| Chris Braide | |
| Birth Name: | Christopher Braide |
| Alias: | Magical Thinker |
| Origin: | Warrington, Lancashire, England |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Years Active: | 1990s–present |
Christopher Braide is an English songwriter, record producer and singer, formerly based in Malibu, Los Angeles.
First signed as a solo artist by David A. Stewart in the UK and Craig Kallman at Atlantic Records in the US, Braide relocated to Los Angeles to produce and write for artists including Sia, Lana Del Rey, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Christina Aguilera, Selena Gomez, David Guetta, Halsey, Wrabel, Marc Almond, Beth Ditto, Yuna and Beyoncé.
Braide is a frequent collaborator of Sia;[1] together they have written for her own projects, movie soundtracks and for several other artists. Notable songs they have written over the years include "Kill and Run" for The Great Gatsby film and soundtrack, "Helium" for the 2017 Fifty Shades Darker film and soundtrack, "Pretty Isn't Perfect" and "Unstoppable" for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, "God Made You Beautiful" for the Beyoncé film Life Is But a Dream, "Perfume" for Britney Spears,[2] "Blank Page" for Christina Aguilera, and "She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)" for David Guetta featuring Sia. Most recently, their song "Helium" was remixed for MAC cosmetics a collaboration for the cosmetic company's AIDS Fund by David Guetta and Afrojack, and a new single, "Flames", was released by David Guetta.[3] [4]
In 2022, the song "Unstoppable" was released to radio as an official single in the United States after gaining popularity through commercials and video-sharing app TikTok.[5] It became No.1 on the Adult Pop Airplay Chart 6 years after its release and is the first record in a quarter of a century to be in the charts for over 100 weeks.
He has a duo group with Geoff Downes (Yes, Buggles, Asia and others), called Downes Braide Association (DBA), since 2012.
Braide has won an Ivor Novello award and been nominated for a Grammy. He is published by BMG Rights Management worldwide and Magical Thinking BMI.
| Year | Artist | Album | Label | Song | Writer/Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Sia | Unstoppable | Monkey Puzzle/RCA | Unstoppable | Writer/Producer |
| 2021 | Sia | Music – Songs from and Inspired by the Motion Picture | Monkey Puzzle/Atlantic | Music | Writer/Producer |
| 2020 | Toni Braxton | Spell My Name | Island Records | Saturday Night | Writer/Producer |
| Halsey | Astralwerks | Honesty | Writer/ Producer | ||
| Marc Almond | Chaos and a Dancing Star | BMG | All Songs | Writer/Producer | |
| 2019 | Freya Ridings | Freya Ridings | Good Soldier | Still Have You | Writer/ Producer |
| Sia ft Hans Zimmer | Seven Worlds, One Planet | BBC | Out There | Writer/ Producer | |
| Evie Irie | 5 weeks in LA | Republic | Vulnerable | Writer/ Producer | |
| Natalie Portman / Celeste | Vox Lux (soundtrack) | Columbia | 2 songs | Producer | |
| 2018 | Nicki Minaj | Queen | Young Money/Cash Money/Republic | Come See About Me | Writer/ Producer |
| Sia & David Guetta | 7 | What A Music/ Warner | Flames | Writer/ Producer[6] | |
| Sia vs. David Guetta & Afrojack | MAC | Monkey Puzzle | Helium | Writer/ Producer[7] | |
| LP | Heart to Mouth | Vagrant/BMG | Recovery | Writer/ Producer | |
| Robin Schulz ft Erika Sirola | IIII | Atlantic | Speechless | Writer | |
| 2017 | Sia | Ballerina (titled Leap! in the United States) | Gaumont | Suitcase | Writer/ Producer |
| Robin Schulz | Uncovered | Warner | I Believe I'm Fine | Writer/ Producer | |
| Marc Almond | Shadows and Reflections | BMG | Embers | Writer/ Producer | |
| Elle King | Estee Lauder Ft Kendall Jenner | RCA/ Magical Thinker Records | Wild Love | Writer/Producer | |
| Allie X | CollXtion II | Twin Music | True Love Is Violent | Writer/Producer | |
