Ted Bruner

Ted Bruner
Ted Bruner recording at Sawhorse Studios in St. Louis, MO in 2020
Ted Bruner recording at Sawhorse Studios in St. Louis, MO in 2020
Background information
OriginSt. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
GenresPop music, pop rock, rock music, country pop
Occupation(s)Record producer, songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)Guitar, keyboards, voice
LabelsKobalt Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Rondor Music/Universal
Websitetedbrunermusic.com

Ted Bruner is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Bruner began his professional music career when his band Colony was signed to MCA Records.[1][2] In 2002, he relocated to Los Angeles and began writing and producing for Rondor Music/Universal.[2] He left Universal in 2009 and signed with Warner Chappell Music, and then signed with Kobalt Music Group[3] in 2012. He has written with and/or produced songs for Katy Perry,[1] Miley Cyrus,[4][1] Kesha,[5] Selena Gomez,[1] Plain White T's,[1] Three Days Grace,[1][6] My Darkest Days,[1] Cavo,[7] Neil Sanderson,[8] Matt Walst,[1] Barry Stock,[8] Brad Walst,[8] Joey Moi,[9] Gavin Brown,[9] Marie Digby,[10] Natalie Walker,[11] Rusko,[6] Bonnie Mckee[6] among others, as well as songs in film and television, and has co-written three #1 US rock singles,[12][13][6] including the #1 most played rock radio song of 2022.[14]

In a 2021 interview in Boulder Weekly, Matt Walst, the lead singer of Three Days Grace is quoted as saying "Ted's like. . . well, he's kind of like a therapist," Walst says over a phone interview from his home outside of Toronto. "He'll ask you personal questions because he wants to write about what's real, what's going on in your life. Whenever you can take what you've gone through and make it apply to other people's experience, that's the key to really engaging people in the music—if they can see themselves in it. I feel like Ted is super good at getting into that."[1]

When Bruner got paired with Katy Perry, a wide-eyed pop songwriter who had recently been dropped from a label, he said "She was just so, so sad. She told me that she had one foot out the door, that L.A. was driving her crazy." He encouraged her to channel her pain into her music. One evening in the studio at Universal, Bruner says Perry was ready to explore her pain, and the two co-wrote the song "Lost", which appeared on Perry's platinum selling major label debut, One of the Boys.[1]

In the book It All Begins with the Music, Bruner is quoted as saying "Music is a rebellious path; it's all about freedom, and if you lock down and listen to people who are only worried about making a buck, that will shave off all the reasons you got into it in the first place- to have an adventurous and exciting life. If you keep that mindset, then the music will keep coming to you."[2]

"That's my saying: Spinning on a rock in space, orbiting a ball of fire," Bruner says. "It makes some people feel so small and I'm like, exactly. It just takes all the pressure off of you. Whatever is going on in your life doesn't hold a candle to the infinite magnitude of the universe."[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rockett, Caitlin (2021) "[1]", Boulder Weekly, December 9, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021
  2. ^ a b c Grierson, Don & Kimpel, Dan (2009) It All Begins With The Music, Delmar, ISBN 978-1598638639, pp. 90-92
  3. ^ Pandora Media (2020) "[2]", Pandora.com, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2020
  4. ^ "Ted Bruner Breaking Out", ASCAP, September 1, 2008. Retrieved October 6, 2013
  5. ^ Weiner, Natalie (2015) "[3]", Billboard Magazine, March 6, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2019
  6. ^ a b c d Medien, Hung (2019) "[4]", Norwegiancharts.com, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2019
  7. ^ AllMusic, Netaktion LLC (2020) "[5]", Allmusic.com, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2020
  8. ^ a b c Medien, Hung (2018) "[6]", Norwegiancharts.com, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2021
  9. ^ a b Medien, Hung (2020) "[7]", Norwegiancharts.com, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2020
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Discogs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference AllMusicNetaktion was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Billboard Ed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Billboard Life was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Townsquare Media(2022) "[8]", Loudwire, December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022