Ariel Rechtshaid

Ariel Zvi Rechtshaid ( ; ) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His accolades include three Grammy Awards for music production.

Rechtshaid was the lead singer and guitarist of the ska/pop-punk band The Hippos, and the bassist and producer of indie folk-rock group Foreign Born. In 2006, he produced the Billboard Hot 100 number one-charting single "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's. He co-wrote and produced Usher's 2012 single "Climax", which won the 2013 Grammy award for Best R&B Performance. Rechtshaid was nominated for the 2014 Grammy award for Producer of the Year. He has won Grammys for production on Vampire Weekend album Modern Vampires of the City (2013, Best Alternative Music Album), Adele album 25 (2015, Album of the Year), and for another Vampire Weekend album Father of the Bride (2019, again Best Alternative Music Album).

His production, songwriting, and mixing credits include Haim, Vampire Weekend, Madonna, Usher, Adele, Brandon Flowers, Charli XCX, Kelela, Cass McCombs, Solange Knowles, Tobias Jesso Jr., Murs, Sky Ferreira, Grace Ives, We Are Scientists, Kylie Minogue, U2, Glasser, Alex Clare, and Major Lazer.

Early life Rechtshaid was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, a second-generation American born to Israeli immigrants. He is Jewish. He attended Hamilton High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he would form his first band, The Hippos. One of his high school classmates was rapper Murs, with whom he would later record and produce.

Career The Hippos

Rechtshaid would help form The Hippos in 1995, while he and other members were still in high school.

"By the time [Rechtshaid] was 18/19, [he] knew [he] wasn't happy – and [he] quit. Part of the problem was benchmarking his efforts against his heroes". He is also a founder and partner in music publishing and production company Heavy Duty.

He is a three-time Grammy award winner.

Personal life During the production of Haim's second studio album Something to Tell You (2017), Rechtshaid was diagnosed with stage I testicular cancer. He was in a relationship with Haim frontwoman Danielle Haim from 2013 to early 2022.

Discography Production discography

Composer discography 2021: Gossip Girl soundtrack 2022: The Santa Clauses soundtrack

With The Hippos 2003: The Hippos, Olympic Records (LP) 1999 August: Heads Are Gonna Roll, Interscope (LP) 1997 February: Forget the World Fueled By Ramen/Stiff Dog/Vagrant Records (LP)

With Foreign Born 2009 June: Person to Person, Secretly Canadian (LP) 2007 August: On the Wing Now, Dim Mak (LP) 2005 June: In the Remote Woods, StarTime International Records (EP)