Jonathan Quarmby

Jonathan Hugh Quarmby (born 20 December 1961 in Huddersfield), is an English record producer and songwriter and son of English architect Arthur Quarmby.

Early life

Jonathan Hugh Quarmby was born on December 20,1961, in Huddersfield, the son of music teacher Jean and architect, Arthur Quarmby.

Arthur was an innovative designer, author and thinker, renowned for his work in modular plastics and earth sheltered housing.

Educated at Holmfirth Comprehensive, then Pocklington School, Jonathan went on to study architecture at Sheffield University.

Having always had a passion for music, he soon became part of Sheffield’s vibrant music scene, eventually moving away from architecture to pursue music as a career.

Sheffield

Jonathan started as a keyboard player, performing on Yazz’s album Wanted and touring with a local band, Floy joy.

His transition to record production came with Barclay artists Fred de Fred.

Jonathan then collaborated with Axis Studio-based Comsat Angels bass player Kevin Bacon to write and produce Ephraim Lewis's album Skin for Elektra Records.

This partnership (Bacon and Quarmby) went on to produce and write in a diverse range of music styles: electro as R&S artists Manna, Britpop with the Longpigs, pop /soul with Lighthouse Family and were most publicly lauded for their contribution to reggae: Finley Quaye (Maverick a Strike) - for which Finley won the ‘Best Male’ Brit Award and Ziggy Marley (Fallen Is Babylon), for which they received the ‘Best Reggae Album’ Grammy award.

London - RAK Studios

1990s

Fred De Fred - Treize En Vie - P (1991)

Ephraim Lewis – Skin - W/P/M (1992)

Manna – Manna - W/P/M (1994)

Lightning Seeds – Dizzy Heights - P/M (1996)

The Longpigs – The Sun Is Often Out - P/M (1996)

Eagle Eye Cherry – "Save Tonight" single - adP/M (1997)

Finley Quaye – Maverick a Strike - P/M (1997)

Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers – Fallen Is Babylon - P/M (1997)

Del Amitri – Hatful of Rain - P/M (1998)

Ian Brown – "Can't See Me" single - P/M (1998)

The Longpigs – Mobile Home - P/M (1999)

Relocating from Sheffield to London's RAK Studios in 2003, Jonathan and Kevin embarked on a prolific journey of music production, including Primal Scream, Mew, the Sugababes, David Garrett, Plan B, The Pretenders, Richard Hawley and Ders'ree.

Awal

In 2004, they founded the groundbreaking music company, AWAL, with Apple consultant; Denzyl Feigelson.

Awal redefined online aggregation, with its 30 day none negotiable agreement and data tracking and analysis tool, Buzzdeck.

With offices in Sheffield and London,The business grew eventually distributing over 3000 independent artists including The Arctic Monkeys, David Gray, and Madness.

In 2012 AWAL was sold to Kobalt, (who went on to sell it to Sony in 2021 for $430,000,000) !!

Jonathan, Kevin and Denzyl were retained by Kobalt for two years.

Back to RAK

In 2014 Jonathan returned to RAK and music creation, this time focussing equally on song writing and production.

Initially managed by Richard Antwi, he worked with Daley, Mahalia and Jacob Banks, before achieving his first significant success with Benjamin Clementine, who’s album At Least For Now which won the Mercury prize in 2015.

Jonathan had a part in the writing and produced and mixed the whole album (the track Nemesis is also the theme to Apple’s critically acclaimed drama - 'The Morning Show’).

More established as a writer, Jonathan collaborated with Lewis Capaldi, on the single Tough, Tiggs Da Author, co writing, producing and mixing much of the album Blame It On The Youts produced Tom Walker's track Just You and I, co -wrote and produced the single and TV show theme by Mika It’s My House, co-wrote four songs on the no.1 album by James Arthur Back From The Edge including the title track and second single Safe Inside.

and even produced half the (contested) no 1 album "Got It Covered,” for Children in Need. Most recently he has produced and mixed eight tracks on Cian Ducrot's No. 1 Deluxe Album; Victory, co written, produced and mixed 3 Eyes Open for GreenTea Peng - which appears on the album Greenzone 108, co written, produced and mixed the album Child Of Sin by the incredible Dutch artist Kovacs, and has just finished two Parisian projects, producing and mixing an acoustic African album with Tiken Jay Fakoli and producing an album for French legend; Olivia Ruiz

Globe Town Records

In 2018, Jonathan joined Globe Town Records, an emerging label based in Hoxton, London.

They faced the challenges of lockdown together, working with some incredible voices such as Tycho Jones, Tom Rasmussen and Faisal Salah (Facesoul).