Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989),[1] better known by his stage nameLabrinth, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Labrinth signed as a recording artist withSimon Cowell's record labelSyco Music in 2010, initially collaborating with the English rapperTinie Tempah. He appeared as a featured artist: uncredited on the single "Pass Out", but later officially on "Frisky"; then he released his first solo single, "Let the Sun Shine" in September. All three songs peaked in the top five on theUK Singles Chart.[2]
Labrinth continued composing forEuphoria in 2022, and theSeason 2 Official Score was released in April. The score earned him an additional two Primetime Emmy nominations, for the songs "I'm Tired" and "Elliot's Song", both written alongsideZendaya.
McKenzie was born and raised inHackney, London, and is ofJamaican descent.[5] He comes from a family of musicians and has eight siblings. Their home was filled with the sound ofblack gospel music, which their parents loved.[6] When young, he and his eight siblings formed a band called Mac 9.[7] He attendedStoke Newington School and began to pursue a musical career during his school years. His brother, Mac, who is also a music producer, introduced McKenzie at the age of 15 to the art of creating music in his studio. His cousin is the Irish boxerTommy McCarthy.[8]
Labrinth started his career by producing the track "Dead End" for recording artistMaster Shortie from the albumA.D.H.D. (2009). The track generated interest in McKenzie as a producer and songwriter. Guy Moot ofEMI Music Publishing offered the artist a publishing deal. From 2010 to 2011, Labrinth mentored the Urban Development Vocal Collective (UDVC) alongside his sister, ShezAr. He also produced multiple tracks for the collective, contributing towards a nine-track project titledUrban Development. The vocalists also provided backing vocals for Labrinth's original tracks.[9][10][11]
McKenzie appeared as an uncredited guest artist on British rapperTinie Tempah's debut single, "Pass Out", released on 28 February 2010. He had also produced and co-written the track. The single debuted at number-one on theUK Singles Chart, number six on theIrish Singles Chart, and number seventy inAustralia.[2][12] Having spent two weeks at the summit in the United Kingdom, "Pass Out" was awarded Best British Single at the2011 Brit Awards and Best Contemporary Song at the 2011Ivor Novello Awards. It achieved platinum certification from theBritish Phonographic Industry for surpassing sales of 600,000 copies.[13] Several months later the two artists collaborated for a second time in the release of Tempah's second single, "Frisky", also co-written and produced by McKenzie. The single debuted at number two in the United Kingdom,[2] beaten only by the charity single "Shout" byDizzee Rascal andJames Corden.[14] The track had chart success inScotland, where it became the duo's second consecutive number one single, also peaking at number three inIreland.[12]
Following chart success as a writer and producer, McKenzie was approached in June 2010 and signed toSimon Cowell's record label,Syco. The signing marked a milestone for the label, with McKenzie becoming the first signing in six years who had not gained exposure on one of Cowell's reality talent shows. Through Syco, Labrinth released his debut single, "Let the Sun Shine", on 27 September 2010 in the United Kingdom. The track debuted at number three in the UK, also reaching number thirty-two in Ireland.[12] Labrinth was featured as an artist a third time on 3 January 2011, with the release of British rapperDevlin's single "Let It Go". This had limited chart success, peaking at number fifty-nine in the UK. He also participated in a remake of Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's "Express Yourself".[2]
Over the course of the next year, Labrinth produced tracks by Yasmin and Ms. Dynamite, as well as the 2011 Children in Need charity single “Teardrop”, on which he also appeared as a guest performer.[15][16] The single, which was performed both atChildren in Need 2011 andChildren in Need Rocks Manchester on 17 November 2011 debuted at number twenty-four on the UK Singles Chart.[17]
Labrinth released his second single, "Earthquake", on 23 October 2011 – featuring long-term collaboratorTinie Tempah. The single debuted at number two on the UK chart with first week sales of 115,530 copies – the second highest selling number-two behindX Factor winnersLittle Mix and their cover ofDamien Rice's "Cannonball".[2] The track also saw international chart success, peaking at number twelve in Ireland,[12] number five inNew Zealand and number twenty-one in Australia;[18] achieving gold certification from theAustralian Recording Industry Association and platinum certification from theRecording Industry Association of New Zealand. Following a third single release, "Last Time", which was released on 18 March 2012 as a four-trackdigitalEP alongside remixes fromKnife Party andGareth Emery, Labrinth released his debut albumElectronic Earth on 2 April 2012.[19][20]
On 23 May 2012, Labrinth performed at theCheltenham racecourse to celebrate the occasion of theOlympic torch coming through Cheltenham. He also performed at several university shows includingUniversity of Leeds’ Summer Ball,Nottingham Trent University Graduation Ball, andUniversity of Surrey's End of Year Show. On 29 June, Labrinth performed at VG-lista top 20 inNorway in front of a crowd consisting of 90,000 people. Labrinth also performed at GFest in Preston on 8 September 2012 to celebrate Preston Guild 2012.[21] The song "Beneath Your Beautiful", which featuresEmeli Sandé was released as the album's sixth single and peaked at number one November 2012 on the UK singles chart, and was Labrinth's first entry into the Billboard Hot 100 at number 34.[22]
In July 2012, it was revealed that Labrinth would be working withRihanna, which resulted in him co-writing and co-producing her song "Lost In Paradise" from her album 'Unapologetic'.[23][24] Labrinth also collaborated withEd Sheeran, producing his andDevlin's single "Watchtower", which was released in August 2012.[25] Labrinth also worked with Sheeran in 2014, and produced his single "Save Myself" from the March 2017 album÷.[26][27]
