Nina Woodford-Wells is a Swedish-American songwriter.

Career

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Nina Woodford (born 13 July 1979)[1] Stockholm, is the daughter of the Swedish music producer Sten Sandahl,[2] and the Black American social anthropologist Prudence Woodford-Berger.[3] At the age of 16,[4] she began her career singing backing vocals for Swedish artists Eric Gadd, Titiyo, and The Navigators.[5] She also featured on the Britney Spears album Oops!... I Did It Again.[6] By the age of 20 she had a publishing deal as a songwriter with Murlyn Music in Stockholm.[4]

At age 25, Woodford moved to London, and wrote the European Hot 100 #1 smash hit, Broken Strings,[4] by James Morrison from his album Songs for You, Truths for Me. The song is the biggest single of Morrison's career.

Nina co-wrote the theme song for the 2019 Special Olympics held in Abu Dhabi, titled "Right Where I'm Supposed To Be". Nina was tapped by Sesame Street in 2021 to compose a song honoring Juneteenth, a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of African-American slaves.[7] She has also written for Leona Lewis, Idina Menzel, Tom Jones, Sugababes, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Christina Milian, The Saturdays, and Jay Sean.[8] Woodford noted that Kate Bush "makes me feel free to dare to try different things.".[9]

Personal life

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Nina grew up in Stockholm's Södermalm borough. Today she lives in Los Angeles and is married to record producer Greg Wells.

Honours

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  • 2010 SKAP prize, an award designated to Swedish pop music writers.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Nina Woodford". www.sfi.se (in Swedish). 13 July 1979. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  2. ^ "Sten Sandahl - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). 2010-07-07. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  3. ^ "Feminisms in Development: Contradictions, Contestations and Challenges" (PDF). www.dissentmagazine.org. p. 77. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  4. ^ a b c "M meets… Nina Woodford - M Magazine". M magazine: PRS for Music online magazine. 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  5. ^ "Universal Music Publishing - Murlyn Songs (Europe)". www.umusicpub.com. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  6. ^ "Britney Spears - Oops!...I Did It Again (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
  7. ^ "Sesame Street: Let's Celebrate Juneteenth Song | Power of We Club". YouTube.
  8. ^ Steffen Hung. "Nina Woodford". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
  9. ^ Saner, Emine (2011-10-19). "The artists' artist: songwriters". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  10. ^ "SKAP - Mauro Scocco, Amanda Jenssen, Andreas Kleerup, Anna Järvinen, Oskar Linnros, Melissa Horn och Anders Eljas bland årets SKAP-stipendiater". Skap.se. Archived from the original on 2010-08-14. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
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