From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, singer and rapper.^[1]

Timbaland's first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine...the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine. After further successful work on Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott's 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. Initially he released several albums with fellow rapper Magoo.

Timbaland has worked with Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry, Keri Hilson and British X Factor winner Leona Lewis on their upcoming projects. He has also produced tracks for Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, Keshia Chanté and Jay-Z's upcoming albums. Timbaland also produced Chris Cornell's 2009 album Scream. Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album She Wolf and released as the second US single instead. In September 2009, Timbaland announced that Shock Value II will be released on November 23 in Europe and November 24 in North America. However it was pushed back to December 8, preceded by the first single which features a new recording artist named SoShy and Nelly Furtado entitled "Morning After Dark".

Early life

Timothy Zachary Mosley was born in Virginia^[1] on March 10, 1972 and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he graduated from Salem High School. Originally a disc jockey known as "DJ Timmy Tim"^[2] or "DJ Tiny Tim".^[3] Mosley began making hip hop backing tracks on a Casio keyboard. While in high school, Mosley began a long-term collaboration with rapper Melvin Barcliff, who performed under the name of Magoo. The teenaged Mosley also joined the production ensemble S.B.I. – "Surrounded By Idiots" – which also featured Neptunes producer Pharrell.^[3] Mosley was also high school friends with Terrence and Gene Thorton, who would go on to be known as Malice of the rap duo Clipse.^[4]

Singer/rapper Missy Elliott heard his material and began working with him.^[5] She and her R&B group Sista auditioned for DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the successful R&B act Jodeci. DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland, after Timberland construction boots, which were popular in hip hop fashion.^[6]

Sista, Timbaland, and Magoo became part of SCI Zakys School stable of Swing Mob signees known as "Da Bassment" crew, joining artists such as R&B singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa (Smoke E. Digglera, Static Major and Digital Black), and the girl group Sugah.^[3] Timbaland did production work on a number of projects with DeVante, including the 1995 Jodeci LP The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel, and Sista’s (unreleased) début LP 4 All the Sistas Around the World.if we ever meet again

Elliott began receiving recognition as a songwriter for artists such as R&B girl group 702 and MC Lyte. Due to Timbaland's connection with her, he was often contacted to produce remixes of her songs.^[7]

Career

1996–2002

Timbaland produced songs including Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)",^[8] Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito",^[9] Petey Pablo's "Raise Up",^[10] and Beck's cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" during this period.^[11] He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "More than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U".^[12]

Timbaland & Magoo’s second album together was slated for release in November 2000. Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés—some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian (Tims brother), Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck’s vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the last version, which instead featured Timbaland singing along Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah.^[13]

The first release on Beat Club was the début album by Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001, Dark Days, Bright Nights.^[14] The loss of Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland. In a phone call to the MTV show Total Request Live, Timbaland said:

She was like blood, and I lost blood. Me and her together had this chemistry. I kinda lost half of my creativity to her. It's hard for me to talk to the fans now. Beyond the music, she was a brilliant person, the [most special] person I ever met

—Timbaland, MTV

^[15]

2003–05

Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet’s début album, Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Elliott’s fourth and fifth LPs, Under Construction and This Is Not A Test!.^[16] He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil’ Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period ^[17]. Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake’s solo debut, Justified, including the song "Cry Me a River".^[18]

Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, Under Construction, Part II Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community.^[19]

In 2004 Timbaland produced singles for LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop, and Jay-Z, and he produced the bulk of Brandy’s fourth album, Afrodisiac.^[20]

Timbaland co-wrote two tracks (Exodus '04 and Let Me Give You My Love) and produced three tracks of the American-Japanese Pop star Hikaru Utada’s debut English album, Exodus.^[21] He continued working on tracks for Tweet and for Elliott’s sixth album, The Cookbook: "Joy (feat. Mike Jones)", and "Partytime" ^[22] and continued to expand his reach with production for The Game and Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fourth studio album, Rebirth).^[23]

2006–07

Timbaland started a new label, Mosley Music Group, bringing some talent from his former Beat Club Records label.^[24] On the new label are Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E..^[25]

In 2006 he produced Justin Timberlake's second solo studio album FutureSex/LoveSounds. His vocals feature on the songs SexyBack, Sexy Ladies, Chop Me Up, What Goes Around.../...Comes Around and on the prelude to My Love entitled "Let Me Talk to You."

In early 2007, Timbaland mentioned he wanted to work with female artist Britney Spears on her album Blackout.

Timbaland provided vocals on the singles the Pussycat Dolls's "Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack", and "Ice Box" by Omarion. In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK^[26] Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had worked on tracks with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.^[27]

Timbaland worked on seven songs for Björk’s new album, Volta, including "Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "Innocence"^[28] and he later worked on tracks for the new Duran Duran album, Red Carpet Massacre, including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake.^[29] Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs N Harmony's LP, Strength & Loyalty^[30] and the song "Ayo Technology" on 50 Cent’s album Curtis.^[31] Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on Ashlee Simpson's third CD, Bittersweet World, including the song "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)".^[32]

On April 3, 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists including 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called Timbaland Presents Shock Value.

A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously called out Storch, rapping, "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man". Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch in an interview with MTV personality Sway Calloway.^[33] Storch responded with the track "Built Like That" on February 26, 2007, featuring Philadelphia rapper NOX, which caused a final response by Beat-Club-rapper D.O.E. on the song "Piano Man". The end of the feud was confirmed by Timbaland in the final issue of Scratch Magazine.^[34]

In fall 2007 Timbaland produced with co-producer Sha a single for the British-Asian R&B star Jay Sean, called "Caught", but the single didn't make the final cut on his second album My Own Way.

Plagiarism accusations

Timbaland's plagiarism controversy occurred in January 2007, when several news sources reported that Timbaland was alleged to have plagiarized several elements (both motifs and samples) in the song "Do It" on the 2006 album Loose by Nelly Furtado without giving credit or compensation.^[35][36][37] The song itself was released as the fifth North American single from Loose on July 24, 2007.

2008

In 2008, Timbaland helped produce many albums for various artists that include Sean Paul's Imperial Blaze, Madonna's Hard Candy, Brandy's Human^[38], Ashlee Simpson's Bittersweet World, Keri Hilson's In A Perfect World, Flo Rida's Mail On Sunday, Letoya Luckett's Lady Love, Lindsay Lohan's Spirit in the Dark, Chris Cornell's Scream, JoJo's All I Want Is Everything, Nicole Scherzinger's Her Name is Nicole, Missy Elliott's Block Party, Matt Pokora's MP3, Keithian's Dirrty Pop, The Pussycat Dolls's Doll Domination, Busta Rhymes's B.O.M.B, Lisa Maffia's Miss Boss, Teairra Mari's Pressed For Time^[39], Jennifer Hudson's début album, Dima Bilan's Believe , Samantha Jade's, My Name Is Samantha Jade, New Kids on the Block's The Block and Keshia Chanté's new Album.

Timbaland produced the Russian entry the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, Believe by Dima Bilan, which was co-written by Bilan and Jim Beanz. The song then won the contest when it was held in Belgrade, Serbia in May 2008.

In February 2008 the first 'Fashion against AIDS' collection -an initiative of 'Designers against AIDS'^[40] and sold in H&M stores in 28 countries- was launched, for which Timbaland designed a T-shirt print, posed for the campaign and spoke out in a video, to help raise HIV/AIDS awareness among urban youth and to advocate safe sex.

On February 8, 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album exclusively for Verizon Wireless's V CAST cell phone service and was designated its very first "Mobile Producer in Residence." Timbaland will be joined by Mosley Music Group/Zone 4 singer/songwriter Keri Hilson to begin work on the mobile album’s first track aboard the fully equipped Mobile Recording Studio. The only track to surface so far is Garry Barry Larry Harry "Get It Girl". In his first effort within the video game industry, he worked with Rockstar Games to produce Beaterator, a music mixing game for the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Network, iPhone OS released in the September 2009.^[41]

In September 2008 it was announced that Timbaland would be inducted into the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin as an Honorary Patron in October 2008.^{[42][citation needed]}

Timbaland is producing the movie “Vinyl” which follows the lives of 5 young women facing life-altering decisions about their relationships to members of a rock band. Timbaland’s Mosley Media Group is teaming up with Effie T. Brown's Duly Noted Inc. to create the movie. Marcus Spence, President of Mosley Music, Timbaland’s wife and publicist Monique Idlett Mosley, will be producing the film. Shooting starts in spring with Richard Zelniker as director.^[43]

2009–present

Timbaland worked with Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry and British X Factor winner Leona Lewis on their upcoming projects. He has also produced tracks for Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, Keshia Chanté and Jay-Z's upcoming albums. Timbaland also produced Chris Cornell's 2009 album Scream. Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album She Wolf and released as the second US single instead.^[44] Additionally it was revealed that one of the songs Timbaland had produced for Beyoncé's 2008 album I Am... Sasha Fierce was reworked by Keri Hilson and Jay Z for Shock Value II but not included.^[45][46] He was a guest host of World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw on December 28, 2009.^[47]

