PETER KVINT

Award winning writer and producer Peter Kvint is one of the most sought-after and highly respected songwriters and producers in Sweden. He’s also written and produced international hits, climbing the charts all over the world. His strength lies in melodies and harmonies, but he has been known to move quite a few people with his lyrics as well.

Since he started focusing on writing and producing, Kvint has co-written and produced huge hits for Swedes like Albin Lee Meldau, Darin, Smith & Thell, Björn Skifs, Tusse, Andreas Johnson and Swedish glamsters The Ark. His production work includes artists like Britney Spears and Heather Nova, and his writing credits includes among many others country-rocker Trace Adkin, pop star Natasha Bedingfield, Norwegian pop veterans A-ha, solo work with their lead singer Morten Harket, Japanese duos Chemistry and Puffy, South Korean boy band TVQX and latin star Erik Rubin. Only during the last year his credits have included producing or writing for Swedish major artists Eagle-Eye Cherry, Petra Marklund, GRANT, Chris Kläfford and Eurovision winner Måns Zelmerlöw. Songs that he’s co-written have been in the Swedish finals of the Eurovision Song Contest four years in a row, and have several times topped the charts in his native Sweden.

Kvint’s soft-spoken, yet confident approach has made him the perfect foil for artists looking for a collaborator. An accomplished guitarist, singer and arranger, Kvint feels comfortable doing co-writes, whether it be in his own Studio Brun or elsewhere in the world. Studio Brun is situated in the heart of trendy Södermalm in Stockholm. With all its vintage instruments and equipment it has become a second home to many visiting artists.

Having played several different instruments during his childhood, Peter Kvint came into his own as a guitarist. What originally turned him on to music was the love of glam rock – artists like David Bowie and bands like Sparks, Slade and T Rex.

He started out in the record business with the band Farbror Blå, for which he wrote most of the material. FB released two albums on CBS before splitting up. His second band, high energy power pop trio Melony (with him as frontman/guitarist/writer) got signed to Geffen in the U.S.

Kvint started collaborating with Swedish solo artist Andreas Johnson. Before long, they scored an international hit with Glorious. Peter Kvint’s epic production was significative of his ability to create sweeping soundscapes full of Scandinavian melancholy combined with his early fascination with Seventies glam rock.

After some extensive touring all over Europe, he realized that he preferred spending time with his newborn children, and decided to focus on songwriting and producing.
”It was something of a relief to realize that I didn’t have to go on the road and do promotion, and that I could actually be more creative spending time in my studio, writing songs and producing”, he smiles.

He got signed by a major publishing company in 2001 and started doing co-writes.
Since then, he has produced, or written for, a wide range of artists, including international artists like Britney Spears, A-ha, Morten Harket, Natasha Bedingfield, Trace Adkin, Heather Nova, Bachelor Girl, Eurovision Song Contest winner Sertab, German Idol winner Martin Kesici, German rock band Die Happy, Sasha Schmitz and dutch rock singer VanVelzen. In Sweden he has worked with the most respected and best-selling artists, like The Ark, Björn Skifs, Albin Lee Meldau, Darin, Magnus Uggla, Orup, Loreen, Andreas Johnson, Carola, GRANT, Petra Marklund, Peter Jöback, Eskobar, EMD, Martin Stenmarck, Måns Zelmerlöw, Sebastian Karlsson, soul singer Jennifer Brown, blues/folk singer Louise Hoffsten, country singer Jill Johnson, rockabilly band The Playtones, and Idol winners Daniel Lindström and Markus Fagerwall.
Kvint feels equally at home doing a certain type of ”epic power pop songs”, folk inspired americana, or classic soul with memorable melodies.
”However, one of the upsides of working as a songwriter and producer is that you sometimes have to move out of your comfort zone, and work within genres that you may not normally be associated with. This means that you never stop developing your skills. In addition to that, not being a kid anymore is a good thing when you’re a songwriter, because it means that you have more experiences to draw from when writing.”

After having chosen to spend a lot of time at home while raising a family, Peter Kvint is now when his children are older prepared to be more flexible geographically. He generally prefers co-writing face to face. He plans to keep moving between co-writes and full album projects, in order to keep the necessary crop rotation going.
”Luckily, playing guitar has also remained an integral part of what I do. I still get to be a musician, albeit not mainly on stage”.

Future ambitions?

“I just want to write songs that really stand the test of time. I listened to some Gershwin songs the other day, and most of them are true classics that are still getting airplay and still mean a lot to people. I’d love having written one of those”.
Some would say he already has. In certain areas, songs like Calleth You, Cometh I (The Ark), Josefin (Albin Lee Meldau), En säng av rosor (Darin) and Sing For Me (Andreas Johnson) are modern classics.

Rest assured that there are even bigger things to come.