# Johnny McDaid

Johnny McDaid (born 24 July 1976) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He is a member of Snow Patrol and a former member of Vega4. McDaid has written songs with artists including Ed Sheeran, P!nk and Robbie Williams.

## Early life

One of seven children of John and Pauline McDaid, McDaid attended St Brigid's Primary School, Carnhill, and St Columb's College.

## Musical career

McDaid was the singer and songwriter of the band Vega4, whose second album You and Others was produced by Jacknife Lee. Its first single, "Life Is Beautiful", was featured on the US Contemporary Radio Charts Top 40 for 12 weeks in 2007, and was the song used for the theatrical trailer of My Sister's Keeper. In 2009, McDaid was the first person to sign to Snow Patrol's publishing company, Polar Patrol Publishing.
McDaid went on to play guitar and piano and sing backing vocals in the alternative rock band Snow Patrol. While on the road with Snow Patrol, McDaid was developing his unique style of writing and working with artists in a variety of genres, scoring a hit with Example's "Say Nothing" which went to number 2 in the UK singles chart in 2012.
In January 2013, McDaid and Gary Lightbody performed at the "Sons & Daughters" concert in Derry, McDaid's hometown, to mark the opening of the city's UK City of Culture year. In early 2013, McDaid moved to Nashville, Tennessee with singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran to work with him on his second album. Sheeran and McDaid are close friends and later moved to Los Angeles together to continue working on Sheeran's second record. In November 2013, Sheeran posted a picture of himself and McDaid on Instagram stating that they had been making the record together for two years and that it was now complete. Sheeran's X album was released in June 2014 with McDaid having co-written seven of the songs, including "Photograph", which went on to go platinum and win a BMI Pop Award, and hit song "Bloodstream", which was nominated for Best Song Musically and Lyrically at the 2016 Ivor Novello Awards. The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 57th Grammy Awards, McDaid's first Grammy nomination. While the album did not go on to win the Grammy, it did go on to with the 2015 BRIT Award for Album of the Year.
While spending much of 2016 working with Ed Sheeran on his third studio album, Johnny also co-wrote "Love My Life" with Robbie Williams & Gary Go from Robbie Williams "The Heavy Entertainment Show" album. The first two singles from Ed Sheeran's ÷ album came out in January 2017 and included, Johnny's co-written "Shape of You" which has since become the most streamed song of all time with over 3 billion streams. Johnny produced 3 tracks and co-wrote 8 on the album. "Shape of You" went on to win BMI Pop Song of the Year as well as the Ivor Novello award for Most Performed Work.
In 2017 Johnny co-wrote Faith Hill & Tim McGraw's single "The Rest Of Our Life", Anderson East's single "All On My Mind", and Jamie Lawson's "Can't See Straight". Additionally, he co-wrote P!nk's single "What About Us" from her album Beautiful Trauma. The single, co-written with P!nk and Steve Mac, was received with rave views and debuted at No1 in 26 Markets globally. DJ Snake released his single "A Different Way" featuring Lauv, which was the third Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac, Johnny McDaid collaboration to be released. In November 2017, Johnny became an Honorary Fellow of The Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool.
Released in 2018, Johnny co-wrote and produced Keith Urban's single "Parallel Line" and co-wrote Shawn Mendes "Fallin' All In You" from his self-titled and third studio album. In 2018, Snow Patrol released their 7th studio album titled Wildness. The album debuted as #2 on the UK album charts. He also won the IMRO Outstanding Achievement Award with which he was presented in February 2018.
In 2019, Johnny McDaid co-wrote "Broken & Beautiful" by Kelly Clarkson, which was featured in the movie UglyDolls. Johnny also co-wrote and produced Alicia Keys "Underdog" and "Authors Of Forever" from her seventh studio album 'ALICIA'.
Johnny spent the majority of 2020 and 2021 working with Ed Sheeran on his = album on which he ended up as a producer on 9 songs, a co-writer on 10, including the UK #1 singles "Bad Habits" (nominated for Song of the Year at the 2022 Grammys) and "Shivers". The album was executive produced by Ed Sheeran, FRED, and Johnny.

