Amanda Ghost | |
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| Born | Amanda Louisa Gosein 10 July 1974 Enfield, North London, England |
| Other names | Amanda Cameron |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1997–present |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
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Amanda Louisa Gosein-Cameron (born 10 July 1974), known professionally as Amanda Ghost, is a British entertainment executive, songwriter and singer. She was the president of Epic Records from 2009 until 2010. [1] Ghost is a three-time Ivor Novello Award winner, a Golden Globe nominee, and worked on five songs and albums that have been nominated for Grammy Awards.
At the age of 19, Ghost began writing songs with Ian Dench. [2] In 1997, she contributed her version of Gary Numan's "Absolution" to the tribute album Random . [3] Her first recording contract was in 2000 with Warner Records in Los Angeles, for whom she recorded her first album, Ghost Stories . [4] Her second album, Blood on the Line EP, was released in 2006 [5] on her own record label, Plan A Records. [4]
Ghost won the Ivor Novello Award three times, [6] and was a 2009 Golden Globe nominee. [7] She was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including for the songs "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt in 2007, [8] [9] [10] and "Once in a Lifetime", which she co-wrote with Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, Jody Street, James Dring and Beyoncé in 2010, as part of the soundtrack from Beyoncé's film Cadillac Records , and which was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture. [11] She was nominated for the 2010 Album of the Year for Beyoncé's I Am... Sasha Fierce . [12] In addition, Ghost worked on the song "Beautiful Liar" for Beyoncé and Shakira, which was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2008. [13] [6] [14]
Ghost co-wrote Jordin Sparks' second single "Tattoo" [15] which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, [16] and collaborated with John Legend on the lyrics for the track "Getting Nowhere" by Magnetic Man. [6]
On 3 February 2009, Ghost was named the new president of Epic Records. [10] She replaced Charlie Walk, who left at the end of 2008. [9]
In 2009, Ghost collaborated on the songs "For the Glory" and "Vanity Kills" by Ian Brown (featured on Brown's album My Way ), which she co-wrote with Brown and Dave McCracken. [17] [18] She also co-wrote and co-produced the Shakira single "Gypsy", from the album She Wolf . [19] [20]
Ghost was fired from her position as president of Epic Records in 2010 after 20 months. [21] That same year, she established Outsiders, a joint venture with Sony Music. [6] [22] She has collaborated with Florence and the Machine, [23] Mark Ronson, [24] and A$AP Rocky. [25] [26]
In 2015, Ghost founded the production company Unigram with film and television producer Gregor Cameron and in partnership with Access Industries. [27] [28] [29] She also serves as the CEO of AI Film. [30]
Ghost worked on the 2015 film Kill Your Friends , based on the novel by John Niven. [31] She served as the executive music producer on a joint venture with Lee Daniels and Warner Recorded Music on The United States vs Billie Holiday , [30] which won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media in 2022. [32]
In 2023, Ghost co-produced the title music "Mad About the Boy" for the documentary Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story , which was covered by Adam Lambert for the film. [33] That year, Ghost also served as executive producer for the film She Came to Me , [34] and worked on the film Tetris . [31]
Ghost was a lead producer on the 2024 musical theatre adaptation of The Great Gatsby , called Gatsby:An American Myth , which was co-composed by Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine. [31]
Amanda Ghost was born as the youngest of three girls to a Gibraltarian mother and an Indo-Trinidadian father. [31] She grew up in North London [6] and studied at the London College of Fashion, but left when she was signed as a recording artist to Warner Records. [35] [36]
† Credited to Dark Globe featuring Amanda Ghost
| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album | Written with | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "You're Beautiful" | 2004 | James Blunt | Back to Bedlam | James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek | [40] [41] [42] [43] |
| "Billy" | James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek | [44] | |||
| "Beautiful Liar" (with Shakira) | 2006 | Beyoncé | B'Day | Beyoncé, Stargate, Ian Dench | [43] [45] |
