MUMBAI: In just two short years, songwriter Julie Frost went from indie hit maker to one of the most sought-after songwriters today and has now been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for co-writing “Masterpiece” with Madonna and Jimmy Harry. The bittersweet ballad was produced by William Orbit to be featured in the end credits of Madonna’s film, “W.E.” and on her highly anticipated upcoming album.
Before Frost’s “big break” in 2009, she spent many years honing her skills as an independent singer/songwriter who some have said can combine Fiona Apple stylings with the folk purity of Jewel. Her independent album “The Wave” was critically acclaimed and hit number one charts on several AAA stations across the nation. She has taught at the famous Old Town School of Folk Music, contributed her voice and music to major ad campaigns, and received an honorable mention from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. She was invited twice to showcase at the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City.
Frost’s dedication to music finally paid off on a grand scale when she took a chance and emailed links to her songs to President of North America Creative for EMI Music Publishing Jon Platt in 2009. Platt immediately flew her to Los Angeles, offered her a deal, and changed her life. Since then she has co-written many chart-topping songs, including: Beyonce’s single “Countdown” on her recent platinum selling album “4”; the Black Eyed Peas’ “Just Can’t Get Enough,” which is one of Billboard’s top 10 songs of 2011 on their album, “The Beginning”; and Pitbull’s “Castles Made of Sand” for his album, “Planet Pit” on Billboard’s top 200; among others. Frost is the first American songwriter to win the Eurovision Song Contest, one of the longest-running television shows in the world, as a co-writer for the song “Satellite” which won the contest in 2010 and became a triple-platinum single in Germany.
Related Post
“I’m privileged to be able to write songs for a living. For me, this really is a kind of calling, and I’m determined to be doing this for a long time to come,” says Frost, who seemed destined to become a musician. Her parents surrounded her with music and gave her a guitar when she was only six. Self-taught and creatively inspired, Frost honed her skills by teaching children guitar lessons, recording independent CDs, and forcing herself to perform in front of different crowds every week in Chicago nightclubs to build her confidence as a songwriter.
“At its best, songwriting should feel like something coming from heaven through you, onto the page or into the microphone,” she says. “In the end, I just write songs I want to hear myself, and hope that someone else would like to hear them too.”
