Philly Songwriting Duo Nominated for Grammy Awards


Earlier this week we posted about Philly composer Joseph Hallman being nominated for a Grammy for his album Sprung Rhythm, but he’s not the only local guy to be rooting for this Sunday.

Philly songwriting duo Carvin Haggins and Ivan Barias (of Karma Productions) have two entries in the Best R&B Album category. The first, Chrisette Michele‘s 2013 album Better, on which they get production and writing credits for songs “Love Won’t Leave  Me Out” and “Let Me Win.” They also produced a song, “Burn Out,” on contender TGT‘s Three Kings.

Carvin and Ivan began making together more than 20 years ago at DJ Jazzy Jeff’s A Touch of Jazz music studio. “If you were to trace Philly’s modern music history it’s like all roads lead through DJ Jazzy Jeff,” they told CBS Philly. “It was kind of like the school of hard knocks we got our BA’s, MBA’s and PHD’s over there in making music.”

The duo has written songs for everyone from Jazmine Sullivan (“My Foolish Heart“) and Jill Scott (“Gimme“) to Justin Timberlake (“Worthy Of.”) Though they’ve never actually brought a golden megaphone home, this will make their 21st Grammy nod. Fingers crossed that this is their big year.

Listen to some of the above-mentioned tunes in the videos below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU5k2E7VIkg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7VBe_R59Bw