| "Flashback" | All Saints | Studio 1 | Natalie Appleton, Liam Howlett, Ian Dench | [46] | |
| "Tattoo" | 2007 | Jordin Sparks | Jordin Sparks | Stargate, Ian Dench | [45] |
| "Freeze" | Jordin Sparks, Stargate, Ian Dench | [47] | |||
| "Virginia Is for Lovers" | Jordin Sparks, Stargate, Ian Dench | [48] | |||
| "Disappear" | 2008 | Beyoncé | I Am... Sasha Fierce | Beyoncé, Hugo, Dave McCracken, Ian Dench | [43] [49] |
| "Ave Maria" | Beyoncé, Ian Dench, Makeba Riddick, Stargate | [50] [43] | |||
| "Satellites" | Beyoncé, Dave McCracken, Ian Dench | [43] [51] | |||
| "Once In a Lifetime" | Cadillac Records: Music from the Motion Picture | Beyoncé, Ian Dench, Scott McFarnon, James Dring, Jody Street | [43] [52] [53] | ||
| "Red" | 2009 | Daniel Merriweather | Love & War | Ian Dench, Scott McFarnon | [53] |
| "Gypsy" | Shakira | She Wolf | Shakira, Ian Dench, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers | [53] | |
| "Give It Up to Me" (featuring Lil Wayne) | Shakira, Lil Wayne, Timbaland, J-Roc | [54] | |||
| "Fresh Out the Oven" (featuring Pitbull) | Jennifer Lopez | Non-album single | Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, Pharrell Williams | [55] | |
| "Getting Nowhere" (featuring John Legend) | 2010 | Magnetic Man | Magnetic Man | John Legend, Skream, Benga, Artwork | [53] [43] |
| "Untouchable" | 2011 | Ben Saunders | You Thought You Knew Me By Now | Daniel Merriweather | [56] |
| "Bedroom Hymns" | Florence and the Machine | Ceremonials | Florence Welch | [57] | |
| "Old Tyme Religion" | Hugo | Old Tyme Religion | Hugo, Ian Dench, Johnny Flynn | [53] | |
| "Born" | Hugo, Ian Dench, Dave McCracken | [53] | |||
| "Mekong River Delta" | Hugo, Ian Dench, Dave McCracken | [53] | |||
| "Sweetest Cure" | Hugo, Ian Dench, Peter Ibsen | [53] | |||
| "Different Lives" | Hugo, Dave McCracken | [53] | |||
| "Wake Alone" | Hugo, Darren Lewis, Ian Dench, Tunde Babalola | [53] | |||
| "Sunburn" | 2012 | K.Flay | Eyes Shut | K.Flay, Dave McCracken | [58] |
| "Only the Horses" | Scissor Sisters | Magic Hour | Jake Shears, Babydaddy, Boys Noize | [53] | |
| "Wasted" | 2013 | Tony Lucca | With the Whole World Watching | Tony Lucca, Eric Rosse, Ian Dench, Scott McFarnon | [59] |
| "I Come Apart" (featuring Florence Welch) | ASAP Rocky | Long. Live. ASAP | ASAP Rocky, Florence Welch, Emile Haynie, John Legend | [53] | |
| "Endorphins" (featuring Alex Clare) | Sub Focus | Torus | Sub Focus, Ian Dench, Takura | [53] | |
| "Tidal Wave" (featuring Alpines) | Sub Focus, Alpines | [53] | |||
| "Astronaut" | Joel Compass | Astronaut | Joel Compass, Ian Dench, Styalz Fuego, The Aston Shuffle | [60] | |
| "The Conversation" | Texas | The Conversation | Sharleen Spiteri, Johnny McElhone, Karen Overton, Ian Dench | [53] | |
| "Break the Fall" | 2014 | Laura Welsh | Laura Welsh | Laura Welsh, Babydaddy | [61] |
| "Undiscovered" | 2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Laura Welsh, Emile Haynie, Dev Hynes | [62] | |
| "Soft Control" | Soft Control | Laura Welsh, Liam Howe | [63] | ||
| "God Keeps" | Laura Welsh, Emile Haynie, Babydaddy | [64] | |||
| "Cold Front" | Laura Welsh, Robin Hannibal | [65] | |||
| "Breathe Me In" | Laura Welsh, Robin Hannibal | [61] | |||
| "Hollow Drum" | Laura Welsh, Ian Dench | [64] | |||
| "Jackson" | Elle King | Love Stuff | Elle King, Dave McCracken, Felipe Aparicio | [66] | |
| "Whole" | 2016 | Lion Babe | Begin | Lion Babe, Joel Compass | [67] |
| "Impossible" | Lion Babe, Linden Jay, Lewis Jankel, Fred Cox | [67] | |||
| "Forever" | 2017 | Jamie Cullum | The Halcyon (Original Music from the Television Series) | Jamie Cullum, Ian Dench, Joel Compass | [64] |
| "Invincible" | Jamie Cullum, Ian Dench, Joel Compass | [64] | |||
| "Fires and Flames" | 2018 | Tinashe | Joyride | Tinashe, Kate Stewart, Joel Compass | [68] |
| "The One" | Jorja Smith | Lost & Found | Jorja Smith, Joel Compass, Ed Thomas, Kito | [69] | |
| "Measure of a Man" (featuring Central Cee) | 2021 | FKA Twigs | The King's Man | FKA Twigs, Dominic Lewis, Matthew Margeson, Jamie Hartman, Jane Goldman, John Hill, Matthew Vaughn | [70] [71] |
| "Papi Bones" (featuring Shygirl) | 2022 | Caprisongs | FKA Twigs, Shygirl, El Guincho, Fakeguido, Jonny Coffer | [72] [73] | |
| "Wanderlust" | 2025 | Eusexua | FKA Twigs, Lewis Roberts, Timmaz Zolleyn, Emile Haynie, Stuart Price, Dougie F. Mark Williams, Raul Cubina, Ed Thomas | ||
In 2009, the Londoner was picked as a left-field choice to lead Epic Records in Los Angeles, a division of Sony Music. Her stint as president was a rocky experience, lasting less than two years. The US record exec suits reacted badly to the Limey talent who had been catapulted into their midst. She left in 2010 amid gossipy accusations…(subscription required)