Academy 2018′ – Oscar Nominee – Taura Stinson (Best Song)

Monica speaks to Taura Stinson, who is a songwriter known for co-writing collaborations with artists such as Usher, Ariana Grande, Raphael Saadiq, Andre 3000, Destiny’s Child and many more.

She talks about celebrating her first “Best Original Song” Academy Award nomination for “Mighty River”—a song she co-wrote with Saadiq (a frequent collaborator) and Mary J. Blige—which appears in the film Mudbound.  Performed by Mary J. Blige, the song has already garnered a Golden Globe Nomination and is the high point of a celebrated songwriting career.

The 90^th edition of the Academy Awards will air on March 4^th.

While this is Stinson’s first Oscar nomination, it’s not her first time on the Oscar stage. Stinson sang in the choir at the 2015 Academy Awards for Common and John Legend’s performance of the Oscar-winning song, “Glory” from Selma.   A long list of her work and accomplishments in bio below.

Listen to “Mighty River” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAJpEVv2XHw

Says Stinson: “The inspiration for the song title “Mighty River” came from the idea of washing the mud from lives, both literally and metaphorically.  The song is about the redemption of the two families featured in the film.  It is a song about forgiveness and hope.  We wanted to use the song as a platform to inspire and affect change.”

ABOUT TAURA STINSON

Taura Stinson is a Veteran songwriter Born in Birmingham, AL and raised in Oakland, CA. In her early career she penned songs for artists including Destiny’s Child, Kelis, Kelly Rowland and Deborah Cox and has collaborated with Raphael Saadiq, Dr. Dre, Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon, Kanye West and Andre 3000 among many others.  Her very first film soundtrack placement was on “Men in Black” and she has sense worked on various mediums ranging from Film, TV and a wide range of artists. She co-wrote the Grammy nominated single on the Illumination album called “Show Me The Way” for the legendary band, Earth, Wind and Fire. Taura and her long time writing partner, Raphael Saadiq wrote and produced the song “Gonna Be Alright” performed by Steven Tyler (AEROSMITH) for the animated film starring Beyonce titled “Epic”. They also wrote and produced ALL of the songs for the Musical film “Black Nativity” starring Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, Angela Bassett, Jacob Latimore, Mary J Blige, Luke James, Tyrese and Nas.

Taura and Raphael were nominated for the “Ashford and Simpson Songwriters award as well as Grammy nomination for their collaboration on the song they also co-wrote called “Good Man” on Saadiq’s Stone Rollin Album on which she was a featured artist. Taura is also a freelance A&R consultant garnering a Grammy win for her first A&R project, “The Awakening of LeAndria Johnson”. In addition, Taura was A&R director for Music World Entertainment and BET’S “Sunday Best” franchise for contestants and winners including Amber Bullock, Joshua Rogers, Andrea Helms, Elder Goldwire and Alexis Spight, who were released Top 10 Gospel Singles/Albums. Taura works with a variety of artists as a vocal producer/arranger/choir coordinator from various genres as including but not limited to, Paloma Faith, Kim Burrell, Trombone Shorty, Chaka Khan, Paris Hilton, The Reef Band, Patti Labelle and the television show, “The Underground” among others.

Taura served as lead lyricist for the animated film “Rio 2” starring Oscar Winners Jamie Foxx and Anne Hathaway. She also co-wrote “Airplay”, the end title for the film “Beyond TheLights” and “Champions”, the end title for the 2016 film “Hands of Stone” featuring Usher and Ruben Blades.