TAURA STINSON
Taura Stinson is a Birmingham, Al born, Oakland raised, and Los Angeles-based Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy nominated songwriter/composer. Her projects include the Netflix’s animated feature, Thelma the Unicorn, featuring collaborations with former Alabama Shakes frontwoman, Brittany Howard, as well as the theme song, “Moon Girl Magic,” written with longtime collaborator Raphael Saadiq for Marvel’s Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur. She and frequent collaborator, Nicholas Britell co-wrote “Slip Away,” for the Sony Classics film, CARMEN, “Call Me Cruella” for Disney’s CRUELLA, and the Oscar shortlisted song “Just Look Up,” co-written with Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi for the Netflix film DON’T LOOK UP. Their most recent work includes three songs on the Apple Original feature film “BLITZ,” which includes the instant classic, ‘Winter Coat”, performed by Saoirse Ronan.
Alongside Mary J. Blige and Raphael Saadiq, Taura was nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Award for the soul stirring original song“Mighty River” , featured in the Netflix film Mudbound. She also received a Primetime Emmy nomination for the song “All About Me,” created in collaboration with composers Heather McIntosh and Allyson Newman for Showtime’s THE L-WORD: GENERATION Q. Her contributions to film and television continue to grow, including a collaboration with Pharrell Williams for his Amazon series HARLEM and with Ali Shaheed-Muhammed and Adrian Younge for the ABC series, Reasonable Doubt. Taura’s recent work in film also include original songs for Disney’s Better Nate than Ever and Cheaper by the Dozen
Taura also provided her A&R expertise to several projects, most notably her work with Music World Entertainment, and BET’s SUNDAY BEST. Her projects include various chartoppers, including the GRAMMY-award winning, single “JESUS” by LeANDRIA JOHNSON. Taura also served as associate producer for the Fox Film, Black Nativity, where she wrote and arranged songs for Jacob Latimore, Mary J. Blige, NAS, and Jennifer Hudson, among others. In addition to these achievements, Taura’s early career includes being the lead lyricist for the blockbuster animated feature RIO 2, as well as writing the Critic’s Choice Award-winning song “Jump” performed by Cynthia Erivo, in collaboration with Laura Karpman and Raphael Saadiq, for the documentary feature “STEP”. Taura and Raphael’s collaborations have resulted in multiple GRAMMY nominations, including the songs “Good Man” by Raphael and “Show Me the Way” by the legendary band Earth Wind & Fire. Taura’s impressive repertoire also includes writing “Be Alright” for Aerosmith‘s frontman Steven Tyler, as well as “Killing Time“, featured on the Men in Black soundtrack and performed by Destiny’s Child. One of her lesser-known accomplishments is co-writing the cult-classic hit “Gangsta Lean” aka “This is for my Homies” for the 90’s group DRS, which held the top spot on the R&B charts for six weeks and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Taura has also lent her powerful backing vocals to various chart-topping songs, such as “Bang Bang” by Jesse J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj, “Side to Side” by Ariana Grande, “Nobody Love” by Tori Kelly, “Your Song” by Elton John and Patti Labelle, and “Faith” by Stevie Wonder.
Advocacy is equally important to Taura as art. Over the years, she has mentored for SPARK, ACADEMY GOLD and She Is the Music, among others. She also serves as chair of the The Black Caucas Affinity Group for AMPAS, and is also on the board of the Alliance of Women Film Composers. She is also an independent publisher of the popular book, “100 Things Every Black Girl Should Know: For Girls 10-100” and founder of Believe Become Books, and independent literary publishing house for big dreamers.