Tobias Jesso Jr.

Canadian musician

Tobias Jesso Jr.

Birth name| Tobias MacDonald Jesso Jr.
Born|  (1985-07-11) July 11, 1985 (age 38)
Origin| North Vancouver, Canada
Genres|

* Indie rock
* baroque pop
* alternative
* pop

Instrument(s)|

* Vocals
* piano
* bass
* guitar

Years active| 2014–present
Labels| True Panther Sounds[1]
Spouse(s)|

Emma Louise

(m. 2019)​

Website| www.tobiasjessojr.com

Musical artist

Tobias MacDonald Jesso Jr. (born July 11, 1985) is a Canadian musician from North Vancouver, British Columbia.[2] His debut album Goon was released in 2015 on True Panther Sounds. He was included in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 20 Biggest Breakouts of 2015.[3] He won the first ever Grammy Award for Songwriter of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards for his work on releases by Harry Styles, Adele, FKA Twigs, Orville Peck, King Princess, Diplo and Omar Apollo.[4]

## Career[edit]

After living and playing bass in Los Angeles for 4 years, Jesso moved back to his home in North Vancouver.[3] He started playing the piano in his spare time while working for a moving company. It was during this period that he wrote his first piano-based song "Just a Dream." Eventually, he sent one of his demos in an email to former Girls bassist JR White. Jesso co-wrote the songs "When We Were Young" and "Lay Me Down" (featured on the Target version of 25) with Adele, which is included in her 2015 album 25.

### Goon[edit]

Jesso's first demo was released in August 2013 after a painful break-up and his mother's cancer diagnosis.[5] JR White, along with Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, John Collins of The New Pornographers, and Ariel Rechtshaid, helped produce Jesso's debut album entitled Goon. Aaron Sperske plays drums on the album except Danielle Haim plays drums on the track "Without You." His song "How Could You Babe" garnered increased attention after being tweeted about by both Adele and Alana Haim.[6] He collaborated with Sia and Adele on the song "Alive". Originally intended for Adele and Rihanna, the song was eventually recorded by Sia and appeared on her album This Is Acting.[7] His first major tour started in 2015.

## Musical style[edit]

Jesso's music has been compared to singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s from Randy Newman to Harry Nilsson and Emitt Rhodes. He cites Newman as one of his favourite artists.[8] Even though he was a bassist and guitarist for years, his new music was written by him on the piano—an instrument he started playing at the age of 27.

## Awards[edit]

Jesso was nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the 2015 Juno Awards.[9] On June 20, 2016, Jesso was the recipient of the SOCAN Breakout Award at the SOCAN Awards in Toronto. He won the Grammy for Songwriter of the Year non-classical in 2023.[10]

## Personal life[edit]

Jesso married Australian musician Emma Louise in January 2019;[11][12] they have since had a child.[13]

## Discography[edit]

List of albums  Title  | Album details

|

Goon |

* Release: March 17, 2015
* Label: True Panther Sounds
* Formats: CD, LP, digital download

### Singles[edit]

* "True Love"
* "Hollywood"
* "How Could You Babe"

