Bublé waited months for producer
or two other producers, but I’m going to save a lot of it for you. I’m gonna wait until you’re free.’
“And he did, he waited three or four months!”
As with most accomplished individuals, success didn’t happen overnight.
The Greg Wells story began at his parents’ Peterborough home, where he grew up as the son of a Northminster United Church minister Bill Wells, learning to play several instruments after being waylaid in a wheelchair for a couple of years with Perthes disease.
(His brother Rob, based in Toronto, would also become an accomplished songwriter and producer after a detour into graphic design.)
Fully recovered — and at the insistence of high school pal and saxophone player Kira Payne — Wells moved to Toronto at 17 to pursue music, attending the Humber College jazz program as a piano major. Payne also recommended that Wells apply for a Canada Council for the Arts grant to further his studies in Los Angeles.
“I started thinking if I really want to get deeply involved in the record business, there’s only one place on planet Earth where that happens: Los Angeles,” recalled Wells, who was also playing keyboards for Kim Mitchell at the time.
“I was going to attend the Dick Grove School of Music in L.A., which is kind of like Berklee, and I applied to the council for a grant and forgot about it.
“Nine or 10 months later, a letter showed up saying I was approved. So I called Dick Grove and they said they were going bankrupt.”
After a bit of research, Wells convinced the Canada Council of the Arts to allow him to pursue private studies with piano teacher Terry Trotter (he composed the theme for “Everyone Loves Raymond” and has recorded with Frank Sinatra) and also Clare Fischer, best known as Prince’s go-to guy for string arrangements.
“That’s what led me here,” Wells said. “I assumed when the grant money ran out that I would be coming back to Toronto.”
But Trotter and Fischer kept recommending Wells for small recording sessions in L.A. as a demo piano player.
His first U.S. recording session was with eventual James Taylor backing singer David Lasley and, slowly, word of mouth built his reputation. Wells also toured with k.d. lang for part of her “Ingenue” jaunt, but things weren’t moving quickly enough and, after being frustrated for over a decade, he considered quitting the business altogether.
“I was going to move my young family to Salt Spring Island,” said Wells, who is married to songwriter Nina Woodford and lives with their six children in L.A., including two from his previous marriage to Goffin.
“I had my house on the market here in Los Angeles, but my manager at the time said, ‘Please give me one more year.’
“Ten months later, I got hired to produce this artist from London called Mika and we wound up selling six million records. It changed my career forever. That wouldn’t have happened had I unplugged from the business.”
Wells said perseverance will eventually pay off if you’re consistent.
“If you keep showing up and do the best work you can, and be a nice person that’s easy to work with while still remaining confident, at some point that combination will lead to some sort of success,” he said.
He recalls meeting Perry in early 2000 after she made a record with producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill”) and had been dropped by her label before its release.
“Katy was obsessed with ‘Jagged Little Pill’ and she sought Glen out when she was 18 years old, making a full album that was gonna be her debut as Katy Perry, not Kate Hudson, her early Christian recording persona,” Wells said.
“I very luckily got called in as a young producer just starting out …
“We had recorded ‘Waking Up in Vegas,’ which wound up becoming a huge hit for her on her first (Capitol) album, but once it finally came out that she was without a deal, she asked if she could do a songwriting session with me regardless. And I’m like, ‘Of course, just come in. I don’t care that you don’t have a deal.’
“And people were asking, ‘Why are you working with Katy Perry? She’s old news. She’s washed up. Nothing’s gonna happen with her.’”
“But I knew they were wrong, because when Katy would walk into a room — and like how people would describe Marilyn Monroe — she would just light it up. She was just full of personality: a fantastic singer, a great songwriter and very bright and funny, a blast to be around. I’m so proud of her.
“We connected and we’re still good friends.”
Wells recalled a similar situation with OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder.
“I got asked to produce his band’s debut album and did, and he was just starting in Los Angeles as a songwriter and producer for hire for other people. Now Ryan’s career has now completely eclipsed mine. He’s a lovely guy, but he’s a guy that I’m happy when I see someone like him and Katy win — just really good people who are super talented and who work really hard. I try to recognize that stuff and help people do it.”
Currently working on Dolby Atmos mixes for the 2013 Twenty One Pilots album “Vessel,” which he produced, Wells has also been engaged in philanthropy: he offers his mixing services as a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders; provides drum kits at his own expense to aspiring musicians and hands out Roland keyboards that are underwritten by the manufacturer.
“I just gave away my 19th drum kit to a kid in Philadelphia,” he said. “When I was a kid, we couldn’t afford to pay for one.
“So now I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to get drums into the hands of somebody, regardless of age or location, who wants drums but doesn’t have them in their lives for whatever reason?”