Skylar Grey

BIO

Surrounded by shadows, we reach for light within. Skylar Grey finds strength inside of herself. The five-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated multi platinum artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist alchemizes darkness into sonic gemstones forged under the heat and pressure of her often-unbelievable experiences. She has endured tumult, trials, and tribulations only to take control of her artistry like never before.

In 2022, Skylar began stepping into her power on her 3rd full-length offering, the self-titled, self-written and produced, independently released album, Skylar Grey. Skylar personally produced the entire record in her bedroom studio, singing, playing piano, and arranging strings and beats.

“My latest album was the prequel to a bigger story,” she observes. “It reflected the transformation, or rebirth I recently endured, which is why there were mostly sad, slow songs about me struggling to find my way in life. But I metamorphosed inside of the storm and emerged feeling fucking unstoppable, which is the inspiration for my next album.”

Skylar weathered a half-decade period of personal and professional turbulence. In 2021 she finalized a tumultuous 4 year legal battle to divorce her ex-husband and former manager, and had to sell her publishing catalog in order to settle the legal bills. She wound up choosing independence all-around. She may have moved on without a label or management, but her unshakable and unbreakable vision was more than enough to build this totem to emotion.

”The sadness I lived with for the last five years changed me. Now, after everything I went through, I’m singing with a newfound confidence,” she exclaims. “So for the next chapter of the story, think of Skylar Grey as a dark anti-hero, a product of her pain… and she’s coming back with a vengeance.”

Skylar is no stranger to power being born from turmoil. In 2010, she penned the GRAMMY® Award-nominated diamond-selling “Love The Way You Life” for Eminem and Rihanna, but it didn’t come without extreme challenges.

“When I wrote ‘Love The Way You Lie,’ I was totally broke, I had lost my first record deal, and my boyfriend I was living with dumped me. So I moved to a one-room cabin in the woods in Oregon where I had to go outside to use the bathroom and traded work for rent. Everyone said I was crazy to leave LA, but it ended up being the best decision of my life. I was able to block out all the noise and connect with nature. I found inspiration, and I found myself again. As a result, I wrote the biggest song in the world in a matter of months.”

The songstress has quietly cast a long shadow over popular music and culture. Her first foray into the Billboard Top 10 was in 2006, when going under her birth name, Holly Brook, she collaborated with Linkin Park frontman Mike Shinoda on a song called “Where’d You Go.” Her 2013 full-length debut as Skylar Grey, Don’t Look Down, bowed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200. In 2016, the follow-up Natural Causes generated tens of millions of streams. Simultaneously, she performed on television shows such as Saturday Night Live, TODAY, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Sought-after by top collaborators, she lent her voice to Dr. Dre’s double-platinum “I Need A Doctor” [feat. Eminem & Skylar Grey], Diddy-Dirty Money’s double-platinum “Coming Home” [feat. Skylar Grey], and Macklemore’s platinum “Glorious” [feat. Skylar Grey], to name a few. 

Not to mention, her songwriting catalog spans the triple-platinum “Clarity” for Zedd, the platinum “Gangsta” for Kehlani, and more. Plus, she has contributed music to big screen franchises such as Fifty Shades of Grey, Aquaman, and The Fast and The Furious, among others.

To date, she has sold over 30 million units worldwide and earned the adoration of artists such as Billie Eilish. She also notably produced and featured on “Leaving Heaven” from Eminem’s 2020 #1 blockbuster Music To Be Murdered By. In 2021, she unleashed, “Last One Standing” [feat. Polo G, Mozzy, & Eminem], which served as the lead single from Venom: Let There Be Carnage and cracked the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her very first RIAA certified Gold song as the main artist. Most recently, in 2022 while simultaneously releasing her own album, she collaborated with Illenium on “From The Ashes,” and with EDM legend Deadmau5 on, “My Heart Has Teeth,” for Netflix series, Resident Evil.

In 2023, Skylar plans to debut her next evolution of sound at live events. “I haven’t wanted to play a show in years, but that’s all changing now because of the new music I’m making. I finally cracked the code on doing music that is up tempo but maintains my moodiness,” she exclaims excitedly. “It makes me want to move my body in ways I’ve never done before, so I am anxious to get on stage.”