Per Magnusson is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. His musical career took off in 1994 as one of the original team members of the now-legendary Cheiron Studios, meeting great international success working with artists such as Boyzone, Britney Spears, Westlife and the Backstreet Boys.
Born and raised in Tyresö (Stockholm), Per’s interest in music was developed already while attending primary school. Picking up the cello as his main instrument, he would later focus on producing, arranging, songwriting and keyboard playing.
His first significant record appearance came in 1994 with Swedish artist Jennifer Brown. About that time, Per coincidentally met with fellow Swede David Kreuger, with whom he has collaborated regularly over the years. After playing one of their songs to producer Denniz Pop, Per and David were invited to join Cheiron as songwriters and producers. Successfully working with a wide range of artists over the next few years, they were a part of what would become one of the hottest music studios in the world.
The first major success came with Boyzone’s album Where We Belong in 1998 and the streak would continue in 1999 with Britney Spears and her debut album …Baby One More Time. Per and David produced her second single Sometimes as well as her third, (You Drive Me) Crazy, which they co-wrote with Max Martin and Jörgen Elofsson. The album was a worldwide success and got Per and David their first Billboard #1. Writing and producing material for Britney’s second album Oops, I Did It Again in 2000, would once again make them reach the Billboard top spot on the album chart.
The hit-making continued with Westlife’s self-titled debut album and their follow-up album Coast to Coast. Per and David contributed eight tracks, including the U.K. #1 singles If I Let You Go, Fool Again and My Love. Per and David also produced It’s True and The Answer to Our Life for the Backstreet Boys album Black & Blue.
In August 1998, Cheiron Studios had shocked the music world by sending out a press release that Denniz PoP had died at the young age of 35. Shortly after the shutdown of Cheiron in late 2000, Per and David formed their own production company, A Side Productions. Following the recipe for success that they had developed during the Cheiron era, Per and David continued the collaboration with songwriter Jörgen Elofsson and A&R-man Simon Cowell that had started with Westlife.
With newly launched talent-TV shows such as Idol and X-Factor, they found big success with a number of artists, including three more U.K. #1 Singles with Will Young (Evergreen), Gareth Gates (Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake), both in 2002 and Shayne Ward (That’s My Goal) in 2005. X-Factor winner Leona Lewis reached #2 in the U.K. with Footprints In the Sand in 2008. Another prosperous collaboration followed with crossover vocal group Il Divo, who went on to sell 25 million records in their first eight years. Per has also written or produced songs for artists like Céline Dion, Josh Groban and Katherine Jenkins.
Recently, Per has worked with such artists as Il Volo and Westlife as well as his own instrumental and ambient projects.