Mark Ronson: DJ, Producer, and the Sound of a Generation
Mark Ronson’s stepdad is the guitarist from Foreigner, so he clearly grew up in a musical household.
As a child, he experimented with various instruments and became proficient enough on drums, piano, and guitar to understand how music was put together.
This bird’s-eye view of music likely drew him toward DJing and producing, and by 2003 he released his debut album Here Comes The Fuzz, a hip-hop record.
Unfortunately, it didn’t sell—but the experience fuelled his passion for production. He soon began working with Lily Allen (Alright, Still, 2006), Christina Aguilera (Back to Basics, 2006), and most notably, Amy Winehouse on Back to Black (2006).
Back to Black is, in my opinion, the best album released by a U.K. artist this side of the millennium—and Mark’s role was without a doubt imperative.
The following year, he released a song that would go on to define the U.K. covers band scene when he, again with Amy, covered The Zutons’ Valerie.
In June 2009, he produced Daniel Merriweather’s Love & War, which included the single Red.
In my opinion, Mark went too far with this project—he threw the kitchen sink at it and overproduced the album. Slow the tempo down and scale it back, and Red is an amazing song that could have been huge.
I felt so strongly about this that I recorded Red for Spytunes in 2011, at a slower tempo.
Then came Uptown Funk, released in 2014 with Bruno Mars—a track that would become Ronson’s biggest success, selling over 20 million copies and becoming one of the best-selling digital singles of all time.
In 2018, yet another remake of A Star Is Born arrived, this time starring Lady Gaga in the role previously held by Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland. Mark co-wrote the immense Shallow with Gaga.
If you’d like to hear Mark Ronson talk about music and interview artists, check out his podcast Fader—it’s excellent.
Mark Ronson Tunes | Related Pages
Red | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Red by Daniel Merriweather using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, chord analysis, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| Asus2 | Asus2 | E Eadd9 | E |
And I’m alright, standing in the streetlights here…
Start learning with the full lesson series: Red – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Uptown Funk | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Dm7 | G7 G9 |
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh…
Valerie | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play Valerie by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| Eb5 | Eb5 | F5 | F5 |
Well sometimes I go out by myself and I look across the water…
Mark Ronson on the web
