Stephan Moccio

Stephan Moccio, a composer, songwriter, and producer who has earned Grammy wins alongside an Oscar nomination, shapes introspective compositions marked by an emotional, melody-driven pull both in his independent releases and through material supplied to leading performers. His co-written piece for Celine Dion, "A New Day Has Come," achieved widespread success across North America and Europe in 2002. Building from that foundation, he secured additional songwriting contributions on Miley Cyrus's chart-topping "Wrecking Ball" in 2013 and the Weeknd's "Earned It" in 2015. On his own recordings, Moccio incorporates a thoughtful, personal dimension, as heard on the 2006 debut Exposure and on Tales of Solace from 2020, a sequence of contemplative piano works conceived as a source of stillness amid the unsettled climate of its release year. Lionheart followed in 2021 with comparable expressive resonance, its themes shaped by Claude Monet's canvases. The 2024 album Legends, Myths and Lavender absorbed the serene character of its South of France recording site.

Raised in Niagara Falls after his birth in St. Catharine's, Ontario, Canada, Moccio started classical training at Toronto's Royal Conservatory at age three before advancing to composition and piano studies at Western University. Though offered a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, he opted instead for a professional path and secured a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing at 22. Early assignments included scoring for Canadian television programs and select films. During his eight-year tenure at the company he refined his craft as songwriter, producer, and arranger.

Following the 2002 breakthrough with Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come," co-authored with Aldo Nova, Moccio departed Sony/ATV to establish his own imprint, Sing Little Penguin, in 2003. That period also brought credit for "What You Never Know," a Sarah Brightman single from the Billboard classical crossover number-one album Harem. Subsequent songwriting work encompassed Randy Bachman's "Our Leaves Are Green Again" in 2004, Joshua Payne's "Art of the Heart" the same year, Olivia Newton-John's "Instrument of Peace" in 2006, and Josh Groban's "My Heart Was Home Again" in 2007. Exposure, his first full-length solo album, appeared in 2006 via Bijou Records, a Universal Music Group subsidiary; the twenty-two original piano pieces reached number ten on Billboard's Canadian Albums chart.

Projects released in 2010 included collaborations with the Canadian Tenors on The Perfect Gift and with Mark Masri on La Voce. Moccio returned as a solo artist in 2012 with Elements while serving as a judge on Canada's Got Talent alongside Martin Short and Measha Brueggergosman. In 2013 he joined the writing team for Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball," an international hit that held the Billboard Hot 100 summit for three weeks, around the time he relocated his home studio to the Los Angeles area.

Moccio's melodic contributions grew further in demand with his composing, production, arranging, and performance roles on the Weeknd's 2015 album Beauty Behind the Madness, which earned three Grammy nominations for Album of the Year plus Best R&B Song and Best Song Written for a Visual Media for "Earned It," the last of these tied to the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. The same track received an Academy Award nomination for best song, shared with the Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), Belly (Ahmad Balshe), and DaHeala (Jason Quenneville). Later decade highlights featured songs for Jon Bellion, James Blunt, and Avril Lavigne, plus another Celine Dion title track, "Courage," co-written with the New Royales for her 2019 album of the same name.

Tales of Solace, Moccio's third solo album, arrived in 2020 on Decca/Universal as an expression of his search for calm and seclusion; it debuted at number 16 on Billboard's Classical Albums chart. Lionheart, the fourth full-length, followed in June 2021. Recorded at his Laurel Canyon residence, it contained "Le Jardin de Monsieur Monet," inspired by Claude Monet's 1900 painting The Artist's Garden at Giverny, and received a Juno nomination for Instrumental Album of the Year at the 2023 awards. In the interim he issued the 11-minute, four-part The Night Suite, supplied songwriting and production to Andrea Bocelli's A Family Christmas, and traveled to Chateau Miraval in the South of France for his subsequent piano album. Released by Decca in May 2024, Legends, Myths and Lavender reflected the quiet atmosphere of that location.