## Songwriting and production credits[edit]

Title  | Year  | Artist(s)  | Album  | Credits  | Written with  | Produced with

|
|
|
|
|
|

"Alive"  | 2015  | Sia | This Is Acting | Co-writer  | Sia Furler, Adele Adkins | —
"When We Were Young"  | Adele | 25 | Adele Adkins | —
"Lay Me Down"  | Adele Adkins | —
"Roses"  | 2016  | Shawn Mendes | Illuminate | Shawn Mendes, Thomas Hull | —
"How Do We Make It"  | Jarryd James | High EP | Producer  | —  | Jarryd James
"Same Old Story"  | John Legend | Darkness and Light | Co-writer  | John Stephens, Blake Mills | —
"Marching into the Dark"  | John Stephens, Blake Mills | —
"Slow Hands"  | 2017  | Niall Horan | Flicker | Niall Horan, Alexander Izquerdio, John Ryan II, Julian Bunetta, Ruth-Anne Cunningham | —
"Orlando"  | XXXTentacion | 17 | Jahseh Onfroy | —
"Ayala (Outro)"  | Producer  | —  | XXXTentacion, John Cunningham
"You Get My Love"  | Pink | Beautiful Trauma | Co-writer/Producer  | Alecia Moore | Pink
"Still Around"  | Paloma Faith | The Architect | Co-writer  | Paloma Faith, Christopher Stracey  | —
"If You Leave Me Now"
(featuring Boys II Men) | 2018  | Charlie Puth | Voicenotes | Charles Puth Jr., Robin Wiley  | —
"Hunger"  | Florence and the Machine | High as Hope | Florence Welch, Emile Haynie, Thomas Bartlett | —
"Grace"  | Florence Welch, Emile Haynie, Sampha Sisay | —
"The End of Love"  | Co-writer/Co-producer  | Florence Welch | Emile Haynie, Florence Welch
"Bruised Fruit"  | St. Paul & The Broken Bones | Young Sick Camellia | Co-writer  | St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Jack Splash | —
"Not Thinkin' About You"  | Ruel | Ready | Lary Darnell Griffin Jr., Mark Landon, Ruel Vincent Van Dijk, Samuel Elliot Roman  | —
"Wish You Well"  | Emma Louise | Lilac Everything | Producer  | —  | None
"Mexico"
"Falling Apart"
"Just the Way I Am"
"Never Making Plans
Again"
"Gentleman"
"Shadowman"
"Solitude"
"A Book Left Open in a
Wild Field of Flowers"
"When It Comes to You"
"Malibu Nights"  | LANY | Malibu Nights | Co-writer  | Paul Klein | —
"Reasons"  | Cautious Clay | Table of Context EP | Joshua Carpeh, Ross Birchard  | —
"Unsaid"  | 2019  | Ruel | Free Time | Peter Harding, Mark Landon, Ruel Vincent Van Dijk, Spencer Stewart  | —
"BRKN"  | Madison Ward  | Beyond Me | Madison Ryann Ward  | —
"Hallelujah"  | Haim | Women in Music Pt. III | Danielle Haim, Alana Haim, Este Haim | —
"Nice to Meet Ya"  | 2020  | Niall Horan | Heartbreak Weather | Niall Horan, Ruth-Anne Cunningham, Julian Bunetta  | —
"San Francisco"  | Co-writer/Co-producer  | Julian Bunetta, Teddy Geiger
"Bend the Rules"  | Co-writer  | Niall Horan, Julian Bunetta, John Ryan | —
"Nothing"  | Co-writer/Co-producer  | Julian Bunetta, Jeff Gunnell
"No Judgement"  | Niall Horan, Julian Bunetta, Alexander Izquierdo, John Ryan  | Julian Bunetta
"Woman"  | Ellie Goulding | Brightest Blue | Co-writer  | Ellie Goulding, Eli Teplin, Christopher Stacey  | —
"Brush Fire"  | Gracie Abrams | Non-album single  | Gracie Abrams, Blake Slatkin  | —
"Pain"  | King Princess | Non-album single  | Mikaela Straus, Nick Long, Shawn Everett  | —
"Intro"  | Shawn Mendes | Wonder | Kurtis McKenzie, Adam King Feeney, Scott Harris, Shawn Mendes  | —
"Always Been You"  | Scott Harris, Shawn Mendes, Zubin Thakkar  | —
"Overdrive"  | 2021  | Conan Gray | Non-album single  | Co-writer/Co-producer  | Christopher John Stracey, Conan Gray, Jordan K. Johnson, Oliver Peterhof, Stefan Johnson  | The Monsters & Strangerz, Chris Stracey
"Kansas"  | Ashe | Ashlyn | Co-writer  | Ashlyn Willson, Leroy Clampitt | —
"Whoa"  | Cautious Clay | Deadpan Love | Cautious Clay, Christopher John Stracey  | —
"Shook"  | Cautious Clay, Nolan Lambroza | —
"To Be Loved"  | Adele | 30 | Adele Adkins  | —
"Somewhere"  | LANY | gg bb xx | Paul Klein | —
"I Die First"  | —
"Tom Brady"  | Amy Allen | AWW! | Co-writer/Co-producer  | Amy Allen, Andrew Haas, Ian Franzino  | Amy Allen, Afterhrs
"Unsatisfied"
"Which Way"
(featuring Dystopia) | 2022  | FKA twigs | Caprisongs | Co-writer  | FKA twigs, Mike Dean | —
"Careless"
(featuring Daniel Caesar) | FKA twigs, Simon Christiansen, Daniel Caesar | —
"Thank You Song"  | FKA twigs, Alejandra Ghersi | —
"C'mon Baby, Cry"  | Orville Peck | Bronco | Christopher Stracey, Orville Peck | —
"The Curse of the Blackened Eye"  | —
"Let You Go"  | Diplo | Diplo | Matthew Phelan, Naji Kareem Lomax, Teisha Matthews, Thomas Wesley Pentz  | —
"No Good Reason"  | Omar Apollo | Ivory | Co-writer/Co-producer  | Omar Velasco, Kevin Rhomberg, Carter Lang  | Carter Lang, Knox Fortune, Omar Apollo
"Boyfriends"  | Harry Styles | Harry's House | Co-writer  | Harry Styles, Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson | —
"Dotted Lines"  | King Princess | Hold On Baby | Co-writer/Co-producer  | Amy Allen, Dave Hamelin, Mikaela Straus, Shawn Everett | King Princess, Shawn Everett
"Dangerous"  | Madison Beer | Silence Between Songs | Co-writer  | Jeremy Dussoliet, Leroy Clampitt, Madison Beer, Tim Sommers | —
"Better Angels"  | Marcus Mumford | (self-titled) | Blake Mills, Marcus Mumford, Robin Pecknold | —
"How I'm Feeling Now"  | 2023  | Lewis Capaldi | Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent | Lewis Capaldi, TMS | —
"Heaven"  | Niall Horan | The Show | Niall Horan, Joel Little, John Ryan  | —
"Thousand Miles" (Featuring Brandi Carlile)  | Miley Cyrus | Endless Summer Vacation | Miley Cyrus, Mike Will Made It, Bibi Bourelly,  | —
"Wildcard"  | Miley Cyrus, Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson | —
"Always"  | Daniel Caesar | Never Enough | Ashton Simmonds, Justin Lucas, Sir Nolan | —
"Champ" (Featuring Edgar Winter)  | Portugal. The Man | Chris Black Changed My Life | Casey Bates, Edgar Winter, Homer Steinweiss, Jason Sechrist, Jeff Bhasker, John Gourley, Kyle O'Quin, Zoe Manville  | —
"Are You Awake?"  | Lauren Mayberry | Non-album single  | Lauren Mayberry, Matthew Koma | —
"Houdini"  | Dua Lipa | TBA | Dua Lipa, Caroline Ailin, Danny L Harle, Kevin Parker | —

