Ilsey

Combining a warm, gritty voice with observant, literate lyrics and a melodic style rooted in Laurel Canyon and AM pop, Ilsey is a singer/songwriter from Los Angeles. She got her start in the business as a professional songwriter, penning songs for such A-listers as Beyoncé, J-Lo, and Miley Cyrus, and she was part of the writing team behind Mark Ronson's 2018 hit "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" featuring Cyrus. While continuing to find success behind the scenes, Ilsey made her solo recording debut with 2023's From the Valley, a set of heartfelt songs that combined pastoral accompaniment with contemporary atmospheric electronic touches. Ilsey Anna Juber was raised in Los Angeles with show business roots: Her father, Laurence Juber, is a fingerstyle guitarist who once served as lead guitarist for Paul McCartney & Wings (before Ilsey was born, he won a Grammy for Wings' "Rockestra Theme," the Best Rock Instrumental in 1980). Her maternal grandfather was Sherwood Schwartz, producer of TV's Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch. Ilsey played guitar growing up and decided to devote her efforts to a career in the music industry after spending a year in college. Although she originally saw herself as a performer, she quickly took to songwriting and was encouraged by having one of her songs put in reserve status for Rihanna (it was never recorded). By the mid-2010s, while still in her twenties, she'd had co-writes recorded by the likes of Jennifer Lopez ("Never Satisfied"), Pitbull ("Fireball"), Major Lazer ("Powerful"), and Beyoncé ("All Night"), to name a few. In 2018, Juber was among the songwriting team behind Mark Ronson's "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" featuring Miley Cyrus, an international hit that went to number two in the U.K. (and 43 on the U.S. Hot 100). That year, she also co-penned Panic! at the Disco's alternative hit "High Hopes." She went on to contribute to Cyrus' 2020 album Plastic Hearts as well as writing songs for artists ranging from Weezer and the 1975 to Kacey Musgraves over the next couple years. Going by simply Ilsey, the songwriter made her solo recording debut in June 2023 alongside duet partner Bon Iver on a cover of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold." The track was included on Ilsey's debut album, From the Valley, which followed on Elektra in October of that year.
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