Sultan and Shepard (stylized as Sultan + Shepard) are a Canadian

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo who frequently collaborate in

record production 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 ...

songwriting 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

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

ing.

Biography

Background

Sultan, born Ossama Al Sarraf, lived in

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, before moving to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 1996 to study mechanical engineering and business at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. While there, he became immersed in Montreal nightlife and the house scene. A series of gigs

DJing A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

led to the release of his first track, "Primal Instinct". Sultan was signed to Chug Records in 2001. In 2004, he starred in the documentary ''

Being Osama ''Being Osama'' is a 2004 documentary about how the lives of men named "Osama" changed in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. It was produced by Tim Schwab and Mahmoud Kaabour. Director Kaabour is the founder and managing director of Ver ...

'' which detailed his Christian Palestinian roots. In 2002, Ned Shepard, also a student at McGill DJing in Montreal, gave Sultan a demo CD of music he had been working on. Sultan called Shepard the following morning and expressed an interest in producing together.

Career

In 2008, Sultan + Shepard formed Harem Records to release their music. Their singles include "Walls" featuring Quilla, " No Good" with

Fedde Le Grand Fedde Le Grand (, ; born 7 September 1977) is a Dutch House music, house DJ, record producer and remixer. In 2006, his single "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit" reached the top five on the Dutch Top 40, number one on the UK Singles Chart and staye ...

, "In the Air" with

Morgan Page Morgan Wolf Page (born May 31, 1981) is an American DJ and music producer. His tracks include "The Longest Road", "Fight for You" and "In the Air". Page has received two Grammy Award nominations; a personal nomination for best remix with Nadia ...

and BT, "When We Were Young" with

Dillon Francis Dillon Hart Francis (born October 5, 1987), also known as DJ Hanzel, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. He played a key role in popularizing moombahton and later developed its heavier variants, moombahcore and EDM trap. Earl ...

, and "Make Things Right" featuring Tegan & Sara. In July 2018 they announced their upcoming debut artist album, slated for release in 2019. They co-wrote and co-produced the 2014

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

song "

Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being *Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored trolley ...

", co-wrote "Drove Me Wild" by Tegan & Sara from their 2013 album ''

Heartthrob Heartthrob or Heart Throb may refer to: * "Heart Throb" (''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!''), a live-action episode of ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'' * "Heartthrob" (''Angel''), an episode of the American television show ''Angel'' * '' ...

'', and have collaborated with

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( , ), is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, h ...

Junior Sanchez Eugenio Sanchez Jr., commonly known by his stage name Junior Sanchez, is an American record producer, DJ, remixer and record executive from New Jersey. Early life Junior Sanchez was born in New Jersey, on May 4, 1977, and raised in the Ironb ...

The Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious ...

, Vassy, and Nadia Ali. They were nominated for a 2013

Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical The Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical is an honor presented to producers for quality remixed recordings at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in seve ...

for their remix of "

Locked Out of Heaven "Locked Out of Heaven" is a song by American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars from his second studio album, ''Unorthodox Jukebox'' (2012). It was released as the lead single from the album on October 1, 2012. The song was written by Mars, Phil ...

" by

Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is known for his three-octave tenor vocal range, live performances, R ...

. They were nominated for a 2018

Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year The Juno Award for "Dance Recording of the Year" has been awarded since 1990, as recognition each year for the best dance music recording by an artist from Canada. Due to the relatively single-oriented nature of the dance genre, the award is most c ...

for their song "Almost Home" featuring Nadia Ali and IRO. Shepard cites

Chicane A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

Faithless Faithless are an English dance music Band (rock and pop), band that formed in 1995, with its core original members being Rollo Armstrong, Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. During the band's initial period of success, Sister Bliss and Maxi Ja ...

, and

Sasha & John Digweed Sasha & John Digweed are a British DJ duo comprising Sasha and John Digweed. Digweed had been DJing for ten years before getting a gig at Renaissance where he met Sasha, who had been working the past few years in various acid house music club ...

among his major inspirations. Sultan cites the same artists as well as

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

and Deep Dish.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Production discography

* ''

Embers ''Embers'' is a radio play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English in 1957. First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959, the play won the RAI prize at the Prix Italia awards later that year. Donald McWhinnie directed Ja ...

'', Nadia Ali (2009) * "

Showtek Showtek is a Dutch electronic dance music duo consisting of two brothers from Eindhoven, Wouter Janssen (; born 20 August 1982). and Sjoerd Janssen (; born 6 April 1984). The duo regularly manages to reach the top of multiple music charts and wor ...

(2014)

Remixes

All remixes listed have been released on the respective song's official remix EP unless noted otherwise.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sultan and Shepard Electronic dance music duos House music duos Canadian house music groups Living people Musical groups from Montreal Record production duos Canadian remixers Songwriting teams Progressive house musicians Musical groups established in 2002 2002 establishments in Quebec Year of birth missing (living people)