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Tobias Jesso Jr". www.tobiasjessojr.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
2. ^ "Who is Tobias Jesso Jr.?". www.thefader.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
3. ^ a b "The Windish Agency: Tobias Jesso Jr". Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
4. ^ "Meet The Nominees For Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical At The 2023 GRAMMYs". Grammy.com. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
5. ^ Homewood, Ben (March 2, 2015). "NME Reviews - Tobias Jesso Jr. - 'Goon' - NME.COM". nme.com. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
6. ^ "Tobias Jesso Jr: Since Adele tweeted his song, he's even bigger than his dad". www.theguardian.com. February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
7. ^ Chau, Thomas (September 7, 2015). "Sia Reveals That She Originally Wrote Her Next Single for Adele". Popcrush. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
8. ^ Adkins, Adele (November 16, 2015). "Adele interviews Tobias Jesso Jr: 'I think that a couple of the ideas we had could be rap songs'". The Guardian. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
9. ^ "Junos award winners include Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Weeknd and Justin Bieber". CBC News, By David Bell, April 2, 2016
10. ^ http://www.socan.ca/files/pdf/SOCAN Awards-Winners List-June 2016-FINAL-EN.pdf[bare URL PDF]
11. ^ Instagram
12. ^ "Emma Louise: "I Sorted Out A Lot Of Things That Had Been Holding Me Back"". August 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
13. ^ Instagram

## External links[edit]

* Official website

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States

Artists|

* Grammy Awards
* MusicBrainz

Other|

* IdRef

*[m.]: married