In October 2014, Labrinth released his single "Jealous", which he wrote during a trip toNashville.[29] The song peaked at number 7 on theUK Singles Chart in December 2014.[2] The single has received acknowledgement from a number of artists includingAdele, who listened to the song to help her cry on command while shooting her "Hello" video, andJessie Ware, who covered it for the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.[30][31]
In 2016, Labrinth worked alongsideMike Posner on Posner's widely successful albumAt Night, Alone. Labrinth is featured and co-wrote on the sixth single, "Silence". The album was officially released on 6 May 2016. "Silence" was written by both Posner and Labrinth. The song was produced by Posner and Terefe. He also produced and was featured in "Make Me (Cry)",Noah Cyrus' debut single, released on 14 November 2016.[36] Labrinth also featured alongside Cyrus in the song's music video and performances onThe Tonight Show andThe Late Late Show.[37][38] The single peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2017.[39] Over the following 2 years Labrinth and Cyrus continued collaborating, with Labrinth lending writing and production duties to Cyrus' May 2017 single "I'm Stuck", September 2017 single "Again", and August 2018 single "Live Or Die".[40][41] In December 2016, Labrinth performed a medley of "Frozen" and "Like A Prayer" at the annualBillboard Women in Music event, whereMadonna, who had personally selected him to perform, was honored as Woman of the Year.[42][43]
On 3 May 2018, Labrinth was announced as a member of the supergroupLSD along with Sia and music producerDiplo. It was the first time the three artists have worked together on a single project. According to Diplo, LSD started when he was invited into the studio to write with Labrinth and Sia. Their first single, "Genius", was released via Columbia Records in the US and Syco Music in the UK the same day, along with a psychedelic cartoon visual and the announcement of a forthcoming album.[46][47] LSD released their second single "Audio" the next week and their third single "Thunderclouds" in August, followed by a "Thunderclouds" music video featuring dancer and previous Sia collaboratorMaddie Ziegler.[48][49][50] The latter was used as the promotional song for theSamsung Galaxy Note 9, which helped propel it to the top of Billboard & Clio's Top TV Commercials chart for August and September 2018.[51][52][53] It is also LSD's highest-charting single to date, peaking at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the UK Singles Chart.[22][54] In November 2018, the three received aGrammy Award nomination forBest Remixed Recording for their song "Audio (CID Remix Official Dance Remix)".[55] Also in 2018, Labrinth co-produced and featured onNicki Minaj's track "Majesty" featuringEminem, which peaked at number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.[27][22]
In January 2019, Labrinth starred in aMini Countryman ad, in which he sings a version of “Don't Fence Me In”.[56] A full version of the song was also released with the campaign launch.[56] Following the release of their single "Mountains", LSD released their debut albumLabrinth, Sia & Diplo Present... LSD on 12 April 2019.[57][58] That month the group released a video for "No New Friends" featuring Maddie Ziegler and made their first live appearance performing the song onEllen.[59][60]
2019–2022:Euphoria andImagination & the Misfit Kid
Following the release of his single "Miracle" in June 2019, Labrinth made his scoring debut when he was announced as the lead composer for season 1 of theHBO drama seriesEuphoria.[61][62] Inspired by some of the music that Labrinth's managerAdam Leber had shared with him, the show's creatorSam Levinson approached Labrinth to contribute music for the series while he was working on his second solo album.[62][63] Several of Labrinth's original songs are also featured throughout the series, including "Mount Everest" and "All for Us" featuring vocals from the show's lead actressZendaya.[64] The show's score was released on 4 October 2019 viaMilan Records andSony Masterworks. Characterized as "a mash-up of electronic, R&B, dance and hip-hop sounds", Labrinth's score was positively received and received praise for "perfectly complementing the journey of the main character."[65][63] The following year, Labrinth received twoPrimetime Emmy Award nominations for his work inEuphoria;Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for the episode "03 Bonnie and Clyde" andOutstanding Original Music And Lyrics for the song "All for Us",[66] winning the latter as well as anIvor Novello Award for Best Television Soundtrack.[67][68]
On 31 October 2019, Labrinth announced his sophomore studio album titledImagination & the Misfit Kid with the single release "Where the Wild Things".[75] The 15 track album, which features guest appearances from Zendaya andSia, was released on 22 November 2020.[76] The single "Imagination" was used inApple's "Made in the UK" advert in July 2020.[77] As part of Apple's 'Behind the Mac' series, the ad features UK creative talent working at MacBook laptops including Labrinth himself.[78]
On 9 October 2020, Labrinth released his single "No Ordinary", which was used in theXbox Series X/S launch trailer.[79] Labrinth also wrote and produced two singles forSam Smith released that year including "Love Goes", which he is also featured on and comes from Smith's album of the same name, and an original Christmas song "The Lighthouse Keeper".[80]
In 2022, he returned to composing the score forEuphoria, for the show's second season,[83] and also made a cameo in episode four, performing the song "I'm Tired", which later featured on theofficial score album, released in April alongside a music video for "Mount Everest".[84][85][86]
Labrinth's third solo studio album, titledEnds & Begins, was originally scheduled for a release in October 2022,[87][88] but was eventually released on 28 April 2023 byColumbia Records.[89][90] It was preceded by the singles "Lift Off",[91] "Kill for Your Love",[92] "Iridium",[93] and "Never Felt So Alone",[94] although, following the album's delay, "Lift Off" and "Iridium" were removed from the tracklist.[90][95]
.jpg)
