Songwriter of the Year
STARGATE
(Tor Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen)Norwegian songwriter duo Tor Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen started their career as producers and studio owners in Trondheim, Norway, although their initial success was to come from the U.K. with several Top 5 hits with artists such as Blue, Atomic Kitten and Mis-Teeq.
Tor and Mikkel's unique brand of writing and production possibly comes from their wide songwriting influences which range from Prince and Stevie Wonder to Depeche Mode, Jay-Z and Brandy. Couple this with their love of the production work of Jam & Lewis, Quincy Jones, Max Martin and Jermaine Dupri and you have the next natural step... the U.S.
In 2005, Stargate took a flight to New York and have, musically, never looked back. Their long term dream of creating R&B and Hip-Hop records came to fruition with the Billboard #1 "So Sick" by Ne-Yo, which was followed by the Top 10 hit "Sexy Love." Working with Ne-Yo proved successful, as together they wrote and produced Rihanna's chart hit "Unfaithful" which reached #6 in the Billboard Top 100, #1 in Europe and Top 5 in 22 countries.
Stargate started to enjoy the feeling of scoring chart hits, and this feeling was to continue as the hits just kept coming. U.S. single "Irreplaceable" for Beyonce held on to the top spot for ten consecutive weeks in the Billboard Top 100 as well as being #1 in 11 other countries. They co-wrote "I Call It Love" for Lionel Richie which would remain at #1 in the Urban AC chart for 10 weeks.
By now, you would have thought there was no stopping this very dynamic duo. You would be right, in 2006 Tor and Mikkel were crowned #1 Hot Producers on the Billboard Year End Chart. This year has been very busy for Stargate — they picked up a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemann) and scored a hit with Beyonce and Shakira with "Beautiful Liar" which became one of their biggest international records reaching the Top 5 in 30 countries and #1 in 15 countries. Stargate wrote and produced
American Idol season six winner, Jordin Sparks' debut single "Tattoo." Her album is due for release in November 2007.
So, what is the secret to their success? "We always start with a musical idea and great effort goes into creating a solid melodic core. We then tweek and simplify the song, and never quit before we've got a killer hook." An essential part of the Stargate story is down to the shared vision and dedication of their managers Tim Blacksmith and Danny D. Speaking on the success of the Stargate family, Tim said "It has been an amazing year for us, it's great selling records but even greater being recognized by your peers for the work you do." Tor Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen are top of their game but they sum the whole thing up very simply "All we can do is just continue to have fun and create the music we love."
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