Did you know Robbie Nevil played with dominoes before embarking on a career as a songwriter and producer. C’est la vie!

LA born Robbie Nevil (b.1958) began his career as a songwriter, penning hits for The Pointer Sisters (“Contact”), Alison Moyet (“Raindancing”) and Eldra DeBarge (“El DeBarge”) from the group DeBarge before going it alone as a singer himself. Having signed to Manhattan Records in 1985, he released his debut single, “C’est La Vie”, in 1986 and it went to the top of the US Dance chart and No.2 on the singles chart. The track was also a hit globally peaking at No.3 in the UK and No.1 in Canada. He followed this success with his self-titled debut album and in early 1987, the single “Dominoes”, which went to No.14 in the US and No.26 in the UK. Robbie achieved another top ten hit on the dance chart with “Wot’s It To Ya?” (US No.10) before he started work on the follow up album.

“A Place Like This” soon arrived in 1988, but it and the two singles “Back On Holiday” and “Somebody Like You”, did not replicate the success of his first. Robbie released one more solo album, “Day 1”, in 1991, which featured the Australian top five hit “Just Like You” (US No.25), before calling it a day and returning to songwriting, although he did break cover in 1996 for the duet “I’ll Be There For You” with Japanese singer Seiko Matsuda. He has since written songs for and with the likes of Babyface (“The Day”, 1996), Jessica Simpson’s debut album in 1999 (“Woman In Me” which featured Destiny’s Child) and Destiny’s Child themselves. Robbie has also scored films and television shows, most notably High School Musical and Hannah Montana.

Having written songs for British female group Eternal (“This Love Is For Real”) and Luther Vandross (“If It Ain’t One Thing”), Robbie Nevil largely works for Sony Music these days and the artists associated with that label. He has scored recent successes with Jordin Sparks, The Pussycat Dolls and David Archuleta along with Everybody Loves An Outlaw’s viral smash “I See Red”. C’est la vie indeed!

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