Lester Mendez Explained

Lester Mendez
Origin:	Havana, Cuba
Instrument:	Piano, Keyboards, Synthesizers, modular synthesizers, Drums, Programming (music), Percussion
Occupation:	Producer, Songwriter, Composer, Arranger, Audio Engineer
Associated Acts:	Dido, Shakira, Kerli, Jewel, Santana, Jason Mraz, Josh Groban, Nelly Furtado and others

Lester Mendez is a multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning record producer, songwriter and composer. His production/writing credits include a multitude of successful hits with Shakira, Jewel, Nelly Furtado, Jessica Simpson, Enrique Iglesias, and others.

Career

Starting out professionally as a session musician and programmer, he worked on a variety of music and genres, including Hip hop, Miami bass, Freestyle music, House music / Deep house, World music, Pop music and Latin pop. Mendez's keyboard, programming, arranging, and remixing credits include artists such as: Jimmy Page, David Coverdale, David Byrne, Spice Girls, Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones, PM Dawn, Bee Gees, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Babyface, Martika, Chris de Burgh, Johnny Mathis, Will Smith, Collective Soul, Angélique Kidjo, Byron Stingily, Exposé, Paris by Air, Gloria Estefan, Chynna Phillips, Regina Belle, Gerald Alston, Phyllis Hyman, Jaydee, Haddaway, Deep Forest, Lonnie Gordon, Cerrone, Jimmy "Bo" Horne, Murk (band), Funky Green Dogs, Qkumba Zoo, Wubble-U, Nuclear Valdez, Afro-Rican, Lulu, the seminal freestyle band Will To Power (band), and many others.

His early production / songwriting career saw him working with Chris Blackwell's Island Records artists Grace Jones, Angélique Kidjo, Baaba Maal, Dominican-born rapper, and others.

As his career continued to grow as a producer & songwriter, he went on to work with a number of artists, including: Carlos Santana, Jason Mraz, Josh Groban, Dido, Sia, Nelly Furtado, Shakira, Seal, Donna Summer, Anastacia, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Sean Paul, Jem, Kerli, Oh land, Ladyhawke, Mike Posner, Sam Sparro, Mr Little Jeans, Adam Lambert, PlayRadioPlay!, Tarkan, Mark Feehily, Skylar Stecker, Rittz, She Is We and others. Most recently, he founded a project called Gemini Rising, in which he writes and produces all the music. Fellow collaborators on the project are Fiora (musician) and Tensnake. He also produced and co-wrote all 10 songs on the debut album by Claude Fontaine, a project he co-developed and co-conceived with Claude. The album was released on Innovative Leisure Records in the spring of 2019.

Awards

Award	Year	Category	Work	Result
Grammy Awards	2006	Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album	Fijación Oral, Vol. 1		^[1]
Latin Grammy Awards	2006	Album of the Year	Fijación Oral, Vol. 1		^[2]
		Best Female Pop Vocal Album
		Record of the Year	"La Tortura"

Discography (select)

