Amanda Ghost
Amanda Louisa Gosein-Cameron (born 10 July 1974), known professionally as Amanda Ghost, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, music executive, film producer and former president of Epic Records (2009–10).[1] A six-time Grammy nominee, and three-time Ivor Novello winner, she has written and/or produced multi-platinum records for artists including Beyoncé, Shakira, John Legend and James Blunt.[2]
Amanda Ghost | |
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Born | Amanda Louisa Gosein 10 July 1974 Enfield, North London, England |
Other names | Amanda Cameron |
Occupation |
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Years active | 1997–present |
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Labels |
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Associated acts | Boy George |
Website | unigram |
In 2015, Ghost partnered with producer Gregor Cameron to found Unigram, a production company based in London.[2] She was appointed CEO of AI Film in 2019.
Career
Born in North London to a Gibraltarian mother and an Indo-Trinidadian father, Ghost was encouraged at an early age to play guitar. In 1997, she contributed a version of Gary Numan's "Absolution" to the tribute album Random; unlike the other tracks on the album, it was a song Numan had not released, and came out months before his own version. Her first recording contract was with Warner Bros. Records in Los Angeles, California, for whom she recorded her first album, Ghost Stories. Ghost's second album was released in autumn 2006 on her own record label, Plan A Records, and was preceded by a limited edition EP, Blood on the Line.
Ghost co-wrote James Blunt's “You're Beautiful”, "Beautiful Liar" for Beyoncé and Shakira, and Jordin Sparks' first single "Tattoo". Amanda also co-wrote four songs for Beyoncé's third album, I Am… Sasha Fierce: "Disappear", "Satellites", "Ave Maria" and "Once in a Lifetime". She co-wrote and sang backing vocals on "Colours", which was on the Prodigy's 2009 album, Invaders Must Die. She also collaborated with John Legend on the lyrics for the track "Getting Nowhere" by Magnetic Man.
On 3 February 2009, Ghost was named the new president of Epic Records. She replaced Charlie Walk, who left at the end of 2008 to start his own company.
Ghost co-wrote, with Scott McFarnon and Ian Dench, "Red", a top-5 hit for Daniel Merriweather in the UK in May 2009, and "For the Glory" and "Vanity Kills" by Ian Brown, which she co-wrote with Ian and Dave McCracken. She also co-wrote and produced the Shakira multi-platinum-selling single "Gypsy", from the album She Wolf.
Amanda left her position as president of Epic Records in 2010.[3] and became CEO of her own record label, Outsiders, a joint venture with The Universal Music Group. In 2011, she was executive producer for the Scissor Sisters album Magic Hour, and co-wrote the smash hit "Only The Horses", co-produced by Calvin Harris. She co-wrote two songs for the Florence and The Machine album Ceremonials, and has more recently collaborated with John Legend, Sub Focus, Jorja Smith and ASAP Rocky.
Ghost is a three-time Ivor Novello Award winner, a Golden Globe nominee, and has been nominated for six Grammy Awards. One of the latter was as co-producer of two tracks on Beyoncé's album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, which was nominated as Album of the Year, and the other for "Once in a Lifetime", which she co-wrote with Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, Jody Street, James Dring and Beyoncé. The song was the title track from Beyoncé's film, Cadillac Records and was nominated for the Best Song Written for a Motion Picture Award.
In 2015, Ghost founded Unigram Media, a film, TV, theatre and music production company with her husband, film & TV Producer, Gregor Cameron. Backed by Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, their first feature film was the late Nineties set, cult classic, Kill Your Friends starring Nicholas Hoult and James Corden. Current projects include Tetris: The Movie, starring Golden Globe Award-winner Taron Egerton (Rocketman, Kingsman franchise) and directed by Jon S. Baird (Stan & Ollie, Filth).
AI Film appointed Amanda Ghost as its CEO in 2019. AI Film's past projects include the Golden Globe, Oscar and BAFTA winning biopic I, Tonya starring Margot Robbie and Allison Janney, Bart Layton's crime drama American Animals as well as Mel Gibson's Academy Award winning Hacksaw Ridge, Martin Scorsese's historical drama, Silence, and Lee Daniels’ The Butler.
In music, Unigram are creating, producing and supervising original movie and theatre scores, including the Golden Globe Winning feature from Lee Daniels’, The United States Vs. Billie Holiday and the cast album for the 2020 fourteen Tony Award nominated smash hit Broadway musical Moulin Rouge!
Amanda currently serves on the board of Deezer, a global music DSP and Amuse, a digital music distribution service.