| Wrabel | Estee Lauder Ft Magical Thinker & Wrabel | Epic/ Magical Thinker Records | It's You | Writer/ Producer | |
| Meg Mac | Low Blows | Little Big Man | Don't Need Permission | Producer | |
| Halsey | Hopeless Fountain Kingdom | Astralwerks | The Prologue | Writer | |
| Lea Michele | Places | Columbia | "Heavy Love" | Writer | |
| Republic | "Helium" | Writer/ Producer | |||
| Hits and Pieces: The Best of Marc Almond and Soft Cell | UMC | "A Kind of Love" | Writer/ Producer | ||
| 2016 | This Is Acting (Deluxe Version) | Columbia | "Confetti" | Writer/ Producer | |
| "Midnight Decisions" | Writer/ Producer | ||||
| This Is Acting | Columbia | "Unstoppable" | |||
| "Space Between" | Writer/ Producer | ||||
| Rozes/ Elizabeth Mencel | Under The Grave | ||||
| 2015 | Selena Gomez | Revival | Interscope | Camouflage | |
| Room 93 | Astralwerks/Capitol | "Trouble" | |||
| The Velvet Trail | Cherry Red Records | All songs | Co-Writer/Producer | ||
| Guitars and Microphones | Kobalt | "4 songs" | Writer/Producer | ||
| Hysteria | eOne | Round Your Little Finger | |||
| 2014 | Sia | 1000 Forms of Fear | Columbia | "Eye of the Needle" | Writer |
| "Big Girls Cry" | Writer/ Producer | ||||
| Gypsy Heart | Universal | "Break Free" | |||
| A Perfect Contradiction | Epic/RCA | "Impossible Heart" | |||
| Forget the World | Universal / Def Jam | "Ten Feet Tall" | |||
| 2013 | Louder | Columbia | "If You Say So" | ||
| "You're Mine" | |||||
| Britney Jean | RCA | "Perfume" | |||
| "Brightest Morning Star" | Vocal Producer | ||||
| Life Is But a Dream | Columbia | "God Made You Beautiful" | Writer/ Producer | ||
| The Great Gatsby soundtrack[8] | Interscope Records | "Kill and Run"[9] | |||
| David Guetta featuring Sia | Nothing But the Beat 2.0 | Virgin Records/ EMI | "She Wolf"[10] | ||
| Stooshe | London with the Lights On | Warner Bros | "Your Own Kind of Beautiful"[11] | ||
| "Perfectly Wrong" | |||||
| Yuna | Nocturnal | Verve/ Universal | "Rescue"[12] | ||
| "Colors" | |||||
| "Escape" | |||||
| "Come Back" | Producer | ||||
| Sixth Street | "Let Love Come Through Ft Kyle"[13] | Writer/ Producer | |||
| Sarah Brightman | Dreamchaser | Decca | "Closer"[14] | ||
| 2012 | Lana Del Rey | Born to Die[15] | Interscope | "Million Dollar Man"[16] | |
| Leak | "Damn You" | ||||
| "Queen of Disaster" | |||||
| "Hollywood's Dead" | |||||
| Christina Aguilera | Lotus | RCA | "Blank Page"[17] | ||
| Paloma Faith | Fall to Grace | Epic | "30 Minute Love Affair"[18] | Writer | |
| Yuna | Yuna[19] | Fader | "Lullabies" | Writer/ Producer | |
| "Favorite Things" | |||||
| "Loud Noises" | |||||
| " Islands " | |||||
| " Decorate " | |||||
| Delta Goodrem | Child of the Universe[20] | Sony Music | "Hunter and the Wolves"[21] | Producer | |
| "Speed of Life" | |||||
| "Control" | |||||
| 2011 | JLS | Jukebox[22] | Epic | "Killed By Love" | Writer/ Producer |
| Theophilus London | Warner Bros | "Century Girl" featuring Dev Hynes[23] | |||
| Pixie Lott | "Turn It Up Louder"[24] | Mercury | "Doin' Fine (Without You)"[25] | ||
| 2010 | Diana Vickers | Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree | RCA | "The Boy Who Murdered Love" | |
| "N.U.M.B" | |||||
| "Four Leaf Clover" | |||||
| "Me and You" | |||||
| JLS | Outta This World[26] | Epic | "That's Where I'm Coming From" | ||
| Olly Murs | Olly Murs | Epic | "Ask Me to Stay" | Writer | |
| The Saturdays | Wordshaker | Fascination/ Polydor | "Denial" | Writer/ Producer | |
| 2009 | Cheryl Cole | 3 Words | Fascination/ Polydor | "Don't Talk About This Love" | Writer |
| Lolene | The Electrick Hotel | Island Def Jam | "Beautiful Disaster" | Writer/Producer | |
| The Saturdays | Chasing Lights | Fascination/ Polydor | "Chasing Lights" | ||
| Westlife | Where We Are | Syco Music | "Reach Out" | ||
| Natalie Bassingthwaighte | 1000 Stars | "1000 Stars" | |||
| "Turn The Lights On" | |||||
| Glenn Tilbrook | Pandemonium Ensues | Quixotic Records | "Little Ships" | Writer | |
| "Melancholy Emotion" | |||||
