Alex Da Kid

Multiple Grammy-nominated British songwriter/producer Alexander Grant is best known as Alex da Kid, head of the KIDinaKORNER record label and the man behind some of the biggest hit singles of the 2010s. A North Londoner, Grant's career took off after one of his tracks ended up on a Kardinal Offishall album. A publishing deal followed, and Grant settled in Los Angeles, where he scored his first big hit with Michelle Williams' 2008 single "Hello Heartbreak. Multi-platinum productions followed, including B.o.B and Hayley Williams' "Airplanes," Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie," and Diddy - Dirty Money and Skylar Grey's "Coming Home." However, it was his work on Imagine Dragons' 2012 debut LP, Night Visions, that solidified his star status. Released on his own own KIDinaKORNER label, the album featured five hit singles, three produced by Grant. Since then, he has been named twice to Billboard's <I>Top 40 Under 40: Music's Top Young Power Players Revealed list, expanded KIDinaKORNER into a full-service creative arts and development agency, and released his own tracks. The North London native was raised in a culturally diverse family with a dad from Jamaica and a mom from England. Although he heard a wide array of music growing up, his first passion was soccer. By his teens, he was a playing semi-professionally for the Championship League team Bristol City. It was during this period that a friend showed him how to make music using the Digital Audio Workstation FL Studio, aka Fruity Loops. Grant was hooked, and began pursuing music production in earnest. He eventually graduated from Thames University with a master's degree in audio technology, and nabbed a job at London's Metropolis Studios. Around 2008, he moved to New York City, where an industry friend help land one of his productions on Kardinal Offishall's Not 4 Sale album. From there, Grant signed a publishing deal with Universal Records, and relocated again to Los Angeles. His first major production role was on Michelle Williams' 2008 single "Hello Heartbreak." However, 2010 would be a breakthrough year, notching Grant three multi-platinum hits with B.o.B and Hayley Williams' "Airplanes," Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie," and Diddy - Dirty Money and Skylar Grey's "Coming Home." He also launched KIDinaKORNER the same year, signing singer/songwriter Grey as the label's first artist. In 2011, he scored another notable hit with Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor," which featured Grey and Eminem on guest vocals. Much of Grant's focus in the following years would be centered on Grey and another newly signed artist, Imagine Dragons. The Las Vegas band's breakthrough 2012 debut LP, Night Visions, spawned five hit singles, three of which were produced by Grant ("Radioactive," "Demons," and "On Top of the World"). "Radioactive" peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and received diamond certification for going ten-times platinum. Grant's success with Imagine Dragons would continue on their sophomore effort, the chart-topping Smoke + Mirrors, which featured the Grant-produced single "I Bet My Life." In 2013, Grant signed Jamie N Commons and X Ambassadors to KIDinaKORNER. The latter band released its debut in 2015. Titled VHS, the album peaked at number seven on the Hot 100, becoming the fourth effort produced by Grant to break into the Billboard Top Ten. In 2016 -- in addition to producing the Suicide Squad contribution "Sucker for Pain," which featured Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons, Logic, Ty Dolla $ign, and X Ambassadors -- Grant made his debut as a solo artist. His "Not Easy" single once again featured X Ambassadors and Khalifa, as well as singer Elle King. In 2018 he delivered another non-album single, "Go," featuring H.E.R. and Rapsody. ~ Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi