Mark Ronson

Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British and American musician, record producer, songwriter, and DJ. He has won ten Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album Back to Black (2006), as well as two for Record of the Year with her 2006 single "Rehab" and his own 2014 single "Uptown Funk" (featuring Bruno Mars). Ronson has also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award for co-writing "Shallow" (performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper) for the film A Star Is Born (2018).

Ronson was lead and executive producer for the soundtrack to the 2023 Greta Gerwig film Barbie, on which he also composed and co-wrote several of its songs with his production partner Andrew Wyatt. The soundtrack won three Grammy Awards—"What Was I Made For?" won Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media, while the parent album won Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media—from 11 nominations, as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Song from two nominations. Ronson and Wyatt would collaborate with Gerwig again in 2026 for the soundtrack to her adaptation of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew for Netflix.

Ronson was born in Notting Hill, London, and raised in New York City. His stepfather is Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones, which contributed to his musical upbringing. Ronson was educated at the Collegiate School and Vassar College. While attending New York University, he became a popular DJ in the regional area for his work in hip hop music. Ronson signed with Elektra Records to release his debut studio album, Here Comes the Fuzz (2003), which contained guest performances from prominent American hip hop acts and was met with lukewarm commercial reception. Due to this, he parted ways with Elektra the following year and co-founded his own label, Allido Records, through which Ronson released his following projects and signed other artists including Wale, Rhymefest, and Daniel Merriweather.

By 2006, Ronson gained wider recognition for his production work on albums and singles for Lily Allen, Christina Aguilera, and Amy Winehouse. The following year, he signed with Columbia Records and released the Motown-funk cover singles "Stop Me" (featuring Daniel Merriweather) and "Valerie" (featuring Amy Winehouse), both of which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in promotion of his second album, the covers effort Version (2007). It peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart earned him the Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist. His third album, Record Collection (2010), matched its chart position and moderately entered the U.S. Billboard 200.

Ronson's 2014 single "Uptown Funk" (featuring Bruno Mars), yielded his furthest commercial success internationally, spending 14 consecutive weeks atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, seven non-consecutive weeks atop the UK Singles Chart, and becoming one of the best-selling singles of all-time. "Uptown Funk" served as the lead single for his fourth studio album Uptown Special (2015), which was dedicated to Winehouse and peaked atop the UK Albums Chart, as well as number five on the Billboard 200. In 2018, Ronson founded the record label Zelig Records, an imprint of Columbia Records, and formed the duo Silk City with fellow producer Diplo; their debut single, "Electricity" (featuring Dua Lipa) was released in September of that year and won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.

In 2015, Ronson became a patron of the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which helps disadvantaged youth through music. He has also worked with the End the Silence campaign to raise funds and awareness for the Hope and Homes for Children charity. Ronson served as a mentor at Turnaround Arts, a national program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which helped low-performing schools through arts education.

Early life

Ronson was born in Notting Hill, London, to Laurence Ronson, a then music manager and publisher, now real estate developer, and Ann (née Dexter), a writer, jewellery designer, and socialite. His Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors emigrated from Austria, Lithuania, and Russia. Ronson was brought up in a Conservative Jewish household and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah.

After his parents' divorce, Ann married Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones. Jones wrote Foreigner's song "I Want to Know What Love Is" about his burgeoning relationship with her.

Ronson, along with his mother, stepfather, and sisters, moved to New York City when he was eight years old. Living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Ronson counted Sean Lennon among his childhood friends. At age 12, being a self-described music nerd, he pestered Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner into an internship at the magazine. Ronson attended high school at the private Collegiate School in Manhattan before attending Vassar College and then New York University. In 2008, he obtained American citizenship so that he could vote in that year's election.

Family

Ronson was born into the Ronson family, formerly one of Britain's wealthiest families and founders of Heron International; following success in the 1980s, they lost $1 billion of their wealth in the property crash of the early 1990s. He is the nephew of businessman Gerald Ronson. Mark is not related to guitarist Mick Ronson.

Through his mother, Ronson is distantly related to British Conservative politicians Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Leon Brittan, and Odeon Cinemas founder Oscar Deutsch.

Ronson has two younger sisters: twins Charlotte, a fashion designer, and Samantha, a singer and DJ. Through his mother's second marriage to Mick Jones, Ronson has two older step-siblings and two half-siblings, including actress Annabelle Dexter-Jones. Through his father's second marriage, Ronson has three other half-siblings.

Career

While attending New York University, Ronson became known as a DJ on the local club scene in the early 1990s. He played a diverse, genre-spanning selection, noting: "I've always loved everything. I've never had any kind of genre boundaries". In 1999, Ronson was featured in an ad for Tommy Hilfiger wearing the company's denim in the recording studio.

2001–2005: Here Comes the Fuzz and initial producing

Ronson transitioned from DJ to producer after Nikka Costa's manager, Dominique Trenier, heard one of his sets and introduced him to several musicians. Ronson produced Costa's song "Everybody Got Their Something", and Ronson soon signed a record contract with Elektra Records. He had already produced tracks for Hilfiger ads and, in 2001, used the connection to have Costa's single "Like a Feather" feature in an advertisement.

Ronson's debut album, Here Comes the Fuzz, was released in 2003 and according to a retrospective review "the record sold poorly and (...) critical reception was lukewarm at best, dismissive at worst". The album featured performances from artists from diverse genres, including Mos Def, Jack White, Sean Paul, Nappy Roots and Rivers Cuomo. The lead single "Ooh Wee," reached no. 15 on the UK Singles Chart, and was used in a number of films, including in Honey (2003). Two weeks after releasing Here Comes the Fuzz, Elektra Records dropped Ronson. In 2004, Ronson formed his own record label, Allido Records, a subsidiary of Sony BMG's J Records, along with his longtime manager Rich Kleiman.

2006–2009: Version

On 2 April 2007, Ronson released a cover of The Smiths' track "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before", in medley with the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On", under the shortened title "Stop Me", featuring Australian singer and frequent collaborator Daniel Merriweather. It reached number 2 in the UK singles charts, giving Ronson his highest-peaking single until 2014's "Uptown Funk". Ronson remixed the Bob Dylan song "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine" in promotion for the three-disc Bob Dylan collection titled Dylan released October 2007. Ronson has also produced Candie Payne's single "One More Chance" in 2007. The cover album Version appeared on his own label with Alexis Petridis describing the song interpretations as "an affectionate pastiche of a 60s soul revue's brass-laden sound". In May 2007 it was awarded the title Album of the Month by the British dance music magazine, Mixmag. On 23 June, Ronson made the cover of The Guardian newspaper's Guide magazine, alongside singer Lily Allen.

In June 2007, Ronson signed DC hip hop artist Wale to Allido Records. In late 2007, he focused on production, working with Daniel Merriweather on his debut album, and recording again with Amy Winehouse and Robbie Williams. On 24 October 2007, Ronson performed a one-off set at The Roundhouse in Camden, London as part of the BBC Electric Proms 2007. The performance featured the BBC Concert Orchestra and included special guests Terry Hall, Sean Lennon, Tim Burgess, Alex Greenwald, Ricky Wilson (substituting for Lily Allen), Charlie Waller, Adele and Kyle Falconer.