Profile: Maleek Berry

Bio:

Maleek Berry is one of the UK’s rising producers. Born in the heart of South London, Berry – real name Maleek Shoyebi – grew up listening to some of the biggest names in R&B from Tevin Campbell, Boyz II Men, Jodeci and of course the one and only King of Pop, Michael Jackson. It was at this time, at just the tender age of 14 that he saw young stars break into the American music industry. Although worlds apart from the shores of London this did not deter him, but rather spark his ever growing love of the music industry.

Like most, Berry started off his career in the church, forming a group with two close friends. Managing to get his hands on a little pre-production setup – Fruity Loops – the group began writing, producing and performing their own songs at the ages of 14 and 15, only to disband at 16. However, the experience didn’t leave Berry disillusioned, as he was the brains behind a lot of the group’s records and they all remain very close till this day.

Fast Forward to 2009, Berry spent years working on his craft in between formal education – attaining a Bachelors degree in Computer Science – learning to play the piano by ear, which has played a major part in the maturity of his sound. Even with this big achievement, he knew deep down what his true calling was – music.

Upon meeting IKES, a rapper hailing from North London the two just clicked and began working on records together and would soon become Berry’s long term partner in his musical career. Since then he’s gone on to produce records for some of the hottest UK acts such as S.A.S, Bigz, Scorcher, Jermaine Riley (Formally of FDM) and the list continues to grow as we speak.

Being the creative soul that he is, Maleek Berry wasn’t satisfied with only working on his home turf, but wanted to spread his wings to the Motherland. In the summer of 2011, he flew out to Nigeria for a family holiday but managed to take advantage of this trip and make great connections that would later change his status into an international producer.

Through a good friend and artist Davido, Berry was able to spark relationships with artists such as Wizkid , Naeto C, Wande Coal. He also went on the produce the hit ‘Carolina’ (one of the biggest singles in Nigeria in 2011/2012) by Sauce Kid featuring Davido, which ushered Sauce Kid back into the Nigerian music scene after a brief hiatus and his recent smash hit single “The Matter” Featuring Wizkid. Maleek Berry is currently signed with Wizkid’s Starboy Entertainment and has gone on to produce hits such as “Baby Hello” for Wande Coal, “Finito” for Iyanya and “Ye Play” for UK Afrobeat star Fuse ODG.

Even with all his achievements to date, who knows what the future holds for this young producer. In his own words, he plans to, “Create timeless music that will hopefully last longer than his generation“.

Birth Name: Maleek Shoyebi

Born: August 11

Genre: Afrobeat/ Pop/ R&B/ Hip-Hop Producer