Mischke Butler

Mischke Butler is an American singer, songwriter, vocal producer, vocal coach and vocal arranger, best known for his work with Michael Jackson, The Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Keke Palmer, and Little Mix.

1990s: Early career
Butler, raised in Detroit, appeared as a singer in 1994 television film Madonna: Innocence Lost, and released his debut single "Ready Fa Luv" in 1996, nominated for Best R&B/Soul video at the Canadian Much Music Video Awards. Butler was subsequently discovered by producer Rodney Jerkins, who would mentor him for several years. Originally a member of Jerkins' "camp" of lyric and melody writers, he soon began to branch out into vocal arrangements and production.

2000s: Vocal production and Michael Jackson's Invincible
One of Butler's first opportunities as a composer was to participate in the writing process of the third Spice Girls album Forever. His mentor Jerkins was commissioned to executive-produce the album, and Butler would contribute to three songs, including one that was initially chosen to be the second single, "Tell Me Why". Butler's next opportunity within the Jerkins camp was to co-write and provide background vocals on "Heartbreaker", a song that made it onto Michael Jackson's tenth and final studio album Invincible. Butler would also contribute to seven songs on En Vogue vocalist Rhona Bennett's eponymous debut solo album, including lead single and dance chart hit "Satisfied", and co-write "Gots ta Be", the top-20 charting second single from boyband B2K's eponymous debut album. His next opportunities included placements on the Barbershop soundtrack, as well as co-writing "Who Will I Run To?", the second single from artist Kiley Dean's shelved album Simple Girl, and "I Like That", the #11-peaking debut single from R&B artist Houston. Butler would also co-write "Anything", the UK top 25-peaking third single from 2006 Jojo album The High Road, and R&B hit "In My Bedroom" for boyband B5's second album Don't Talk, Just Listen.

2010s: Grammy nomination and Little Mix "Wings"
"Second Chance", the title track and one of two Butler contributions to 2010 El DeBarge's album Second Chance, earned him a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song. Butler also contributed to songs on Jojo's mixtape Can't Take That Away From Me. He next co-wrote "Wings", the anthemic debut single of XFactor UK winners Little Mix, which would go number one in the UK and chart internationally.

In 2015, Butler was spotted in the studio with Britney Spears, who was working on what would become Glory, her ninth studio album. Butler was the principal vocal producer on the project eventually released in 2016, working on fourteen out of seventeen tracks of the deluxe edition.

Selected songwriting, production, background vocal and arrangement credits
Credits are courtesy of Discogs, Spotify, and AllMusic.