Emile Ghantous

Emile Ghantous is an American record producer, songwriter, mixer and audio engineer based in Los Angeles.

He is from Peoria, Illinois, and began his career in Chicago, where he formed the songwriting and production duo The Insomniax with Erik Nelson. Working alone and with Nelson, he has been credited on records by JoJo, Bobby Valentino, B5, Boyz II Men, Jon B., Frankie J, JLS, Prince Royce, Pitbull, Johnny Gill, and Charlie Wilson.

From the mid-2010s he also wrote and produced for Korean pop acts, including I.O.I, ITZY, NCT, Seulgi and Kiss of Life, and for the international group Now United. He has also worked in country music, producing for the Nashville-based country artist Onoleigh.

His longest-running collaboration is with the R&B singer Charlie Wilson. Billboard described him in 2014 as one of Wilson's regular collaborators. Songs he co-wrote and produced for Wilson include "I'm Blessed", which reached number one on both the Billboard Adult R&B Songs and Hot Gospel Songs charts in 2017.

Early life

Ghantous grew up in Peoria, Illinois, where he started making beats and writing songs with friends while in high school. Early on he produced local artists at a friend's recording studio.

In 1994 he met Erik Nelson, an engineer who owned a studio where Ghantous rented time, and began hiring him by the hour to play keyboards on his productions. Around 2000 Ghantous moved to Chicago and enrolled at Columbia College Chicago.

Career

Around 2000, Ghantous was offered work with the singer Willa Ford for Lava/Atlantic Records. He asked Nelson to join him as a full production and publishing partner rather than continue on an hourly basis, and the two began working as The Insomniax, a Chicago-based duo named after the pair's overnight studio sessions.

One of Ghantous's early major-label placements was on JoJo's 2006 album The High Road, where he is credited as producer and composer. In 2007 he was credited on B5's Don't Talk, Just Listen as composer, producer, recording engineer and vocal arranger, on Bobby V's Special Occasion as composer, producer and engineer, and on Marcos Hernandez's Endless Night as producer, and he produced for Jon B. on the 2008 album Helpless Romantic.

Ghantous later moved to Los Angeles. He was credited as composer, editor, engineer, producer and vocal arranger on Charlie Wilson's 2010 album Just Charlie, and in 2011 as composer, engineer, producer, programmer and vocal arranger on JLS's album Jukebox. The album's single "Take a Chance on Me" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart in November 2011. He was credited as composer and producer on Prince Royce's 2012 album Phase II and as a composer on Pitbull's 2012 album Global Warming.

In 2013 he worked on Frankie J's album Faith, Hope y Amor, credited as composer, engineer, mixer, producer, programmer, vocal arranger and vocal engineer on five tracks. The same year he was credited as composer, editor, engineer, producer and vocal arranger on "I Think I'm in Love" from Charlie Wilson's album Love, Charlie. In 2014 he was credited on Boyz II Men's Collide as composer, engineer, producer, programmer and recording engineer, and as a composer on Johnny Gill's Game Changer. Music Connection listed him that February in its annual directory of producers and engineers, giving his notable projects as Pitbull, Frankie J, Prince Royce, JLS, Charlie Wilson and JoJo.

Ghantous has written and produced for Charlie Wilson since 2010, and Billboard named him among the singer's regular collaborators in 2014. He is credited as composer, engineer, mixer, producer and vocal editor on Wilson's 2017 album In It to Win It. Its single "I'm Blessed", featuring T.I., reached number one on both the Billboard Adult R&B Songs and Hot Gospel Songs charts in 2017, and the Associated Press later placed it at number 12 on its list of the top 25 songs of the 2010s.

He is also credited as composer, engineer, musician, producer and programmer on Wilson's "One I Got", which reached number one on the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart in 2020, and as composer, engineer and producer on "All of My Love" featuring Smokey Robinson, He co-wrote and produced Wilson's 2025 single "Keep Me in Love", which also reached number one on that chart.

From the mid-2010s Ghantous also wrote and produced for artists in the Korean, Japanese and Chinese-language markets. He is credited as a composer on the Produce 101 recordings "Pick Me" and "It's Me (Pick Me)" and on I.O.I's 2016 single "Whatta Man (Good Man)"; as composer on ITZY's IT'z Different and IT'z Icy; as arranger, composer and producer on NCT's NCT 2020: Resonance Pt. 1 and Pt. 2; as arranger and composer on Seulgi's 28 Reasons and YooA's Selfish; as composer on Kiss of Life's "Love Yourself" and Yoon San-ha's Dusk; and as arranger, composer, lyricist and producer on records by the singer xooos. He is also credited among the writers of Kiss of Life's "R.E.M" and as a composer on the Taiwanese singer Sam Lee's FACE. For the Japanese market he produced tracks on Che'Nelle's Feel Good (2010) and engineered and mixed on Luv Songs (2011).

From 2019 Ghantous wrote, produced and mixed songs for Now United, among them "Na Na Na", "Come Together", "Feel It Now", "Habibi", "Paradise" and "Turn It Up". He produced the 2020 single "By My Side" remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has said he assembled it from voice recordings the members made on their phones in fifteen locations, aligning the takes by hand and building a separate vocal chain for each singer. He was also one of the writers and producers of "Love Louder" for The Meeps.

Ghantous produced "Closer" for New District in 2016, and co-wrote and produced "When You Love Somebody" for Deniece Williams, which appeared on her album Gemini. He has since worked across several genres, producing for the Australian pop singer Jordan Anthony, the Nashville-based country artist Onoleigh and for the R&B pop singer Autumn Paige, He is credited as co-writer, producer, mixing engineer and recording engineer on Paige's 2025 single "Let Ya", featuring Flyana Boss.

In September 2018 Ghantous was among the songwriters who signed an open letter accusing SiriusXM of opposing the Music Modernization Act. ASCAP announced him as a panelist for its 2020 ASCAP Experience event, listing his credits as "I'm Blessed" and Pitbull's "Hope We Meet Again". In 2023 the website Best Ever You placed him at number 35 on its list "100 People to Watch in 2023".

Recognition

Ghantous received an ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Award in 2018 as one of the writers of "I'm Blessed", which ASCAP listed among its award-winning R&B/hip-hop songs of the year.

He has been credited on two albums that received major awards or nominations. He is credited on Frankie J's Faith, Hope y Amor, which was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. He is credited on Charlie Wilson's Love, Charlie, which won Outstanding Album at the 45th NAACP Image Awards.

Interviews and profile pieces have described him as a Grammy-nominated and NAACP Award-winning producer.

Discography

References

External links

• Official website