## Personal life

McDaid began dating actress Courteney Cox in late 2013. The couple announced their engagement on 26 June 2014. In 2019, Cox announced that the couple broke off their engagement but are still in a relationship.
McDaid lives in London and divides his time between the UK and the US, where Cox lives.
McDaid has a tattoo on his left arm reading Nuair is gá dom filleadh abhaile, is tú mo réalt eolais ("When I need to get home you're my guiding light"), an Irish translation of the song "Guiding Light" by fellow Northern Irish musician Foy Vance. Ed Sheeran and Vance both have the same tattoo, as does McDaid's younger sister Maev. The song was written for McDaid's late father, John McDaid Sr., who died in July 2011. "Guiding Light" was recorded with Sheeran featured on vocals, and Vance on vocals and piano.

## Songwriting and production credits

| Year | Artist | Song | Written with | Produced with | Album |
| 2008 | Schiller | "Everything" with Helen Boulding | Christopher von Deylen, Helen Boulding | N/A | Sehnsucht |
| 2009 | Paul van Dyk | "Home" feat. Johnny McDaid | Paul van Dyk | Paul van Dyk | Volume |
| 2010 | Paul van Dyk | "We Are One" feat. Johnny McDaid | Paul van Dyk | Paul van Dyk | Non-album single |
| 2011 | Lena | "I Like You" | Rosi Golan | N/A | Good News |
| 2011 | Firefox AK | "Running on My Own" | Andrea Kellerman, Rasmus Kellerman, Harmony Boucher | N/A | Colour the Trees |
| 2012 | Paul van Dyk | "Everywhere" feat. Johnny McDaid | Paul van Dyk | N/A | Evolution |
| 2012 | Karin Park | "Bending Albert's Law" | Karin Park | | Highwire Poetry |
| 2012 | Example | "Say Nothing" | Elliot Gleave, Dragan Roganovic | N/A | The Evolution of Man |
| 2012 | Lena | "Don't Panic" | Lena Meyer-Landrut, James Flannigan | N/A | Stardust |
| 2013 | Bo Bruce | "Speed the Fire" | Catherine B.-Bruce, Thomas Ashby, Gita Langley, James Glannigan | N/A | Before I Sleep |
| 2013 | Bo Bruce | "Lightkeeper" | Catherine B.-Bruce | N/A | Before I Sleep |
| 2013 | Bo Bruce | "The Fall" | Catherine B.-Bruce, Ingrid Michaelson | N/A | Before I Sleep |
| 2013 | Bo Bruce | "How We're Made" | Catherine B.-Bruce | | Before I Sleep |
| 2013 | Ciaran Gribbin | "My Killer My King" | Ciaran Gribbin | | Non-album single |
| 2014 | Ed Sheeran | "All of the Stars" | Ed Sheeran | | The Fault in Our Stars OST |
| 2014 | Ed Sheeran | "Nina" | Ed Sheeran | N/A | X |
| 2014 | Ed Sheeran | "Photograph" | Ed Sheeran, Martin Harrington, Thomas Leonard | N/A | X |
| 2014 | Ed Sheeran | "Bloodstream" solo or with Rudimental | Ed Sheeran, Gary Lightbody, Amir Izadkhah, Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden, Leon Rolle | N/A | X |
| 2014 | Ed Sheeran | "Tenerife Sea" | Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance | N/A | X |
| 2014 | Ed Sheeran | "Afire Love" | Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance | | X |
| 2014 | Ed Sheeran | "Take It Back" | Ed Sheeran | N/A | X |
| 2014 | Ed Sheeran | "English Rose" | Ed Sheeran | | X |
| 2015 | Kodaline | "Love Will Set You Free" | Stephen Garrigan, Mark Prendergast, Vincent May | N/A | Coming Up for Air |
| 2015 | Rudimental | "Never Let You Go" feat. Foy Vance | Amir Izadkhah, Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden, Leon Rolle, Foy Vance | N/A | We the Generation |
| 2016 | Birdy | "Wild Horses" | Jasmine van den Bogaerde | N/A | Beautiful Lies |
| 2016 | Biffy Clyro | "Howl" | Simon Neil, Gary Lightbody | N/A | Ellipsis |
| 2016 | Robbie Williams | "Love My Life" | Robbie Williams, Gary Go | Gary Go, Jonny Coffer | The Heavy Entertainment Show |
| 2016 | Aquilo | "Sorry" | Thomas Higham, Benjamin Fletcher | Aquilo | Silhouettes |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | "Shape of You" | Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac, Kandi Burruss, Tameka Cottle, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs | N/A | ÷ (Divide) |
