Dernst "D'Mile" Emile II (born January 24, 1985) is an American record producer and songwriter[2] from Brooklyn, New York City. He received his first production credits on Rihanna's 2005 album Music of the Sun, as well as Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough that same year. Afterward, he expanded his production work as a protégé of Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. At a young age, he signed with Sean and Colin Muhammad's Medinah Entertainment.[3][4][5]
Emile is the son of Haitian vocalist Yanick Étienne, who was featured in recordings by and toured with Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music in the 1980s, and music producer Dernst Emile.[10][6] He grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, and began learning to play the keyboard as a young child.[6]
Career
2005–2012: Career beginnings
Emile made his major production debut on Rihanna's 2005 album Music of the Sun, for which he produced & co-wrote "That La, La, La" with fellow Brooklyn hip-hop group Full Force.[6] Later the same year, he also made an appearance on Mary J. Blige's 2005 album The Breakthrough with the song "Gonna Breakthrough," which he co-wrote and produced.[6] After these bodies of work, a friend introduced D'Mile to Rodney Jerkins, with whom he had an apprenticeship for two years.[6]
He scored his first main chart success with Janet Jackson's tenth studio album, Discipline. He produced and co-wrote the lead single "Feedback," which reached number one on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, the R&B hit "Luv" as well as the album tracks "I.D.," "Truth or Dare," and "The Meaning."
Justin Bieber worked with D'Mile on "Favorite Girl," which is the fourth single from his debut album My World. D'Mile is also listed as producing the R&B ballad "In the Morning" for Mary J. Blige's ninth album Stronger with Each Tear.
He then worked with Diddy and Dirty Money on their album Last Train To Paris, which was released December 14, 2010. D'Mile produced the song "Shades," which was co-produced with Justin Timberlake's production group The Y's and featured guest vocals from Timberlake, Lil Wayne, Bilal, and James Fauntleroy II. He also has several productions on Jennifer Lopez's 2011 comeback album, Love? including "One Love"; and the dance-pop number "(What Is) Love?" which was released as the lead soundtrack single and scored in Lopez's 2010 romantic comedy, The Back-up Plan.
D'Mile produced several songs and served as the executive producer for Diggy Simmons' album, Unexpected Arrival, which was released March 20, 2012 on Atlantic Records. D'Mile produced the single "Long Distance" by 2011 X-Factor winner Melanie Amaro, which she performed live on the show on December 6, 2012.
2013–present: Current projects
D'Mile has a strong production record with Ty Dolla Sign, including his Beach House series, Beach House,[11]Beach House 2,[12]Beach House EP, and Beach House 3. Ty Dolla Sign has said that D'Mile is "literally the best producer [he has] ever worked with" following their collaborations.[6] He also produced "Livin' It Up" from Ciara's 2013 album Ciara.
In 2016, he produced the two tracks "Mind Of A Man" and "FWM" for Hard II Love by Usher.[13]
Throughout 2016 and 2017, D'Mile produced all 13 songs on Lucky Daye's debut album titled Painted after the two met in LA.[14][6] D'Mile also provided background vocals on the song "Paint It."[14] The album was released in 2019 and went on to be nominated at the 2020 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album, with two album tracks being nominated for Best R&B Performance ("Roll Some Mo") and Best Traditional R&B Performance ("Real Games").[15]
