Emile Ghantous

Emile Ghantous
Background information
Birth name	Emile Ghantous
Genres	Pop, rock, R&B, soul, alternative dance, hip hop
Occupation(s)	music producer, songwriter, arranger, vocal producer, A&R
Instruments	programmer
Years active	2002-present
Labels	The Cartoons

Emile Ghantous is a Los Angeles-based Grammy nominated songwriter and record producer who was born in Peoria, IL. He moved to Chicago in 2000 to study music production and business at Columbia College. While studying at Columbia College, he got his big break by working with local Chicago legends Public Announcement (of R. Kelly fame), Sparkle, and Do or Die.

In 2005, Ghantous created the songwriting/production duo The Insomniax along with partner Erik Nelson. The Insomniax quickly began working with major recording artists Boyz II Men (MSM Records), JoJo (Blackground/Universal), 3LW (So So Def/Jive), Bobby V (formerly Bobby Valentino) (Disturbing The Peace/Def Jam), Jon B (Yab Yum/Epic), B5 (Bad Boy Records), Fat Joe (Atlantic Records), R. Kelly (Jive Records), Ralph Tresvant (of New Edition), 2XL (Tommy Boy Records), Karina Pasian (Def Jam Records), Lemarvin (Motown Records), I-15 (Interscope Records), Na'Shay, Nephu, Aksent (Capitol Records), AI (Def Jam Japan), Lil Romeo (No Limit Records), and many others.

In 2009, with a production schedule in high gear, Ghantous relocated to Los Angeles, CA where he worked on international releases for German artist Fabian Buch and Japanese recording artist Che'Nelle (EMI Japan Records).

In 2010, Ghantous worked with R&B legend Charlie Wilson, of the Gap Band. He wrote and produced "Never Got Enough" and "Throw It Away" from the album Just Charlie on RCA Records.

From 2011- 2012, Ghantous co-wrote and co-produced the #1 hit for JLS "Take A Chance On Me" on Sony Records UK. He also worked with Jason Derulo, Kristinia DeBarge, Frankie J, Prince Royce, X Factor group Lakoda Rayne, and many others.

During 2013, Ghantous worked with Pitbull and Chris Brown on the song "Hope We Meet Again" from the 'Global Warming' album on RCA Records, as well as Charlie Wilson's newest album release Love, Charlie on RCA Records. Wilson recently received the BET Lifetime Achievement Award. Ghantous also worked with international recording artist Inna on her latest album Party Never Ends and was Grammy nominated for his work on Frankie J's "Faith, Hope y Amor" album.

Branching out on his own, he started developing artists. The first artist was Brandon Bassir, who he discovered while Bassir was humming on an escalator at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The sound that Ghantous and Bassir created together is something they call doohop, which is a mixture of 50's doowop meets hip-hop.

In 2014, Ghantous teamed up with songwriters/producers Steve Daly and Keith Hetrick and formed a new production company called The Cartoons. The Cartoons' current projects include Charlie Wilson, Boyz II Men, Cher Lloyd, Christina Aguilera, Snoop Dogg, Taio Cruz, Shaggy, Johnny Gill of New Edition fame, IM5, Jolin Tsai, and new Latium/Sony recording artist Benj.

2015 has been a busy year for Ghantous. He was Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Album" and received an NAACAP nomination for "Best R&B Album" and "Song of the year" for the Top 5 Urban AC hit song "Goodnight Kisses" for Charlie Wilson. He also worked with Latin sensation Paulina Rubio, Aston Merrygold of JLS, Sophia Grace, the Queen of C-Pop Jolin Tsai, Fifth Harmony, Korean K-Pop girl group Playback (South Korean band) and boyband New District.

Discography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emile Ghantous.

• The Insomniax MySpace
• Emile Ghantous page on Discogs.com