| 2017 | Rag'n'Bone Man | "The Fire" | Rory Graham, Jonny Coffer, Mark Crew, Daniel Priddy | Jonny Coffer | Human |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | "Eraser" | Ed Sheeran | | ÷ (Divide) |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | "Galway Girl" | Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge, Foy Vance, Damian McKee, Eamon Murray, Liam Bradley, Niamh Dunne, Sean Og Graham | N/A | ÷ (Divide) |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | "Hearts Don't Break Around Here" | Ed Sheeran | N/A | ÷ (Divide) |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | "What Do I Know?" | Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance | Ed Sheeran | ÷ (Divide) |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | "Supermarket Flowers" | Ed Sheeran, Benny Blanco | Benny Blanco | ÷ (Divide) |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | "Barcelona" | Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge, Foy Vance, Benny Blanco | N/A | ÷ (Divide) |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | "Nancy Mulligan" | Ed Sheeran, Murray Cummings, Amy Wadge, Foy Vance, Benny Blanco | N/A | ÷ (Divide) |
| 2017 | Zara Larsson | "Don't Let Me Be Yours" | Zara Larsson, Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac | N/A | So Good |
| 2017 | James Blunt | "Make Me Better" | James Blunt, Ed Sheeran | N/A | The Afterlove |
| 2017 | Pink | "What About Us" | Alecia Moore, Steve Mac | N/A | Beautiful Trauma |
| 2017 | Anderson East | "All on My Mind" | Anderson East, Aaron Raitiere, Ed Sheeran | N/A | Encore |
| 2017 | DJ Snake | "A Different Way" feat. Lauv | William Grigahcine, Ilsey Juber, Lindy Robbins, Ed Sheeran, Ryan Tedder, Steve Mac | N/A | Non-album single |
| 2017 | Jamie Lawson | "Can't See Straight" | Jamie Lawson, Ed Sheeran | N/A | Happy Accidents |
| 2017 | Jamie Lawson | "The Last Spark" | Jamie Lawson, Gary Go | N/A | Happy Accidents |
| 2017 | Tim McGraw | "The Rest of Our Life" with Faith Hill | Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge, Steve Mac | N/A | The Rest of Our Life |
| 2017 | Weezer | "Get Right" | Rivers Cuomo, Josh Alexander, Jonny Coffer | N/A | Pacific Daydream |
| 2017 | Robbie Williams | "Speaking Tongues" | Robbie Williams, Ellis Taylor | Show N Prove | Under the Radar Volume 2 |
| 2018 | Keith Urban | "Parallel Line" | Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge, Julia Michaels, Benny Blanco, Christopher Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, William Champion, Mikkel Eriksen, Tor Hermansen | Keith Urban, Ed Sheeran, Benny Blanco | Graffiti U |
| 2018 | Kodaline | "Follow Your Fire" | Stephen Garrigan, Steve Mac | N/A | Politics of Living |
| 2018 | The Shires | "Stay the Night" | John Newman, James Newman, Ed Sheeran | N/A | Accidentally on Purpose |
| 2018 | Shawn Mendes | "Fallin' All in You" | Shawn Mendes, Scott Friedman, Teddy Geiger, Ed Sheeran, Fred Again | N/A | Shawn Mendes |
| 2018 | Gareth Emery | "Call to Arms" feat. Evan Henzi | Gareth Emery, Gary Lightbody, Evan Henzi | N/A | Non-album single |
| 2018 | Kodaline | "Head Held High" | Stephen Garrigan, Liam O'Donnell, Jonny Coffer | N/A | Politics of Living |
| 2018 | Paul van Dyk | "Music Rescues Me" feat. Plumb | Paul van Dyk | N/A | Music Rescues Me |
| 2018 | Kodaline | "Hide and Seek" | Stephen Garrigan, Corey Sanders, William Reynolds | Will Reynolds, Max Marlow, Graham Archer | Politics of Living |
| 2018 | Kodaline | "Born Again" | Stephen Garrigan, Wayne Hector, Steve Mac | N/A | Politics of Living |