| 2008 | Will Young | Let It Go | RCA | "If Love Equals Nothing" | Writer/ Producer |
| Leon Jackson | Right Now | Syco | "Don't Call This Love" | ||
| James Morrison | Songs for You, Truths for Me | Polydor | "Save Yourself" | Writer | |
| JLS | JLS | Epic | "Heal This Heartbreak" | ||
| 2007 | David Jordan | Set the Mood | ZTT | "Fight the World" | |
| "Only Living Soul" | |||||
| The Click Five | Modern Minds and Pastimes | Atlantic Records | "Jenny" | ||
| "Happy Birthday" | |||||
| "I'm Getting Over You" | |||||
| 2006 | Duncan James | Future Past | Innocent Records | "Sooner or Later" | |
| "Somebody Still Loves You" | |||||
| "I Come Alive" | |||||
| "Frequency" | |||||
| "Letter to God" | |||||
| Beverley Knight | Voice – The Best of Beverley Knight | Parlophone Records | "Not Too Late for Love" | Writer/ Producer | |
| "Who's Gonna Save Your Soul" | |||||
| The Webb Sisters | Daylight Crossing | Universal Records | "Please" | Writer | |
| 2004 | Jesse McCartney | Beautiful Soul | Hollywood Records | "Because You Live" | Writer/ Producer |
| Diana DeGarmo | Blue Skies | Sony Music | Dreams | Writer | |
| Emotional | |||||
| Lara Fabian | A Wonderful Life | I Am | |||
| Beverley Knight | Affirmation | Parlophone | "Not Too Late for Love" | Writer/ Producer | |
| "Tea and Sympathy" | |||||
| Glenn Tilbrook | Transatlantic Ping Pong | Quixotic Records | "Untouchable" | ||
| "Ray and Me" | Writer | ||||
| Lisa Stansfield | "The Moment" | ZTT | "If I Hadn't Got You" | ||
| 2003 | Kylie Minogue | Body Language | Parlophone Records | "After Dark" | Writer/ Producer |
| Play | Replay | Columbia Records | "Let's Get to the Love Part" | Writer | |
| Clay Aiken | Measure of a Man | RCA | "This Is the Night" | ||
| "Run To Me" | |||||
| "Invisible" | |||||
| S Club 7 | Polydor | "Say Goodbye" | |||
| 2002 | Will Young | From Now On | Syco Music | "Anything Is Possible" | |
| 2001 | S Club 7 | Sunshine | Parlophone Records | "Have You Ever" | |
| Victoria Beckham | Victoria Beckham | Virgin Records | "I O U" | ||
| Rick Astley | Keep It Turned On | Polydor | "Sleeping" | Writer/Producer | |
| Emma Bunton | A Girl Like Me | Virgin Records | "Spell It O.U.T" | Writer | |
| "Been There, Done That" | |||||
| Glenn Tilbrook | The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook | Quixotic Records | "Parallel World" | ||
| "Morning" | |||||
| Brian Kennedy | Get on with Your Short Life | Sony Music | "Get on with Your Short Life" | ||
| 1999 | Brian Kennedy | Now That I Know What I Want | 19 recordings | "Now That I Know What I Want" | |
| 1996 | Cathy Dennis | "Am I the Kinda Girl?" | Polydor | "Run Like a River" | |
In 1993, Braide recorded his first solo album Chapter One - Chris Braide for Polydor Records. The album was produced by Thomas Dolby and Simply Red's Mick Hucknall. In 2014, the album was remastered and released in the UK on Plane Groovy Records[27]
In 1996, Dave Stewart signed Braide to his Warner Bros.-backed label Anxious Records, who released a single co-written with Chris Difford, "If I Hadn't Got You", and second single "Heavenly Rain", followed a year later by the album, Life in a Minor Key,[28] which was co-produced by Braide and David A. Stewart at Electric Lady Studios in New York. The record was released in the US on Atlantic Records and in 2013 a vinyl version was released on Plane Groovy Records.[29] [30]
In 2012, Braide teamed up with Geoff Downes under the name "DBA" ("Downes Braide Association"). The result was an album, Pictures of You, released in Summer 2012 on Plane Groovy Records. Since then, they have released three more studio recordings (Suburban Ghosts in 2015, Skyscraper Souls in 2017 and Halcyon Hymns in 2021), and a live album (Live in England in 2019). Celestial Songs was released in September 2023.[31]
Braide wrote, performed or produced songs on the following film soundtracks:
He wrote, performed or produced songs in the following advertising campaigns: