Jon Levine

von Levine is one of Canada’s top musicians, both behind the scenes and on stage. A Juno award-wining producer, songwriter and musician, his talents have helped build the careers of an eclectic group of artists including Nelly Furtado, In Essence and Jacksoul, as well as his own band, the Philosopher Kings.

Hailing from Thornhill, Ontario, Jon began playing many instruments at an early age including bass, guitar and drums. He toured as a drummer with various Toronto-based bands before focusing on songwriting and his main instrument, the piano. He then spent two years at the University of Toronto studying jazz piano. It was there that he met some of the musicians that would that would make up the band "The Philosopher Kings�. The band was quickly signed to Sony Music Canada and its eponymous debut was certified Gold. On this album, in addition to playing piano, Jon wrote and co-produced almost all of the material including the hit "Charms" which garnered the band a Juno for best new artist. The album was picked up by Columbia Records for release in the United States, where "Charms" became a Top 40 hit. The band's second album was certified Platinum and yielded the hits "Hurts to Love You", "I Am The Man" and "You Don't Love Me Like You Used To Do", all written by Jon. This established him as a highly coveted songwriter and producer.

Expanding outside of the band, Jon began producing and songwriting for a slew of established artists including Canada's own female MC Michie-Mee and Warner Bros recording artist Esthero. He then went on to produce a full-length album for BMG's R&B band "Jacksoul". In addition to producing the album he also wrote the number 1 hit song "Can't Stop" and the top 10 hit "Somedays". The album consequently won a Juno for best r&b/soul recording.

Shortly thereafter he expanded his repertoire by working with Toronto-based rapper Jelleestone on his first full-length album "13", which Jon produced for Warner Bros America. He co-wrote and co-produced 11 of the 14 tracks on this album including the hit "Money (can't buy me happiness)".

He scored another hit with Canadian pop stars Sugar Jones with the song "How Much Longer" that he both wrote and produced, bringing this album to Platinum status.

More recently Jon has written and produced a full-length album for EMI Canada recording artist Amanda Stott as well as the number one hit “A Friend of Mine� for Sony BMG’s Inessence.

Other production/writing credits include a track on Columbia recording artist Emma Roberts’s debut album, two songs for the American Popstars and a song on the Dreamworks release of "Whoa, Nelly" by Nelly Furtado, which has sold over six million records worldwide and earned her a Grammy Award.

Jon has recently finished co-writing and producing the third Philosopher Kings studio album "Castles, released in February 2006.