| 2018 | Kodaline | "Hell Froze Over" | Stephen Garrigan, Max Marlow | Will Reynolds, Max Marlow, Graham Archer | Politics of Living |
| 2018 | Paul van Dyk | "Reprise" | Paul van Dyk | N/A | Music Rescues Me |
| 2019 | Beoga | "Matthew's Daughter" | Damian McKee, Eamon Murray, Liam Bradley, Niamh Dunne, Sean Og Graham, Ed Sheeran | N/A | Carousel |
| 2019 | Kelly Clarkson | "Broken & Beautiful" | Alecia Moore, Steve Mac, Christopher Comstock | N/A | UglyDolls OST |
| 2019 | John Newman | "Forever's Not Long Enough" | John Newman, Foy Vance, Jonny Coffer | N/A | Out of the Blue EP |
| 2019 | Illenium | "Blood" with Foy Vance | Nicholas Miller, Damian McKee, Eamon Murray, Liam Bradley, Niamh Dunne, Sean Og Graham, Amy Wadge, Foy Vance, Jonny Coffer | N/A | Ascend |
| 2019 | John Newman | "Mama" | John Newman, James Newman, Foy Vance, Jonny Coffer | N/A | Out of the Blue EP |
| 2020 | Alicia Keys | "Underdog" | Alicia Keys, Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge, Foy Vance, Jonny Coffer | Alicia Keys | Alicia |
| 2020 | Beoga | "Aurora II" | Damian McKee, Eamon Murray, Liam Bradley, Niamh Dunne, Sean Og Graham, Jonny Coffer | N/A | Carousel |
| 2020 | Example | "Erin" | N/A | Example | Some Nights Last for Days |
| 2020 | Alicia Keys | "Authors of Forever" | Alicia Keys, Jonny Coffer | Alicia Keys, Jonny Coffer, Mark Ronson | Alicia |
| 2021 | Ross Copperman | "Electricity" | Ross Copperman, Ed Sheeran | N/A | Somewhere There's a Light On EP |
| 2021 | Ross Copperman | "Therapy" | Ross Copperman, Ed Sheeran | N/A | Somewhere There's a Light On EP |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Bad Habits" | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again, Parisi | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | BTS | "Permission to Dance" | Jenna Andrews, Stephen Kirk, Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac | N/A | Non-album single |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Visiting Hours" | Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge, Michael Pollack, Anthony Clemons Jr., Kim Lang Smith, Scott Carter | Ed Sheeran, Parisi | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | Maisie Peters | "Hollow" | Maisie Peters, Ed Sheeran, Joseph Rubel | N/A | You Signed Up for This |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Shivers" | Ed Sheeran, Kai Lavelle, Steve Mac | N/A | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Tides" | Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance | Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance, Joe Rubel | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Overpass Graffiti" | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "The Joker and the Queen" | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again, Samuel Romans | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again, Romans | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Collide" | Ed Sheeran, Ben Kweller, Fred Again | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again, Benji Gibson | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Love in Slow Motion" | Ed Sheeran, Natalie Hemby | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again, Joe Rubel | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Sandman" | Ed Sheeran | Ed Sheeran | = (Equals) |
| 2021 | Ed Sheeran | "Be Right Now" | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again | Ed Sheeran, Fred Again, Parisi | = (Equals) |
| 2022 | Ed Sheeran | "Penguins" | Ed Sheeran | Ed Sheeran | = (Tour Edition) |
| 2022 | Ed Sheeran | "One Life" | Steve Mac, Ed Sheeran | N/A | = (Tour Edition) |
| 2022 | Ed Sheeran | "Celestial" | Steve Mac, Ed Sheeran | N/A | Single |
| 2024 | Ed Sheeran | "Under the Tree" | Ed Sheeran | Ed Sheeran | Non-album single |