PRODUCER & SONGWRITER
Musical legacy describes the beginnings of this gifted singer/songwriter/producer/ musician. An accomplished pianist, Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, affectionately known as “Dee”, was able to perform the Hanon Virtuoso Pianist Exercises at the tender age of six. As Dee grew older, he learned to play the acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums. His classical training (his father is a musician and music teacher) allows him to look at song structure, harmony and musical arrangements when playing or creating music.
Dee’s musical influences are wide ranging and touch almost every genre of music. “Music is a journey that everyone is taking a ride on. I just want to take my seat and paint my own picture and let the world interpret what they want from it. R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Classical, I want to do it all!”
His influences include Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane and Wes Montgomery. “I love the way Stevie Wonder writes a song, from his arrangements to his melodies and harmonic structures, as well as his lyrics. They just move together so well, it’s like unbelievable! When I think of songs like “As” and “Lately”, I just want to be able to make the lyrics and the music blend together and give you that feeling.”
However, Dee’s greatest influence is his father, Dernst Emile, an accomplished jazz musician in his own right. “I would love to be half of what my dad is. He is amazing and I can’t seem to get enough of listening to him and watching him play. Just when I think I’m getting something, he turns around and does something that makes me crazy.”
Dee’s first placement was a collaboration with Grammy Award Winning Songwriters/Artists Full Force for Rihanna’s debut album “Music of the Sun”. He soon followed with placements on Janet Jackson’s album, “Discipline” (“Feedback” and “Luv”), Justin Bieber’s debut album “My World” (“Favorite Girl”), and Mary J. Blige’s album, “The Breakthrough”. Dee then worked with Grammy Award winning and nominated artists, such as Diddy, Usher, Alicia Keys, Brandy, Celine Dion, Joe, Nico & Vinz, Jennifer Lopez, Tony Braxton, Trey Songz, Chris Brown, T.I., and Rick Ross, to name a few.
Although not new to the music industry, he is now embarking on a new stage in his career. He was Grammy nominated for his writing and production of “Still” by ByStorm/RCA artist, Mali Music for “Traditional R&B Performance”. Won a Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album by working on the historic and first joint Gold album of JayZ and Beyonce (The Carters), “Everything Is Love” producing “BOSS”. To date, he has Executive Produced and musically produced the entire debut album for Keep Cool/RCA’s new artist, Lucky Daye, which currently has been nominated for 4 Grammys titling, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance for “Roll Some Mo”, Best R&B Album and Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Real Games”. Producing this album at its core has been a true LABOR of LOVE. Also, he has 5 songs, including the platinum lead single, “Could’ve Been” off the “Used To Know Her” album by the Grammy Award Winning artist, H.E.R., which is now nominated for 3 Grammys titling, Album of the Year, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance for “Could’ve Been”.
Achievements