Work-life balance is something we all struggle with but for Toby Gad, his ‘crossroads’ saw him step away from multi-million dollar opportunities.
While he might not be a household name, he’s actually behind eight UK Top 10 hits — four of which are number ones.
For the past 30 years, Toby has been one of the most in-demand songwriters and producers in pop, working with the likes of Madonna, John Legend, and Beyoncé.
However, he revealed to Metro that at the height of his career in the early 2010s, he decided to turn down the money, take a step back, and ‘catch a wave’ instead.
Toby shared: ‘My wife was already in Hawaii with my daughter. They were waiting for me to come for the vacation, and I kept pushing it another week and another week.
‘The calendar was full to the brim for the next months, with two or three writing sessions every month, [even] every day. I really was at a crossroads.’
At this time, he had created All Of Me with John Legend, which shot to number one in the US and peaked at number two in the UK.
His other number ones include Beyonce’s If I Were A Boy, Don’t Hold Your Breath by Nicole Scherzinger, and JLS’s Love You More.
This was not overnight success, though, as Toby’s career began early and by 18, three of his and his brother’s songs had found their way onto a Milli Vanilli album, and the music world opened up.
He worked on an album for Enrique Iglesias before moving to New York. As the 00s began, so did Toby’s climb to the top of the charts.
One stand-out emotive hit was with Fergie for Big Girls Don’t Cry, which peaked at number two (with Rihanna’s Umbrella claiming the top spot).
Toby also has a double Top 20 UK hit with Skyscraper, which he wrote with Demi Lovato; it peaked at 17, then went to number one with Sam Bailey’s cover.
‘My songs are quite often autobiographical,’ Toby shared. ‘So I love artists who have something to say and who have gone through hard times.
‘With Fergie, that was one of her lowest low points. Or Demi, when we recorded Skyscraper, she was just about to go to rehabilitation, we were all crying when she sang that.’
Demi recorded a second version of the track when she was out of rehab, which was ‘perfect’, but in the end, they used her original version.
‘It’s just raw and honest, and it breaks your heart when you listen to that song. Her performance is so intense,’ Toby praised.
‘I like to write with artists. I want to pull the things out of their life, poke into their wounds and find the places that hurt, and then that’s what we write about, like a therapist.’
Toby reflects on the careers of his 2010s producer peers, sharing he was ‘in a similar position’ (prospects-wise, not legally) to industry heavyweight Dr Luke.
Dr Luke ‘got $100 million from Sony to start a massive label’, becoming the CEO, signing artists, and making his mark as one of the biggest names in the industry.
The Kemosabe Records founder now has an estimated net worth of $200,000,000 (£150,900,000).
‘For me,’ Toby continued. ‘I was thinking, why am I doing this? It was the third time I had a global number one — at the time, All Of Me was number one.
‘The third time I had climbed the Mount Everest of the music world, and that climb is a long way. So why am I actually doing this?’
His time spent constantly working meant he was barely home, letting his family life slip away in favour of the music machine.
‘It was shameful,’ he shared. ‘I was not getting younger. I had two daughters and my beautiful wife, who cooked dinner almost every evening, and I usually never showed up in time.
‘I made a decision to say no to every record label, cancel all the sessions and say I’m not writing songs. I’m learning to live again, be a human being and learn how to catch a wave, which was profound.’
Since then, he has made more time for his family, written a book (with another on the way), been a judge on German Idol, and even had a documentary made about his life.
German Idol made Toby a household name, but seeing the auditions had a profound impact on the way he viewed his songs from a decade ago.
‘When I came back, I wanted to pass the torch to these young talents, because a lot of the young contestants sang my songs and demonstrated to me that these songs were still alive and they meant something to them.
‘They were songs they grew up with, and they wanted to hear the stories behind these songs. So I felt it would be appropriate to re-record these songs with young artists.’
The Untouched hitmaker revisited some of his biggest songs in a project called Piano Diaries, with artists like Victoria Justice, Keke Palmer and Angelina Jordan, covering these classics.
He’s already working on a second edition of the album, with new songs including an unreleased track originally written with the late Donna Summer.
‘I used to not want to work for a while, and I’m glad I’ve had these years,’ Toby mused. ‘Now I’m working harder than ever.’
He confesses that he used to feel ‘very jealous’ and be ‘extremely competitive’ as he tried to climb the mountain that is the music industry.
Now, the TV judge is ‘done’ with all of that and returned to his roots as an artist, releasing music under his own name as well as songwriting and producing.
Toby said: ‘I think I had to relearn kindness, and now I’m just appreciative.Being an artist myself, releasing songs myself, I feel so many producers and songwriters are artists, but aren’t credited as such, or aren’t on stage as artists. It’s so rewarding.
‘It’s funny. People are famous, they’re on stage and people might know one song. And here I am, nobody knows my name, but I have dozens of songs that people can sing along to.’
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