The Sky's the Limit for Skylar Grey

One of the greatest young singer/songwriters today is 25-year-old Skylar Grey.  

If you haven't heard of her yet, she sings the soft, honest vocal that opens "Coming Home" by Diddy-Dirty Money - the part of the song that she wrote.  Ever wonder who wrote and sang the pleading female vocal on Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor"?  Skylar Grey again.  She also wrote Rihanna's part in "Love the Way You Lie" which you can hear in her original demo for the song.

Grey grew up as Holly Brook Hafermann in Wisconsin, started singing at age 2 and wrote her first original song on the piano at age 5 called "Song of the Whales," in honor of her then love for the marine mammals (Bierly, 2011).  She went on to put out three folk albums with her Mom before age 15 and in 2003 signed to Linkin Park's Machine Shop Recordings label, after which she was featured on Fort Minor's "Where'd You Go?" (Blanco, 2011).  Take a look at a younger Skylar Grey (then going by Holly Brook) in a behind the scenes look at the "Where'd You Go?" video shoot:

In 2006, Grey released her first solo album called Like Blood Like Honey, followed in 2010 by a starring role as a female ghost Duncan Sheik's Whisper House musical and an EP release called O'Dark Thirty.  After that she left timid Holly Brook behind to become a stronger version of herself called Skylar Grey, for the gray skies at her current home base in Oregon that she loves so much and her desire to dive into the gray unknown since she claims "that's where all your possibilities come from" (Bierly, 2011).

When asked, in a Feburary 2011 interview with MTV's Sway, what it's like going from the writing in the back woods of Oregon to collaborating with some of hip-hops biggest names, Grey says "It's a creative experience being in the studio with different talented people.  I'm actually not at all from the hip-hop world, but I think that's what works about the sound that we've gotten now - the combination of the alternative chorus mixed with the hip-hop verses" (Blanco, 2011). And work it definitely has, as seen by the success of her collaborative tracks and the future projects she's already lining up.

Here is the title track off Grey's upcoming solo album produced by Alex Da Kid called Invisible, set for release by KIDinaKORNER/Interscope in January 2012 (Bio, n.d.):

References:
Bierly, M. (2011, February 22). Skylar Grey talks penning 'I need a doctor,' her name change, and why her upcoming album may have a sound we've never heard before. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 23, 2011, from http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/02/22/skylar-grey-interview-eminem-dr-dre/
Bio. (n.d.) Myspace.com. Retrieved October 23, 2011, from http://www.myspace.com/skylargrey
Blanco, A. (2011, February 14). Who is Skylar Grey? MTV news. Retrieved October 23, 2011, from http://rapfix.mtv.com/2011/02/14/skylar-grey/
Images:
[Skylar Grey 1]. Retrieved October 23, 2011, from www.myspace.com/skylargrey/photos/7697403#{"ImageId"%3A7697403}
[Skylar Grey 2]. Retrieved October 23, 2011, from http://rapfix.mtv.com/2011/02/14/skylar-grey/

Collaboration Is Where It's At

Some of the biggest hits in music occur when two separate music industry icons get together and collaborate to form a powerhouse track.  Some memorable examples from music history include:

Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie

Walk This Way remake by Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C.

And, All For Love by Sting, Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart: 

http://youtu.be/n-AB7RJpOjY

It seems like every other song on Top 40 radio stations today is by "________ featuring ________,"  and there's good reason for that.  Just like the saying goes "two heads are better than one," often times two music artists are better than one.  Collaborating can bring two talents together to fill in the gaps where each other may be lacking, add extra elements to an already great song, or create something completely new and unheard of (especially when two different music genres are combined).

Some of my favorite music collaborations from the past decade include:

The song that launched Lady Gaga's career - Just Dance featuring Colby O'Donis

One by U2 and Mary J. Blige

Numb/Encore mash-up by Jay-Z and Lincoln Park

And, of course, any collaboration with Rihanna.  Rihanna has become a collaboration queen with her long list of song partners, including Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Kanye West, Eminem, Drake, T.I., Young Jeezy, Maroon 5, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.  She only continues to grow that partnership list further by working with Coldplay on a track off their upcoming Mylo Xyloto album called "Princess of China."  The majority of Rihanna's collaborative works have been a huge success and she and her team clearly understand the power of a good artist combination.

Outside of actual artists working together in the industry to combine sounds and create some amazing hit records, you also have the collaboration of music industry executives and performers-turned-mentors that come together in search of the next big music star.  American Idol's original team of judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson worked together over the last decade to influence America's top vote that brought about stars like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks.  Now we also have The Sing-Off, where this season Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman and Sara Bareilles decide which competing a cappella group will win a Sony Music recording contract and $200,000; The Voice where coaches Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton are joined together in search of the next great singer; and most recently Simon and Paula are back together again, but now also working with Nicole Scherzinger and L.A. Reid to find an American vocal act with The X Factor.  Take a look at this video to see how much fun big time L.A. Reid and Simon Cowell are together as they answer questions about the show so far:

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The lesson to be learned here - if you are an artist looking to up your game in the music world or a music businessman looking to capitalize on what you've done in the industry so far, find someone great to collaborate with and let the sparks fly (and hopefully the money will start rolling in right behind).