Mischke Butler

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.^[3][4] Butler was subsequently discovered by producer Rodney Jerkins, who would mentor him for several years.^[5] Originally a member of Jerkins' "camp" of lyric and melody writers, he soon began to branch out into vocal arrangements and production.^[6]

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".^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[9][10] 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.^[11][12][13] 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.^[14][15]

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.^[16] Butler also contributed to songs on Jojo's mixtape Can't Take That Away From Me.^[17] 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.^[18][19][20]

In 2015, Butler was spotted in the studio with Britney Spears, who was working on what would become Glory, her ninth studio album.^[21][22][23] Butler was the principal vocal producer on the project eventually released in 2016, working on fourteen out of seventeen tracks of the deluxe edition.^[24]