‘YOU GO INTO THE STUDIO AND ALL OF YOUR PLANS FALL BY THE WAYSIDE, BECAUSE SOMETHING JUST REVEALS ITSELF’ Fred Again is a producer who has worked with the likes of BTS and Stormzy, and an artist who has been nominated for a BRIT. But he is best known and most successful as Ed Sheeran’s production and writing partner. He tells MBUK about being mentored by Brian Eno, working on = and his creative ethos…
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ou’re a young producer. You’re interested in hits and success, but also in the nature and possibilities of sound. You want to collaborate with a range of artists, across a variety of genres and you’re most often happy to be the guy in the booth rather than on the cover. But you also want to pursue your own, slightly more experimental projects, away from the spotlight and further from the mainstream. Who do you want as your mentor? Well, Brian Eno, obviously, the man who created that template. But, be realistic. Or, be Fred Gibson – otherwise known as British super-producer, Fred Again. The co-writer and producer on Ed Sheeran’s last two albums, Collaborations Project No. 6 (2019) and = (2021) (both of which went to No. 1 in the US and the UK), Fred has also worked with Stormzy, BTS and Romy from The xx. His first credits, however, came on Eno’s two back-to-back collaborations with Underworld’s Karl Hyde, Someday World and High Life, released in 2014. He co-produced both records in their entirety, with Eno, aged just 20. Five years later, Fred had either a writing or production credit on a staggering 30% of all the UK’s number one singles that year and, not surprisingly, was named Best Producer at that year’s BRITs. A year later, in 2020, he released his first solo album, Actual Life, followed by the acclaimed sequel, Actual Life 2 in 2021. His importance within Sheeran’s current creative team, meanwhile, is illustrated by the fact that on No. 6 he produced 12 out of the 15 tracks (including collaborations with Khalid, Cardi 64
