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Bryan-Michael Paul Cox (born December 1, 1977)^[1] is an American record producer and songwriter, known for his work with artists such asUsher,Mariah Carey,Mary J. Blige, andToni Braxton.^[2] His most notable productions are "Be Without You" for Mary J. Blige, "Burn", "Confessions Part II" and "U Got It Bad" for Usher, and "Shake It Off", "I Stay In Love" and "You Don't Know What To Do" for Mariah Carey.

While attendingKinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts^[3] in Texas, Cox met singerBeyoncé. He began producing songs forDestiny's Child prior to their signing withColumbia Records. Cox relocated toAtlanta to pursue his professional music career in 2000, where he established a partnership withJermaine Dupri and became in-house talent for hisSo So Def Recordings record label.

Cox attained aGuinness World Record for the longest consecutive period of chart success by spending over 5 consecutive years there, breaking the record that was previously held byThe Beatles. In 2009, Cox was inducted into theGeorgia Music Hall of Fame for his contribution to music.^[4]

Cox has said that his mother played the flute: "My mom would buy music instead of food when I was little. We would spend her entire pay check at the record store." He expressed his musical ambitions to her when he was seven years old, having written his first song when he was just six years old.^[5] Later, he enrolled in Houston'sKinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.^[6]

In high school, Cox metBeyoncé when he was a senior and she was a freshman. He recorded his first-ever demo tape with her. Although the two wouldn't reconnect until nearly seven years later when Bryan produced a track onDestiny's Child'sDestiny Fulfilled, it was the early confirmation fromMathew Knowles that prompted Bryan to go into the music industry.

"Back then, there was three choices if you wanted to be in the music industry: live in New York, LA, or Atlanta. I enrolled inClark Atlanta University because although my mom supported my dreams one hundred percent I had to go to college, so I chose Clark because I was just trying to get to Atlanta."^[7]

Cox began his career as an intern at Noontime Records in Atlanta, Georgia. He was discovered by his managerChris Hicks, who was a partner in Noontime. Cox's first two hit singles as a producer were "Get Gone" & "Creep Inn" for the short-lived R&B groupIdeal.^[8]

Cox contributed toLil Bow Wow's debut album,Beware of Dog, writing the single "Puppy Love" and theBig Momma's House soundtrack. He worked withJagged Edge's second studio albumJ.E. Heartbreak, contributing to songs "He Can't Love U" and "Let's Get Married". He contributed toTamar Braxton's debut album,Tamar co-writing and producing "Get None" with musical partner Jermaine Dupri. He wrote and co-produced the second single "Just Be a Man About It" fromToni Braxton's third studio album,The Heat.^[8]

Cox worked with Usher, contributing toConfessions, co-writing and co-producingBillboard Hot 100 number-one songs "Burn" and "Confessions Part II".Confessions won Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2005 Grammys.Confessions has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)^[9] and, as of 2012, has sold 10.3 million copies in the United States.^[10] It has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. He worked with Mariah Carey again on 2005'sThe Emancipation of Mimi with hits "Shake It Off" and "Don't Forget About Us". "Don't Forget About Us" was nominated for two Grammy Awards.^[11] He wrote the fourth single fromChris Brown's self-titled debut album "Say Goodbye". He co-wrote "Be Without You" the lead single fromMary J. Blige seventh studio albumThe Breakthrough. The single was certified double-platinum in the United States,^[12] was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year and won the Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance categories at the49th Annual Grammy Awards.^[13]

Cox co-wrote "Shortie Like Mine" the first single for Bow Wow's fifth studio album,The Price of Fame, in 2006. Again working with Austin together the duo co-wrote "Stay Down" for Mary J. Blige's eighth studio album,Growing Pains in 2007. Cox became the executive producer on Brandy’s unreleased album,Sweet Nothings, her originally planned fifth studio album with a projected release date sometime in 2007, working on numerous songs on the album alongsideKendrick "WyldCard" Dean,Adonis Shropshire andEric Hudson.^[14][15] Cox co-wrote "Last Time" forTrey Songz's second studio albumTrey Day. Cox produced and co-wrote "Circles", the third single fromMarques Houston'sVeteran album. In 2008, he wrote five songs for the groupDay26's self-titled debut album, including the second single, "Since You've Been Gone".^[8]

In 2010, he co-wrote and produced "Never Let You Go", the single forMy World 2.0, the debut studio album byJustin Bieber. ForMariah Carey he co-wrote and co-produced "Oh Santa!", alongside Jermaine Dupri and Carey, for her second Christmas/thirteenth studio album,Merry Christmas II You. He added song writing and production onUsher's Grammy award-winning albumRaymond vs Raymond. In the same year, Cox co-produced the single "Love All Over Me", the single fromMonica's sixth studio album,Still Standing. He worked onLove and War for Tamar Braxton in 2013. He worked with Johntá Austin co-writing for R. Kelly's thirteenth studio albumThe Buffet, and onViews forDrake. Cox co-wrote onFree TC forTy Dolla Sign.

Cox went on to co-produce alongside his musical mentorJermaine Dupri.^[8] He has had 35 number-one hits, 12 Grammy Award nominations, including nine wins, 20 top-ten hits, and eclipsing the record previously held by the Beatles forBillboard's most consecutive number-one hits. Cox has been named one ofBillboard's "Top 10 Producers of the Decade" and sits onBillboard's "Hot R&B Song of the Decade List", "Hot 100 Songs of the Decade List", "Top 200 Albums of the Decade List" and is a 2009Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee.^[4] He has been awarded theBillboard Songwriter of the Year Award and the SESAC Songwriter of the Year Award six consecutive years.^[16][17]

• Bryan-Michael Cox onInstagram
• firstofdecember.com at theWayback Machine (archived February 2, 2010)
• Bryan-Michael Cox atIMDb

• 1977 births
• Living people
• African-American record producers
• American hip-hop record producers
• American rhythm and blues keyboardists
• Clark Atlanta University alumni
• Grammy Award winners
• Musicians from Houston
• Songwriters from Texas
• High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alumni
• American people of Bahamian descent
• Record producers from Texas
• 21st-century African-American people
• 20th-century African-American musicians
• African-American male songwriters

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