Discography
Singles
- "Idol" (2000) - UK #63
- "Glory Girl" (2000)
- "Filthy Mind" (2000) - only released in the U.S./Australia
- "Break My World" (2004) - UK #52 †
- "Feed" (2004) †
- "Girls Like You" - digital only release (2005)
- "Monster" - digital only release (2005)
- "Blood on the Line" EP (2006)
- "Time Machine" (featuring Boy George) (January 2007)
† Credited to Dark Globe featuring Amanda Ghost
[4]
Albums
- Ghost Stories (2000)
- Blood on the Line - The Download Collection (2008)
Songwriting credits
Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album | Written with |
---|---|---|---|---|
"You're Beautiful" | 2004 | James Blunt | Back to Bedlam | James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek |
"Billy" | James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek | |||
"Beautiful Liar" (with Shakira) |
2006 | Beyoncé | B'Day | Beyoncé, Stargate, Ian Dench |
"Flashback" | All Saints | Studio 1 | Natalie Appleton, Liam Howlett, Ian Dench | |
"Tattoo" | 2007 | Jordin Sparks | Jordin Sparks | Stargate, Ian Dench |
"Freeze" | Jordin Sparks, Stargate, Ian Dench | |||
"Virginia Is for Lovers" | Jordin Sparks, Stargate, Ian Dench | |||
"Disappear" | 2008 | Beyoncé | I Am... Sasha Fierce | Beyoncé, Hugo, Dave McCracken, Ian Dench |
"Ave Maria" | Beyoncé, Ian Dench, Makeba Riddick, Stargate | |||
"Satellites" | Beyoncé, Dave McCracken, Ian Dench | |||
"Once In a Lifetime" | Cadillac Records: Music from the Motion Picture | Beyoncé, Ian Dench, Scott McFarnon, James Dring, Jody Street | ||
"Red" | 2009 | Daniel Merriweather | Love & War | Ian Dench, Scott McFarnon |
"Gypsy" | Shakira | She Wolf | Shakira, Ian Dench, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers | |
"Give It Up to Me" (featuring Lil Wayne) |
Shakira, Lil Wayne, Timbaland, J-Roc | |||
"Fresh Out the Oven" (featuring Pitbull) |
Jennifer Lopez | Non-album single | Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, Pharrell Williams | |
"Getting Nowhere" (featuring John Legend) |
2010 | Magnetic Man | Magnetic Man | John Legend, Skream, Benga, Artwork |
"Untouchable" | 2011 | Ben Saunders | You Thought You Knew Me By Now | Daniel Merriweather |
"Bedroom Hymns" | Florence and the Machine | Ceremonials | Florence Welch | |
"Old Tyme Religion" | Hugo | Old Tyme Religion | Hugo, Ian Dench, Johnny Flynn | |
"Born" | Hugo, Ian Dench, Dave McCracken | |||
"Mekong River Delta" | Hugo, Ian Dench, Dave McCracken | |||
"Sweetest Cure" | Hugo, Ian Dench, Peter Ibsen | |||
"Different Lives" | Hugo, Dave McCracken | |||
"Wake Alone" | Hugo, Darren Lewis, Ian Dench, Tunde Babalola | |||
"Sunburn" | 2012 | K.Flay | Eyes Shut | K.Flay, Dave McCracken |
"Only the Horses" | Scissor Sisters | Magic Hour | Jake Shears, Babydaddy, Boys Noize | |
"Wasted" | 2013 | Tony Lucca | With the Whole World Watching | Tony Lucca, Eric Rosse, Ian Dench, Scott McFarnon |
"I Come Apart" (featuring Florence Welch) |
ASAP Rocky | Long. Live. ASAP | ASAP Rocky, Florence Welch, Emile Haynie, John Legend | |
"Endorphins" (featuring Alex Clare) |
Sub Focus | Torus | Sub Focus, Ian Dench, Takura | |
"Tidal Wave" (featuring Alpines) |
Sub Focus, Alpines | |||
"Astronaut" | Joel Compass | Astronaut | Joel Compass, Ian Dench, Styalz Fuego, The Aston Shuffle | |
"The Conversation" | Texas | The Conversation | Sharleen Spiteri, Johnny McElhone, Karen Overton, Ian Dench | |
"Break the Wall" | 2014 | Laura Welsh | Laura Welsh | Laura Welsh, Babydaddy |
"Undiscovered" | 2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Laura Welsh, Emile Haynie, Dev Hynes | |
"Soft Control" | Soft Control | Laura Welsh, Liam Howe | ||
"God Keeps" | Laura Welsh, Emile Haynie, Babydaddy | |||
"Cold Front" | Laura Welsh, Robin Hannibal | |||
"Breathe Me In" | Laura Welsh, Robin Hannibal | |||
"Hollow Drum" | Laura Welsh, Ian Dench | |||
"Jackson" | Elle King | Love Stuff | Elle King, Dave McCracken, Felipe Aparicio | |
"Whole" | 2016 | Lion Babe | Begin | Lion Babe, Joel Compass |
"Impossible" | Lion Babe, Linden Jay, Lewis Jankel, Fred Cox | |||
"Forever" | 2017 | Jamie Cullum | The Halcyon (Original Music from the Television Series) | Jamie Cullum, Ian Dench, Joel Compass |
"Invincible" | Jamie Cullum, Ian Dench, Joel Compass | |||
"Fires and Flames" | 2018 | Tinashe | Joyride | Tinashe, Kate Stewart, Joel Compass |
"The One" | Jorja Smith | Lost & Found | Jorja Smith, Joel Compass, Ed Thomas, Kito | |
"Measure of a Man" (featuring Central Cee) |
2021 | FKA Twigs | The King's Man | FKA Twigs, Dominic Lewis, Matthew Margeson, Jamie Hartman, Jane Goldman, John Hill, Matthew Vaughn |
"Papi Bones" (featuring Shygirl) |
2022 | Caprisongs | FKA Twigs, Shygirl, El Guincho, Fakeguido, Jonny Coffer |
References
- "Amanda Ghost: not in Kansas any more". the Guardian. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- Andreas Wiseman2015-09-12T11:00:00+01:00. "Kill Your Friends duo, Len Blavatnik launch production company". Screen. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- "Epic President Amanda Ghost Announces Resignation". AllAccess.com. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
- Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 226. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.