rock'', in 2002. Its single "Get Busy ...

and Anne-Marie. The song reached the top of the UK singles chart, staying there for nine consecutive weeks. The single also won in the EDM Winning Songs category alongside his other co-produced track for Clean Bandit and

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and dancer. She first rose to prominence in 2008 after winning the Talang 2008, second season of ''Talang (Swedish TV show), Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got T ...

, " Symphony". In 2017, Mac picked up the Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year at the Music Business Worldwide A&R Awards and the ASCAP Founders Award for "his pioneering contribution to music, global success and a 27 year body of work". The same year, Mac co-wrote

's No. 1 single "

Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the lead single, double lead singles from his third studio album ''÷ (album), ÷'' (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The Dancehall pop, ...

" with Sheeran and Johnny McDaid. The song broke chart history, spending 14 weeks at the top of the UK chart, and remaining in the Top 10 of the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

in the US for 33 weeks. It also claimed the unique achievement of being the most-streamed song of all time on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. He also received another Grammy nomination for Pink's US top twenty single " What About Us", which he wrote and produced.

2018–present

2018 saw the producer work with some of music's most prolific names such as

Chvrches Chvrches (stylised CHVRCHΞS and pronounced "Churches") are a Scottish synth-pop band from Glasgow, formed in September 2011. The band consists of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, Martin Doherty and, unofficially since 2018, Jonny Scott. Mostly deriv ...

, Years & Years,

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is an English singer. He rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single " Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, '' Born to Do It'', was released in 2000, to great commercial success. In to ...

, and

. Mac won the 2018 Brit Award for British Producer of the Year. As well as the Brit Award, he also won both Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year at the Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards 2018 in LA. In another award recognising Mac's work, the multi-platinum hit "

" he co-wrote and produced for Ed Sheeran picked up both a

Grammy Award 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 ...

and the

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 PRS for Music Most Performed Work in 2017.

Awards

Brit Awards 2018: British Producer of the Year 35th Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards 2018 Songwriter of the Year: Song of the Year – Shape of You, Ed Sheeran , Strip That Down, Liam Payne ft. Quavo , Rockabye, Clean Bandit ft. Sean Paul , What About Us, P!nk Music Business Worldwide A&R Awards 2017 Producer of the Year Songwriter of the Year ASCAP Song of the Year Awards 2013 Glad You Came, The Wanted: (Co-writer & Co-producer) ASCAP Song of the Year Awards 2012 You Make Me Feel... Cobra Starship: (Co-writer & Co-producer) Brit Awards 2010 Song of the Year: Beat Again, JLS (Co-written with Wayne Hector) BMI Awards 2001 Pop Award: Swear It Again, Westlife (Co-written with Wayne Hector)

Songwriting and production discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac, Steve 1972 births Living people Ivor Novello Award winners English electronic musicians English pop musicians English male songwriters English record producers Entertainers from Chertsey Nomad (British band) members