Emile Ghantous

Ghantous was born on May 24, 1975 in Peoria, Illinois.[4] He is of Lebanese ancestry.[5] He moved to Chicago in 2000 to study music production and business at Columbia College Chicago. While studying at Columbia College, he got his big break by working with local Chicago legends Public Announcement (of R. Kelly fame), Sparkle, and Do or Die.

Ghantous created the songwriting/production duo The Insomniax along with partner Erik Nelson in 2005. The Insomniax quickly began working with major recording artists Boyz II Men (MSM Records), JoJo (Blackground/Universal), 3LW (So So Def/Jive), Bobby V (formerly Bobby Valentino) (Disturbing The Peace/Def Jam), Jon B (Yab Yum/Epic), B5 (Bad Boy Records), Fat Joe (Atlantic Records), R. Kelly (Jive Records), Ralph Tresvant (of New Edition), 2XL (Tommy Boy Records), Karina Pasian (Def Jam Records), Lemarvin (Motown Records), I-15 (Interscope Records), Na'Shay, Nephu, Aksent (Capitol Records), AI (Def Jam Japan), Lil Romeo (No Limit Records), and many others.

With a production schedule in high gear, Ghantous relocated to Los Angeles, CA in 2009 where he worked on international releases for German artist Fabian Buch and Japanese recording artist Che'Nelle (EMI Japan Records).

In 2010, Ghantous worked with R&B legend Charlie Wilson, of the Gap Band. He wrote and produced "Never Got Enough" and "Throw It Away" from the album Just Charlie on RCA Records.

From 2011- 2012, Ghantous co-wrote and co-produced the #1 hit for JLS "Take A Chance On Me" on Sony Records UK. He also worked with Jason Derulo, Kristinia DeBarge, Frankie J, Prince Royce, X Factor group Lakoda Rayne, and many others.

During 2013, Ghantous worked with Pitbull and Chris Brown on the song "Hope We Meet Again" from the album Global Warming on RCA Records, as well as Charlie Wilson's newest album release Love, Charlie on RCA Records. Wilson recently received the BET Lifetime Achievement Award. Ghantous also worked with international recording artist Inna on her latest album Party Never Ends and was Grammy nominated for his work on Frankie J's "Faith, Hope y Amor" album.

Ghantous teamed up with songwriters/producers Steve Daly and Keith Hetrick and formed a new production company called The Cartoons in 2014. The Cartoons spent the year working on projects which included Charlie Wilson, Boyz II Men, Cher Lloyd, Christina Aguilera, Snoop Dogg, Taio Cruz, Shaggy, Johnny Gill, IM5, Jolin Tsai, and Benj.

2015 was a busy year as well for Ghantous. He was Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Album" and received an NAACAP nomination for "Best R&B Album" and "Song of the year" for the Top 5 Urban AC hit song "Goodnight Kisses" for Charlie Wilson. He also worked with Latin sensation Paulina Rubio, Aston Merrygold of JLS, Sophia Grace, Jolin Tsai, Fifth Harmony, Korean K-Pop girl group Playback (South Korean band) and boyband New District.

Ghantous began working as an A&R Consultant for several Korean K-Pop labels in 2016, and landed a #1 hit with I.O.I called "Whatta Man". He also worked closely with Randy Jackson of American Idol fame with the boyband New District. Other projects included Carah Faye Charnow of Shiny Toy Guns, Emmalyn Estrada of G.R.L., R&B sensation Mario Dewar Barrett, Interscope Records recording artist Jaira Burns and The Jacksons on their 50th anniversary album. Ghantous ended the year with the Charlie Wilson and T.I. hit single "I'm Blessed" which hit #1 on both Urban AC and the Gospel charts and stayed in the top 10 for 18 months. The song "I'm Blessed" also received and ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Award in 2018, and in 2019 was chosen as #12 song of the decade by Associated Press. Charlie Wilson follow-up single "Good Time" featured Pitbull, Teddy Riley & Ray Parker Jr..

Ghantous stayed busy working internationally with many K-Pop acts and co-wrote the single "Pick Me" for Produce 101. The song "Pick Me" has become one of the biggest K Pop hits in the last 10 years and was selected as the song for the presidential campaign. He also worked as a consultant for several international labels.

In 2018, he signed a letter along with Paul McCartney, Don Henley, Carole King, Katy Perry, U2's The Edge, Pink, Sia, and Max Martin boycotting SiriusXM's Music Modernization Act.[6][7]

Ghantous started working in the studio with many new recording artists such as Celina Sharma (EMI/London), Lily McKenzie (Ultra), Carly Gibert (10:22/ DefJam), Angel Taylor, Project 2one5 (Hitco), Nicki Minaj, Aluna George, DaniLeigh (Def Jam), Baby Goth (Universal Republic) in 2019, and has also been developing the sound for WanMor, who are Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men's children. He ended the year with the single "Na Na Na" by Now United, who are signed to XIX Entertainment. They are Simon Fuller's newest group consisting of 16 members from different countries.

2020 started as a very busy year for Ghantous working with Now United. In March 2020, the world shut down due to the rise of COVID-19 and recordings were all put on hold. So Ghantous came up with the idea of recording Now United virtually using their I-Phones as their microphone. He had them record their vocals using the voice notes application. From there, the group sent their individual parts to him, where he mixed and edited them to sound like they recorded in a recording studio. The result was their single "By My Side", followed by the song "Feel It Now" (performed by the group Now United), that was used by Pepsi for their #FeelItNow & #ForTheLoveOfIt international campaign.[8] Ghantous also had another number 1 hit song with long time collaborator Charlie Wilson called "One I Got" which spent 6 weeks on the Urban AC Charts.

Emile has had songs on ABC's The Today Show, Dancing with the Stars, NBC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CBS's The Talk, VH1 & BET's Hit The Floor, as well commercials, local TV shows, and airliners all around the world.