Philip Lawrence

Biography

Philip Martin Lawrence II (born July 17, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and voice actor, best known for his work with the songwriting and production team the Smeezingtons, alongside Bruno Mars and Ari Levine (in 2014, he lent his resonant baritone voice to make the synth-like bass line "dohs" in the song "Uptown Funk"). He has won eight Grammy Awards for his work. Lawrence's latest recording project, 24K Magic, won at the Grammys in the categories Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, Best R&B Album, and Best R&B Performance. Lawrence is co-writer and co-producer on the majority of the songs released under these ventures. He also sings vocal with the Hooligans band who tours with Mars. He is also a voice actor, as he is the current voice of Sebastian in The Little Mermaid franchise since 2007, replacing Samuel E. Wright.

Lawrence was first widely recognized in 2010 when he received five nominations at that year's Grammy Awards, including his first nomination for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Between 2010 and 2012 he received ten Grammy nominations, and in 2013 won his first Grammy award with Bruno Mars for "Best Pop Vocal Album" for Unorthodox Jukebox. In the same year, he also released his own solo album, Letters I Never Sent. He followed by participating in the second-largest viewed Super Bowl Halftime Show performing with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, receiving 115.3 million viewers. He returned again to the Super Bowl in 2016, performing parallel to Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Coldplay for another Halftime Show performance. Along with composing and producing hits for Bruno Mars, Lawrence has produced/wrote for Adele, Flo Rida, Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, CeeLo Green and others.

Lawrence appeared in the Blue Sky Studios animated film Rio 2 as the character and voice of "Felipe". He also wrote, performed, and produced the song "It's a Jungle Out Here", as well as co-wrote "Welcome Back", for the soundtrack performed by Bruno Mars.

Lawrence founded CMNTY Culture, a multimedia venture that combines recorded music, film, television and theater production in one space. The first artist release under the CMNTY label is RMR, who released "Rascal" in 2020. In 2016, he purchased Record Plant recording studio in Los Angeles, California. Record Plant closed on July 8, 2024.

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