Robert Shields: The Hitmaker Fund

Shields will use his Hitmaker grant to continue his writing and production work in the US, expanding his range of songwriting collaborators and production partners, and spending studio time with both emerging and established artists across a wide expanse of genres.

Scottish songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist ONR (Robert Shields) counts Nile Rodgers, Jake Bugg and Phantogram amongst his collaborators. His unique brand of alternative power-indie-pop combines the sensibilities of 70s UK singer-songwriter-throwbacks with the pop ambition and scale of the huge American productions he was drawn to whilst growing up in the Scottish Highlands.

Upon discovering ONR’s music during a writing session at Abbey Road Studios, Rodgers said of ONR: “this guy has really got something. His sense of composition is wonderfully chaotic, but also really musical. When we first started working together, I was drowning in so many ideas. It was almost like a challenge.”

Shields spends his time working between his studio in South Scotland, London and Los Angeles, working with producers and mix engineers such as Spike Stent (Ed Sheeran, U2, Madonna), Doc McKinney (The Weeknd, Drake) and Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag’n’Bone Man).