Chris Braide is a multi-platinum, 2× Grammy-nominated, Ivor Novello, ASCAP, and BMI award-winning British singer-songwriter, producer, artist, and musician with over 65 million records sold worldwide. Across multiple decades, he has crafted some of the world’s most enduring pop classics, including multiple UK and US #1 hits — among them the global anthem “Unstoppable” — blending art-pop and orchestral sophistication.
Braide’s signature style — blending melodic clarity, emotional precision, and widescreen production, all anchored by his unmistakable piano touch — has made him a sought-after collaborator. From his Malibu studio, he has written with and produced for artists including Beyoncé, Sia, and Lana Del Rey, while working alongside producers such as Hans Zimmer, Diplo, and David Guetta, and film directors Baz Luhrmann and Brady Corbet.
His work with Sia has yielded multiple Billboard #1s — including 1000 Forms of Fear (2014, US #1, 6xPlatinum) and This Is Acting (2016, US #1, 10x Platinum) — with “Unstoppable” (2024, US #1, 1.5 billion streams) becoming a modern anthem of resilience. The song earned a BMI Award (2023) for Most Performed Work, APRA Awards (2024 and 2025) for Most Performed Australian Work Overseas, and set a record with over 100 weeks on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. Other milestones include “She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)” (David Guetta feat. Sia, US #1 Billboard Hot Dance Club chart, UK # 1 Official Dance Singles Chart, 850 M streams), “Flames” (2018, 1.8 B streams, #1 Most Performed Song in Europe), and award winning song “Out There,” co-written with Sia and co-produced by Braide & Hans Zimmer for the BBC’s Seven Worlds, One Planet, introduced live by Sir David Attenborough to over 100,000 people at Glastonbury.
Before his global hits, Braide honed his craft through formative collaborations with some of Britain’s most respected artists and producers, including early mentor Dave Stewart, with whom he co-produced an album in 1998 at Electric Lady Studios in New York. These early sessions shaped the distinctive fusion of songcraft and cinematic sound that would define his later work.
He worked with Cathy Dennis to write and produce multiple # 1 hits for Simon Fuller’s pop projects, including “Have You Ever” (2001, UK #1), “Anything Is Possible” (2002, UK #1, Ivor Novello Award, 1.7 million copies sold), “Say Goodbye” (2003, UK #1), and “After Dark” for Kylie Minogue’s album Body Language (2003, UK #6). With legendary Bon Jovi hitmaker Desmond Child, he co-wrote “Invisible” (2003, US #8, Platinum US, Adult Contemporary, 2× ASCAP Awards for most performed in US) and “Dreams” (2004, US #1 Billboard Top Single Sales). He also co-wrote “This Is the Night” (2003, US #1, 2× Platinum US, Billboard Music Award) — the year’s best-selling US single — and many more.
His work spans genres and generations with “God Made You Beautiful” for Beyoncé (US #1 Billboard Video Chart), “Blank Page” for Christina Aguilera’s album Lotus (US #7), “30 Minute Love Affair” for Paloma Faith (2012, UK #2), “Ten Feet Tall” for Afrojack (2014, US #10), “Come See About Me” for Nicki Minaj from the album Queen (2018, US #2, Platinum US), “Million Dollar Man” for Lana Del Rey from her landmark #1 album Born to Die (2012, 33× Platinum, 18 million copies worldwide and 600 weeks on the Billboard chart), “Kill and Run” for The Great Gatsby soundtrack (US #1 Soundtracks, US #2 Billboard 200), “Helium” for Sia from the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack (US #1 Soundtracks, US #5 Billboard 200, UK #3), and “Lullabies” for Yuna (2012) — later reimagined by Diplo and Braide as “Forever”(2025, US #1 Beatport Chart). He also produced Natalie Portman’s vocals and co-wrote original songs for Brady Corbet’s acclaimed film Vox Lux (2018), starring Portman and Jude Law.
Across a career defined by melody and emotional clarity, Chris Braide continues to shape modern pop from the piano outward — creating songs that last, not just songs that chart.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES:
Winner, 2025 & 2024 APRA Awards – “Unstoppable,” Most Performed Australian Work Overseas
Winner, 2023 BMI Pop Award – “Unstoppable,” Most Performed Song
Winner, Ivor Novello Award – “Anything Is Possible,” Best-Selling UK Single (2002)
Winner, 2× ASCAP Awards – “Invisible,” Most Performed Song on US Radio (2003/2004)
Winner, Billboard Music Award – “This Is the Night,” Best-Selling US Single (2003)
Winner, Teen Choice Award – “This Is the Night” (2003)
Winner, Best Original Composition – Music + Sound Awards – “Out There” (2020)
Grammy Nominee – This Is Acting (Best Pop Vocal Album, 2017)
Grammy Nominee – The Great Gatsby (Best Compilation Soundtrack, 2014)
Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominee (2020) – Best Original Song in a TV Show/Limited Series (“Out There”from Seven Worlds, One Planet; Sia / Christopher Braide / Hans Zimmer)
Selected collaborations and projects:
In 2006, Braide co-founded The Producers with Stephen Lipson, bringing in drummer Ash Soan to complete the lineup. Recorded at The Aquarium, and Island Records’ legendary Basing Street Studios — once owned by Chris Blackwell and the birthplace of numerous landmark albums — the group’s sole record was remixed and remastered by Lipson in 2024. Made in Basing St: Expanded Edition (2024), a six-CD box set and vinyl release, restores the project’s original creative vision — a vivid snapshot of a uniquely ambitious collaboration.
In 2010, he co-founded Downes Braide Association with Yes and Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes — a long-running creative partnership whose albums, including Skyscraper Souls (2017) and Halcyon Hymns (UK #7, 2021), and the single Love Among The Ruins (UK #1 Heritage Rock Chart), have become landmarks in modern progressive pop, merging classic British songwriting with cinematic scope.
Chris Braide has maintained a long and creative partnership with Marc Almond, whose subversive, iconic presence in British pop continues to inspire new generations. The two first met during the sessions for Soft Cell’s Cruelty Without Beauty (2002), where Braide contributed vocals, sparking a collaboration that would span more than two decades.
Together they have co-written and produced a series of acclaimed albums — The Velvet Trail (2013), Chaos and a Dancing Star (2020), and Things We Lost (2022) — works that blend Almond’s theatrical lyricism with Braide’s widescreen production and melodic precision. Their songs Scar and A Kind of Love (from Hits and Pieces, UK #7, 2017) became modern classics within Almond’s catalogue. In 2020, they performed together at London’s Royal Festival Hall, celebrating a partnership that has come to symbolise the meeting point between art-pop and emotional candour.
In 2023, Braide reunited with another of Britain’s great pop iconoclasts, Andy Partridge of XTC, for the long-anticipated EP Queen of the Planet Wow — a six-track collection of surreal, melodic storytelling developed over nearly a decade of trans-Atlantic exchange. The project highlights Braide’s admiration for Partridge’s inventive songwriting and showcases their shared love of English eccentricity and sophisticated pop craft.
In 2025, he co-wrote and produced In Love With Anyone with Jessie Reyez and DJ Mustard for Macy Gray and the movie soundtrack Sneaks.
After decades at the heart of pop’s biggest moments, Braide has returned to the essence of why he began — melody, lyric, and friendship. His recent trilogy of forthcoming albums with lyricist and friend Dean Johnson marks a homecoming — an unhurried exploration of melody, poetry, and the beauty of craft.
He also took a few days off in between.