Will Hicks

Will Hicks is a British record producer, songwriter and musician most noted for his work with Jamie Lawson and Ed Sheeran.

Early life Will Hicks was born and grew up in the English county of Herefordshire. He started playing guitar at the age of 10, picking up bass and piano soon after. He joined his first band aged 12, though aged 16 he was pushed towards music production after falling in love with the recording process at a friend's father's studio and realising the much greater satisfaction producing gave him compared with performing on stage.

Production, mixing and engineering work After college, Hicks worked as a session guitarist and sound engineer in London for some time before working in artist development and production for Elton John's Rocket Music Studios in London's Kensington and New York. Over the years, Hicks worked with a vast variety of musicians such as Lily Allen, James Blunt, One Direction and Ed Sheeran as record producer and recording mix engineer. Its lead single was the UK Top 10 charting "Wasn't Expecting That", which was certified Platinum as well as winning Best Song (Musically and Lyrically) at the 2016 Ivor Novello Awards.

In 2017 Will Hicks produced Ed Sheeran's hit single "Perfect" from the album ÷ as well as the follow-up digital release of the duet version with Beyoncé. The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.

Hicks's approach to production has earned him the reputation of being "a singer's producer", dedicating an unusual amount of time to the vocal production of a track, "framing a voice with instruments and pieces of music to make people feel the emotion of a song".

Selected discography + List of singles as either producer or co-producer, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released, performing artists and album name Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications Album US US Cont AUS BEL(FL) CAN DEN FRA NLD SWE UK2017 "Perfect"(Ed Sheeran) 1 10 1 1 — — 1 1 1 1 Australia (ARIA) 3× Platinum Belgium (BEA) 2× Platinum Canada (Music Canada) Platinum Denmark (IFPI Denmark) Platinum France (SNEP) Platinum Germany (BVMI) Platinum Ireland (IRMA) 2× PlatinumItaly (FIMI) 4× Platinum New Zealand (RMNZ) 2× Platinum Spain (PROMUSICAE) Platinum Sweden (GLF) Platinum UK (BPI) Platinum USA (RIAA) 2× Platinum ÷ "Perfect Duet"(Ed Sheeran & Beyoncé) 1 10 — 1 1 — — 1 1 — 2016 "Miss You"(James Hersey) – — — — — — — — — — Canada (Music Canada) Gold Italy (FIMI) Gold "Someone for Everyone"(Jamie Lawson) – – — — — — – – – – Jamie Lawson "Don't Let Me Go"(Jamie Lawson) – – — — — — – – – – 2015 "Wasn't Expecting That"(Jamie Lawson) – 16 3 7 — — 97 – – 6 UK (BPI) Platinum "Ahead of Myself"(Jamie Lawson) – – 59 — — — – – – – "Cold in Ohio"(Jamie Lawson) – – — — — — – – – – Where We Belong (EP)(Jake Isaac) – – — — — — – – – – Where We Belong "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.