Greg Wells facts for kids

Greg Wells (born in 1968) is a talented Canadian music producer, songwriter, and musician. He is known for working with many famous artists. These include Adele, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Twenty One Pilots, and Katy Perry. He has also worked with Celine Dion, John Legend, Dua Lipa, and Michael Bublé.

Greg Wells has helped create music that has sold over 130 million copies worldwide! He is a multi-instrumentalist. This means he plays many instruments. He has been featured in magazines like Modern Drummer for his drumming and Keyboard for his piano skills.

Early Life and Musical Start

Greg grew up in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. His dad was a church minister. When he was 11, Greg had a health issue called Perthes' disease. He had to use a wheelchair for two years.

He learned many instruments and played in different groups. He was in the local orchestra and even played the organ at church. He also DJ'd dances and had a radio show! He studied piano, drums, and music at a special school called the Royal Conservatory of Music.

At 15, he won a top music award in his hometown. He even represented his city twice in big music competitions. When he was 17, he went to Humber College to study jazz piano.

Music Career Highlights

After college, Greg moved to Toronto. He worked as a musician with Canadian artists like Kim Mitchell. He joined Kim Mitchell's band at age 19. He played keyboards and sang backup vocals on their album Rockland. He won an award for Best Keyboardist in 1990.

Later, Greg moved to Los Angeles, California. He joined k.d. lang's band. He even performed with her at the 1993 Grammy Awards. There, she won an award for Best Pop Female Vocal.

His first song as a songwriter was with the famous rock band Aerosmith. It was on their album Nine Lives. Then, he co-wrote "The Reason" for Celine Dion. This song was on her album Let's Talk About Love, which sold 31 million copies!

In 2007, Greg produced the hit song "Apologize". He produced both the original version by OneRepublic and a remix by Timbaland. This song was a massive hit around the world. It stayed at number one on the Billboard Pop 100 chart for eight weeks.

Greg produced and mixed The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. This album was the best-selling album worldwide in 2018. He won a Grammy Award for this work in 2019.

He also helps design music software. He created special audio tools called "plugins" with companies like Waves Audio.

In 2019, Greg co-wrote and produced the theme song for the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games. The song is called "Right Where I'm Supposed To Be". It was performed by artists like Ryan Tedder, Avril Lavigne, and Luis Fonsi.

Greg produced the song "Beautiful Ghosts" for the 2019 movie Cats. Taylor Swift performed this song. It was nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe award.

He also worked on the music for several movies by Lin-Manuel Miranda. These include In the Heights (2021), Vivo, and Tick, Tick... Boom!. He received a Grammy nomination for his work on In the Heights.

Currently, Greg Wells is the music producer and mix engineer for both Wicked films. He also plays many instruments on the soundtracks.

Personal Life

Greg Wells is married to Nina Woodford, who is a songwriter from Sweden. They have six children. Greg used to work from his studio in Los Angeles. However, his home and studio were sadly destroyed in a fire in 2025.

Key Music Projects

Here are some of the important projects Greg Wells has worked on:

• Wicked - He is the music producer for all songs in both films and soundtrack albums. He also mixes the music and plays drums, keyboards, bass, and guitars.
• John Legend – Greg co-produced and mixed the song "Never Break" from the album Bigger Love. This album won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.
• Adele – He co-wrote the song "One and Only" on her album 21. This is the best-selling album of the 21st century.
• The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Greg won a 2019 Grammy Award for producing and mixing this album. It was number 1 in many countries. The song "This Is Me" won a Golden Globe.
• Twenty One Pilots – He produced and mixed their album Vessel, which sold over two million copies.
• In the Heights – He received his fifth Grammy nomination for co-producing and mixing the songs for this movie.
• Taylor Swift – He produced the song "Beautiful Ghosts", which was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Grammy.
• Timbaland and OneRepublic – He produced the worldwide hit song "Apologize".
• Mika – Greg produced, mixed, and played instruments on Mika's hit song "Grace Kelly". This song was number 1 in the UK for seven weeks.
• Celine Dion – He co-wrote the number 1 European song "The Reason" from her album Let's Talk About Love.

Awards and Recognition

Greg Wells received the Pensado Giant Award in 2017 for his achievements in making records. He has been nominated for a Grammy six times. He won a Grammy in 2019 for The Greatest Showman soundtrack. In 2023, he won a second Grammy for Michael Bublé's album Higher.

In 2015, he received an honorary degree from his old music school, Humber College. He was also nominated for Producer of the Year at the Canadian Juno Awards in 2000 and 2019.