Dean Josiah Cover (born 4 June 1988[1]), professionally known as Inflo, is a British producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He helms the R&B music collective project Sault, which foregrounds black-centric issues.[2]
Career
In 2014, British rock band the Kooks worked with Inflo on their fourth studio album Listen after frontman Luke Pritchard discovered him via SoundCloud. Pritchard described Inflo as a "young Quincy Jones" noting Inflo's bravery and conceptuality in his production.[3] In 2016, Inflo worked with Max Jury,[4]Tom Odell,[5] and Michael Kiwanuka,[6] working with the latter on his critically acclaimed sophomore album, Love & Hate, for which he won the Best Song Musically and Lyrically at the Ivor Novello Awards for co-writing "Black Man in a White World".[7]
In 2021, Inflo produced Little Simz' Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and Cleo Sol's Mother, in addition to his work on Sault's fifth effort, Nine and contributing to three songs on Adele's on fourth studio album 30,[10] earning him a second Grammy nomination for Album of the Year (as a songwriter and producer). On 30 September 2021, Inflo was announced as the winner of the acclaimed MPG (Music Producers Guild) UK "Producer of the Year" award. On 8 February 2022, he was announced as the "Producer of the Year" at the 2022 Brit Awards, becoming the first Black person to receive this honour since the inception of the Brits in 1977. [11]
Personal life
Inflo is married to singer and bandmate Cleo Sol and in 2021 they welcomed their first child. [12]
