Serban Ghenea

Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended John Abbott College, Concordia University, then McGill University.

His son Alex Ghenea is a mixer and producer in his own right. At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards (2024), Serban and Alex were both nominated in the new Best Pop Dance Recording category with separate recordings.

Ghenea's career began through a chance meeting with Teddy Riley in 1993 while visiting his girlfriend (now wife), that lead to Riley hiring him as an in-house mixing and recording engineer. Throughout his career, Ghenea has worked with top artists in pop music, including Juice Wrld, Ariana Grande, Adele, Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake. He has mixed over 188 No. 1 recordings. With Riley, Ghenea worked on projects that included Michael Jackson and Blackstreet.

Selected discography

• Juice WRLD: "Wishing Well", "Reminds Me of You", "Hard Work Pays Off", "Jet Lag", "Not Enough"
• Halsey: "Without Me"
• Jonas Brothers: The Album
• Tove Lo: Lady Wood, Queen of the Clouds, "Disco Tits", "Talking Body", "Cool Girl"
• The Weeknd: "Blinding Lights"
• Lil Nas X: "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)", "Sun Goes Down"
• Katy Perry: "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "I Kissed a Girl", "Hot n Cold", "Waking Up in Vegas"
• Kesha: "Tik Tok", "Blah Blah Blah", "Your Love Is My Drug"
• Destiny's Child: "Emotion"
• Jason Derulo: "In My Head", "Ridin' Solo"
• Iyaz: "Replay"
• Björk: "Crystalline", "Cosmogony"
• Jay Sean: "Down"
• Britney Spears: "Outrageous", "3", "Womanizer", "Circus", "Me Against the Music", "I'm a Slave for You", "Boys"
• Miley Cyrus: "Party in the U.S.A."
• Demi Lovato: "Let It Go", "Cool for the Summer", "Confident", "No Promises", "Tell Me You Love Me", "I'm Ready"
• Weezer: "I'm Your Daddy"
• Flo Rida: "Right Round"
• Glenn Lewis: "Don't You Forget It"
• BTS: "Dynamite", "Butter", "Permission To Dance"
• Blackpink: "Ice Cream", "Bet You Wanna"
• Little Mix: "Shout Out to My Ex", "Black Magic", "Word Up!", "Little Me", "Heartbreak Anthem"
• Selena Gomez: "Ice Cream", "De Una Vez"
• Lifehouse: "Halfway Gone"
• The Fray: "You Found Me", "Never Say Never"
• Kelly Clarkson: "My Life Would Suck Without You", "Already Gone", "Behind These Hazel Eyes", "Because of You", "Since U Been Gone"
• A Fine Frenzy: Bomb in a Birdcage
• Toni Braxton: "And I Love You"
• Kelis: "Good Stuff"
• Garbage: Androgyny 02
• Little Boots: "New In Town"
• N.O.R.E.: "Head Bussa"
• Matisse: "Better Than Her"
• Janet Jackson: "Spending Time With You"
• Air: "Don't Be Light"
• The Veronicas: "4ever"
• Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil Wayne: "Let It Rock"
• Cobra Starship: "Good Girls Go Bad", "Hot Mess"
• Pink: "So What", "Sober", "Who Knew", "'Cuz I Can", "Please Don't Leave Me", "U + Ur Hand"
• Avril Lavigne: "Girlfriend"
• Black Eyed Peas: "My Humps"
• Fergie featuring will.i.am: "Fergalicious"
• Carrie Underwood: "Inside Your Heaven", "Some Hearts"
• Gym Class Heroes: "Cupid's Chokehold"
• Jewel: "Intuition", "Stand"
• Justin Timberlake: "Pose" (featuring Snoop Dogg), "Damn Girl" (featuring will.i.am), "Señorita", "Like I Love You", "Rock Your Body", "I'm Lovin' It"
• Ashley Tisdale: "So Much for You", "We'll Be Together", "Guilty Pleasure"
• Mark Ronson: Here Comes The Fuzz, Version
• N.E.R.D.: In Search Of..., Fly or Die, "Provider", "Maybe", "She Wants to Move"
• Sugababes: "About You Now"
• Leona Lewis: "Better in Time"
• Musiq Soulchild: "Love", "Teachme"
• Jill Scott: Who Is Jill Scott?: Words And Sounds Vol. 1, Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3
• Dave Matthews Band: Stand Up, "Dreamgirl", "American Baby", "Everybody Wake Up (Our Finest Hour Arrives)"
• Robbie Williams: "Rudebox", "Lovelight"
• Joe: "Ride wit U"
• The Hives: "Tick Tick Boom"
• The Virgins: "Rich Girls"
• We Are Scientists: Brain Thrust Mastery
• Carolina Liar: "I'm Not Over"
• R. Kelly: "Double Up", "Playa's Only", "Slow Wind", "Thoia Thoing", "Snake"
• Robert Randolph & The Family Band: Colorblind
• Usher: "My Way", "Here I Stand"
• Kenna: Make Sure They See My Face, New Sacred Cow
• Michael Jackson: "One More Chance", "Hold My Hand" (with Akon)
• BLACKstreet: "No Diggity"
• Faith Evans: "Burnin' Up"
• Mary J. Blige: "Steal Away"
• Syleena Johnson: "Tonight I'm Gonna Let Go"
• Marshmello & Halsey: "Be Kind"
• Dua Lipa: "Dance the Night"
• Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice: "Barbie World"

Ghenea has won a total of 20 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.

He won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year five times; winning for Taylor Swift's 1989, folklore and Midnights, Adele's 25 and Bruno Mars' 24K Magic. Ghenea also won the Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Shakira’s Fijación Oral, Vol. 1.

• Serban Ghenea at Discogs
• Serban Ghenea at IMDb
• Serban Ghenea at Variety
• Serban Ghenea at Genius