Shock Value II

Timbaland began working on the sequel to Shock Value in July 2008.^[48] In March 2009, he filed a lawsuit against his label, Blackground Records, alleging that they attempted to blackball him after he decided to move from music performance into production.^[49] A fake track listing appeared online later in 2009 suggesting that the album would feature Rihanna, Usher, Jordin Sparks, Beyonce, Jonas Brothers and Linkin Park collaborations among others.^[50]

In September 2009, Timbaland announced that Shock Value II will be released on November 23 in Europe and November 24 in North America. However it was pushed back to December 8, preceded by the first single which features a new recording artist named SoShy and Nelly Furtado entitled "Morning After Dark". New featured guest appearances on the album include DJ Felli Fel, Justin Timberlake, JoJo, Bran'Nu, Drake, Chad Kroeger, Sebastian, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Esthero, The Fray, Jet, Daughtry, OneRepublic, Keri Hilson, Attitude and D.O.E.. There were rumors that Timbaland would work with the Jonas Brothers on the track "Dumb", but the track did not make it to the final tracklist and Jonas Brothers never appeared on Shock Value II. Madonna, Rihanna, Usher, Jordin Sparks, Beyonce, Kanye West, Linkin Park, All-American Rejects, Paramore, Gucci Mane, T-Pain, T.I. and Akon also never appeared on Shock Value II. Shock value II is infamous for over-the-top vocal effects use creating underground movement against autotune and similiar.

Eurovision Song Contest 2010

It was announced by the Azerbaijan Press Agency that Timbaland is to compose the entry for Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, which will be held in Bærum, Norway in May 2010^[51][52]. It follows the decision of fellow American producer Jim Beanz to co-write the winning Russian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, Believe by Dima Bilan, which Timbaland also produced. Timbaland will release a new song called "Dumb" which will feature Jonas Brothers. Timbaland is currently working on the re-release of Shock Value II, there will be new songs on it. He would like to work with Jordin Sparks, Rihanna, Beyonce, Jonas Brothers, Kanye West, T-Pain, Akon, Gucci Mane, All-American Rejects, Paramore, Christina Aguilera, Leona Lewis, Linkin Park, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.

Thomas Crown Studio

Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley built a private recording studio in Virginia Beach. The studio was conceived and developed with long time engineer, Jimmy Douglass. The studio is managed by Garland Mosley and Brian Byrd. This full service audio production center has been created in an existing (about) 5,000 sq. ft. two-story industrial park building. A complete renovation of the building resulted in a two-studio recording and post production facility, and continues the growth of the Virginia Beach music community, that has spawned the likes of The Neptunes, Missy Elliott and Nate "Danja" Hills.

Personal life

Timbaland has a son from a previous relationship, named Demetrius.
In November 2007, Timbaland and his then-fiancee Monique Idlett had their first child, a daughter named Reagan.^[53] Monique was also a publicist working at Timbaland's Mosley Music Group record company. The two later married in Aruba.

Discography

Solo Albums

• 1998: Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment
• 2007: Shock Value
• 2009: Shock Value II

Collaboration Albums

• 1997: Welcome to Our World (with Magoo)
• 2001: Indecent Proposal (with Magoo)
• 2003: Under Construction, Part II (with Magoo)

Awards

References

External links

• Official site
• Timbaland at MySpace
• Timbaland on Twitter
• Timbaland's Blog
• Timbaland channel at YouTube
• Timbaland at Allmusic
• Timbaland at Yahoo! Music
• Timbaland at Last.fm
• Timbaland at iLike
• Timbaland at the Internet Movie Database

From Wikiquote

Timothy Z. Mosley, better known as Timbaland (born March 10, 1971), is an American musical composer and R&B record producer and rapper whose style influenced both genres even helping to blur the distinction between R&B and hip-hop, as well as pop and dance music.

Sourced

• It's from a video game, idiot! (or possibly "It's from a video game idiot!")
  • Elliot in the Morning, 2007-02-02

• I don't know him from a can of paint. I'm 15 years deep. That's how you attack a king? You attack moi? Come on, man. "You got to come correct. You the laughing stock. People are like, 'You can't be serious.
  • Elliot in the Morning, about plagiarism controversy [1], 2007-02-02

External links

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Timbaland