Wayne Wilkins

Wayne Wilkins is a British record producer, songwriter, record engineer and record mixer. He has produced and written for artists such as Rick Astley ("Cry for Help"), Natasha Bedingfield ("These Words", "Single" and "Love Like This"), Beyoncé ("Sweet Dreams"), Cheryl Cole ("Fight For This Love", and "Promise This"), and Jordin Sparks ("Battlefield").

Early life Wilkins was born in Croydon, London. He began taking piano lessons at the age of four. Wilkins earned a scholarship to a music conservatory as a child.

Career While Wilkins was interning at Olympic Studios he got the opportunity to work for engineer Spike Stent. Working for Stent provided Wilkins the opportunity to program for the engineer and work on high-budget recordings.

In May 2004, Natasha Bedingfield released "Single", a song co-written and co-produced by Wilkins. Natasha Bedingfield followed with "These Words", which was released in August 2004. Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced another hit for Natasha Bedingfield, "Love Like This", which also featured Sean Kingston.

Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced the 2008 single "Energy" with members of The Runaways, Sam Watters, Rico Love, and Louis Biancaniello. Wilkins also co-wrote "We Break the Dawn" alongside Solange Knowles and Andrew Frampton for Michelle Williams's third album, Unexpected. He was also involved in creating the remix for the same song. In June 2008, Shontelle's "T-Shirt" was released. It was co-written by Wilkins. In November 2008, Beyoncé released her album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, which included Wilkins's production and co-written single "Sweet Dreams".

In 2009, he worked with Irish pop band Westlife on the track "Sound of a Broken Heart" included in their Where We Are album. Cheryl Cole released the single "Fight For This Love" in October 2009, taken from her album 3 Words. In July 2014, Cheryl Cole released the single "Crazy Stupid Love" from her fourth studio album. Wilkins co-wrote and co-produced the song, which also features British rapper Tinie Tempah.

Songwriting and gears Wilkins has stated that he prefers to start with chord progressions as opposed to lyrics. He says that he tends to write simple lyrics and chords.

Early in his career, Wilkins worked under mixing engineer Mark "Spike" Stent of EMI. 2006 BMI London Award for "Single" 2007 BMI London Award for "Love Like This" 2008 BMI Pop Award for "Love Like This" 2008 BMI London Award for "T-Shirt" 2009 BMI Pop Award for "Battlefield" 2010 BMI London Award for "Battlefield" 2010 BMI London Award for "Sweet Dreams"