Todd Edwards

This article is about Todd Edwards the musician. For the film writer, see Todd Edwards (film writer).
Todd Edwards

Todd Edwards in Los Angeles, 2012
Background information
Birth name Todd Edwards
Also known as
  • The Messenger
  • Todd Imperatrice
  • Todd the God
Born (1972-12-09) December 9, 1972
Origin Bloomfield, New Jersey
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Record producer
  • DJ
  • singer
  • songwriter
Instruments
Years active 1992–present
Associated acts
Website twitter.com/toddedwards3000

Todd Edwards (born December 9, 1972) is an American house and garage record producer and Grammy winner. He currently resides in Los Angeles.[1] With remixes numbering in the hundreds, some of the artists Edwards has remixed include Wildchild, St. Germain, Benjamin Diamond, Justice, Klaxons and Dimitri From Paris. Edwards co-produced and performed vocals on the Daft Punk song "Face to Face" from the album Discovery. Edwards worked again with Daft Punk, co-writing, co-producing and contributing vocals to the song, "Fragments of Time" off of their 2013 album, Random Access Memories, for which he won a Grammy. Much like his solo albums, his remixes make use of a complex vocal sampling technique, which in some cases renders the original track almost unrecognizable.

History

Todd Edwards began his musical career around 1992. He employs vocal reconstruction techniques to his songs, creating a unique vocal collage set to a four-on-the-floor beat. Marc "MK" Kinchen, who is primarily responsible for pioneering this technique, is one of Edwards's influences.[2]

Edwards is a committed Christian. This is evident by recurring hidden messages found in his compositions, which often contain religious phrases.[3]

Beginnings

In his early records, Todd Edwards was influenced by house music and grew into the UK garage and 2-step garage scene. Inspired by Todd Terry, MK, and experiences from his own trials and errors, Todd Edwards developed a unique sound of vocal sampling in place of musical instrument sampling on his tracks.[4] In 1995, there was some talk developing about Edwards. His manager was approached by St. Germain, who asked Edwards to do a remix of his song, "Alabama Blues". Although Edwards has produced and remixed some great remixes in this time, he didn't begin to DJ until the early 2000s.[5] He went out gradually landing more gigs in the UK, hoping to land a bigger one than the next.[4] For an American native, Edwards quickly gained underground popularity in Europe.[6]

2001-present

Edwards co-produced and performed vocals on the Daft Punk song "Face to Face" from the album Discovery. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Club chart in 2004. In 2006, Edwards sang on each track of the LP Odyssey, but on the album he used multiple alias names.[7] In 2012, Edwards released the EP I Want You Back made in collaboration with French producer Surkin.[8] In April 2013, Edwards revealed that he had contributed to Daft Punk's album Random Access Memories; he expressed that it was difficult keeping his involvement a secret.[9] He provided vocals for "Fragments of Time", co-wrote the song and provided additional production.[1] At the 2014 Grammy Awards, Random Access Memories won awards for Best Dance/Electronica Album as well as Album of the Year; Edward's contributions to "Fragments of Time" thus earned him his first Grammy.[10][11]

Red Bull Music Academy teamed up with director Ralf Schmerberg to produce What Difference Does It Make: A Film About Making Music for its fifteenth anniversary. The film features Edwards sharing his thoughts and beliefs on the music industry.[12] Edwards continues to produce and remix tracks today, and has many tours planned for the future. His upcoming project is a vocal album featuring his own singing and co-produced by engineer Peter Franco. Edwards noted that Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk convinced him to pursue such a project, and may oversee it.[13]

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

Remixes

Collaborations

Production credits

References

  1. 1 2 Hawgood, Alex (May 14, 2013). "Q + A | Daft Punk's Secret Weapon: Producer Todd Edwards". T. New York Times Company. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  2. ↑ DuttyArtz.com
  3. ↑ Stylusmagazine.com
  4. 1 2 Stylus interview
  5. ↑ LWE Interviews
  6. ↑ XLR8R Todd Edwards
  7. ↑ LWE Interviews Todd Edwards
  8. ↑ Discogs, I want You Back
  9. ↑ Daft Punk | Random Access Memories | The Collaborators: Todd Edwards. YouTube. Retrieved on April 8, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Daft Punk and Todd Edwards Win Best Dance Electronic Album and Album of the Year at Grammys". Los Angeles, California, U.S. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  11. ↑ "Grammy Awards 2014: The Complete Winners List". Los Angeles, California, U.S. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  12. ↑ "Global Premiere Events: What Difference Does It Make? A Film About Making Music". Los Angeles, California, U.S. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  13. ↑ McGrath, Alan. Gods of Garage. DJ Magazine. Retrieved on January 28, 2014.

External links

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