Artist	Song	Album	Producer	Co-Writer
	Lover's Vow	La Mer	×	×
	Love The Way You Love	La Mer	×	×
	Vaqueiro	La Mer	×	×
	Besito	Single	×	×
	Una Bitch	Single	Co-Producer
	Pienso En Ti	Single	Co-Producer
	Si Tu No Esta Aqui	Single	Co-Producer
	Off The Ground	Off The Ground - Single		×
	Nightshift (feat. Fiora)	L.A.	Co-Producer	×
Coco Morier	After Hours	After Hours - Single	×	×
Gemini Rising	Best Case Life	Best Case Life	×	×
	Speed Of Sound		×	×
	Sunrise Boulevard		×	×
	Just Because		×	×
	After The Rain		×	×
	Orbit		×	×
	Morph		×	×
	Stars Come To An End		×	×
	Close Enough To Breathe		×	×
	The Future		×	×
	Tangy		×	×
	Nightsky		×	×
	Let It Go By		×	×
Claude Fontaine	Cry For Another	Claude Fontaine	×	×
	Hot Tears		×	×
	Little Sister		×	×
	Love Street		×	×
	Play By Play		×	×
	Pretending He Was You		×	×
	I'll Play The Fool		×	×
	Strings Of Your Guitar		×	×
	Footprints In The Sand		×	×
	Our Last Goodbye		×	×
	Musica Del Corazon		×	×
	Waterfalls	Moirai EP	Co-Producer	×
	Hello?	Hello - Single	Co-Producer	×
	Best Case Life	Gemini Rising-EP	×	×
	Sunrise Boulevard		×	×
	Stellaris		×	×
	Better Days		×	×
Svala	Paper	Eurovision Song Contest 2017	×	×
Skylar Stecker	Everlasting	This is me	×	×
Kerli	Feral Hearts	Deepest Roots	×	×
	Walking on Air	Love is Dead	×	×
	Hurt Me		×	×
She is We	Blue	War	×	×
Marcus Feehily	Find My Way	Fire	×	×
Coco Morier	No Pressure	Dreamer	×	×
	Dreamer		×	×
	World on Fire		×	×
	No Stranger(To Love)		×	×
	Walking In Our Sleep		×	×
	All Cats Are Grey		×	×
	Blood Moon		×	×
Dido	Stoned	Life For Rent		×
	Just Say Yes	Girl Who Got Away		×
Santana	Saideira feat. Samuel Rosa	Corazón	×
	La Flaca feat. Juanes		×
	Mal Bicho feat. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs		×
	Iron Lion Zion feat. Ziggy Marley & ChocQuibTown		×
	Una Noche en Nápoles feat. Lila Downs, Niña Pastori & Soledad		×
	Margarita feat. Romeo Santos		×
	Feel It Coming Back feat. Diego Torres		×
	Amor Correspondido feat. Diego Torres		×
	Cry Baby Cry feat. Joss Stone & Sean Paul	All That I Am	×	×
	Brown Skin Girl feat. Bo Bice		×
	I Am Somebody feat. Will.I.AM		×
	Amore (Sexo) feat. Macy Gray	Shaman	×	×
	Satellite feat. Marc Anthony		×	×
	Why Don't You & I feat. Chad Kroeger		×
	You Are My Kind feat. Seal		×
Shakira		Sale El Sol	×	×
	Lo Que Más		×
	Illegal feat. Carlos Santana	Oral Fixation, Vol.2	×	×
	Don't Bother		×
	How Do You Do		×
	Dreams For Plans		×
	Your Embrace		×
	Costume For A Clown		×
	Timor		×
	La Tortura feat Alejandro Sanz	Fijación Oral, Vol.1	×
	La Pared		×	×
	No feat Gustavo Cerati		×	×
	Obtener Un Si		×	×
	Escondite Inglés		×
	Las de la Intuición		×
	Dia De Enero		×
	Lo Imprescindible		×	×
	Underneath Your Clothes	Laundry Service	×	×
	Objection (Tango)		×	×
	Rules		×	×
	Ready For The Good Times		×	×
	The One		×
	Fool		×
	Te Dejo Madrid		×
	Octavo Día	Dónde Están los Ladrones?	×	×
	Ciega, Sordomuda		×
	Tú		×
	Moscas En La Casa		×
	Que Vuelvas		×
Sean Paul	Cry Baby Cry feat. Joss Stone & Sean Paul	The Trinity	×	×
Nelly Furtado	Más	Mi Plan	×	×
	Como Lluvia feat. Juan Luis Guerra		×	×
	Silencio feat. Josh Groban		×	×
	Vacación		×	×
	Te Busqué feat. Juanes	Loose	×	×
	Undercover		×	×
	What I Wanted		×	×
	For Sure		×	×
Nelly Furtado	Stars	The Best of Nelly Furtado	×	×
	Sad Eyes	Enrique	×
	"Quizás" (Enrique Iglesias song)	Quizás	×	×
	Para Qué la Vida		×	×
	Mentiroso		×
Josh Groban	Un Alma Mas feat Arturo Sandoval	All That Echoes	×	×
	E Ti Prometerro feat Laura Pausini		×	×
	False Alarms			×
	Voce Existe Em Mi	Illuminations		×
	Return To Paradise	Return To Paradise	×	×
Adam Lambert	Broken English	Trespassing	×	×
	Shady feat Nile Rodgers & Sam Sparro		×	×
	Be Myself Again	Crayons	×	×
PlayRadioPlay!	Loco Motion	Texas	×
	Madi		×
	Pirate & Princess		×
	See U Soon		×
	Tooth Decay		×
	Attendance		×
	Texas		×
	Mr.Curiosity	Mr. A–Z		×
Madi Diaz	Ghost Rider	Phantom	×	×
Jewel	Forever and a Day (Always)	Lullaby		×
	Drive To You			×
	Stand		×	×
	Run 2 U		×	×
	Intuition		×	×
	Leave The Lights On		×	×
	2 Find You		×	×
	Fragile Heart		×
	Doin' Fine		×	×
	2 Become 1		×
	Haunted		×	×
	Sweet Temptation		×
	Yes U Can		×
	U & Me=Love		×	×
	America		×	×
	Becoming		×	×
Rittz	Switch Lanes feat Mike Posner	The Life and Times of Jonny Valiant	×	×
Oh land	Helicopter	Oh land	×	×
Ladyhawke	Human	Anxiety		×
Mr Little Jeans	Back To You	Pocketknife	×	×
	Far From Home		×	×
	Sweet One feat. Sia			×
Lamya	Black Mona Lisa - Single Mix	Learning from Falling	×
Anastacia	You'll Be Fine	Heavy Rotation	×	×
	Naughty		×	×
	Same Song		×
	All Fall Down		×
	The Way I See It		×
	Three Nights In Rio feat. Carlos Santana	The Preacher's Son	×
Mýa	Do You Only Want To Dance		×	×
Jem	It's Amazing	Down To Earth	×	×
	I Want You To		×	×
	I Always Knew		×	×
	On Top OF The World		×	×
	Once in Every Lifetime		×	×
	Get Physical	Beauty Killer	×	×
	Gorgeous		×	×
	Kiss it Better		×	×
	A Public Affair	A Public Affair	×	×
	The Lover In Me		×
	Let Him Fly		×
	Algo De Ti	Gran City Pop	×
	A Contra Luz		×
	Escaleras De Arena		×
Angelique Kidjo	Fifa	Fifa		×
	Akwaba			×

External links

• EMI Music Publishing

Notes and References

1. Web site: Lester Mendez. grammy.com. The Recording Academy. 1 November 2020.
2. Web site: Lester Mendez. latingrammy.com. The Latin Recording Academy. 1 November 2020.