Holly Brook Hafermann (born February 23, 1986), known professionally as Skylar Grey, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. In 2004, Grey signed a publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group and a recording contract with Linkin Park's Machine Shop Recordings under the name Holly Brook. Her debut studio album, Like Blood Like Honey (2006), served as her only release with the label.
In 2010, Grey co-wrote Eminem's hit single "Love the Way You Lie" with English producer Alex da Kid, who signed Grey to his record label Kidinakorner, an imprint of Interscope Records. Her second album, Don't Look Down (2013) peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200, while her third, Natural Causes (2016) was met with critical acclaim despite failing to chart. Her 2021 single, "Last One Standing" (with Polo G, Mozzy and Eminem) marked her first entry—at number 78—on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist. The following year, her self-titled fourth album (2022) was released independently to continued acclaim.
Grey is also known for providing guest vocals on several hit singles, such as Fort Minor's "Where'd You Go", Diddy's "Coming Home", Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor", Nicki Minaj's "Bed of Lies", Macklemore's "Glorious", and Motionless in White's "R.I.P.". Additionally, she has written songs for a number of prominent performers including Rihanna, Kehlani, G-Eazy, Alicia Keys, Ciara, Christina Aguilera, Zedd, Nick Jonas, Céline Dion, and CeeLo Green.
1994–2004: Early life and Generations
As a child, Grey performed professionally in a folk duo with her mother, Candace Kreitlow, called Generations. The group released three studio albums together.
2005–2010: Like Blood Like Honey and EPs
Grey co-wrote "Done With Like" and "She Said" with Jon Ingoldsby and American actress Brie Larson for Larson's first and only album, Finally Out of P.E. (2005). In 2005, Grey was featured on the song "Where'd You Go" and "Be Somebody" by Fort Minor, a side project by American singer, rapper, and songwriter Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. "Where'd You Go" was released as a single on April 14, 2006, with an accompanying music video following soon after. The song gained commercial success and ended up becoming a top four hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and also became certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After working with music producer Jonathan Ingoldsby, Grey released her debut album, titled Like Blood Like Honey, on June 6, 2006, under Warner Bros. Records. The album peaked at number 35 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart. During this time, Grey had landed opening spots for concert tours with Jamie Cullum, k.d. lang, Daniel Powter, Teddy Geiger and Duncan Sheik.
Through Machine Shop Records, Grey worked with Linkin Park affiliates Styles of Beyond and Apathy. She was featured on two tracks, "Victim" and "No Sad Tomorrow", from Apathy's second studio album, Wanna Snuggle? (2009). Grey toured as part of Duncan Sheik's band and contributed substantially to his 2009 album, Whisper House. In 2009, Grey sang backing vocals on Eurovision contestant Yohanna's debut album, Butterflies and Elvis. In August 2009, still under the name Holly Brook, she lent both her song "It's Raining Again" and her image to a promotional campaign for Ciao Water. In early 2010, she performed in the theatrical version of "Whisper House," playing one of the two lead ghost vocalists, along with David Poe. On June 10, 2010, she self-released the seven-song extended play (EP), O’Dark:Thirty. Production of the EP was handled by Duncan Sheik and Jon Ingoldsby.
2010–2011: Songwriting and name change
Brook later changed her stage name to Skylar Grey. While still living in Oregon, Grey visited New York to meet her publisher Jennifer Blakeman, to seek help presenting her work. Blakeman had suggested that she work with English producer Alex da Kid. Alex da Kid then sent Grey a few tracks that he had been working on, the first song finished being "Love the Way You Lie". The song was given to American rapper Eminem (who wrote the verses) and Barbadian singer Rihanna. Their song became a worldwide hit, reaching number one on 26 charts and being nominated for four Grammy Awards. Grey received a Song of the Year Grammy nomination for "Love the Way You Lie". Grey wrote the hook to all three versions of "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem and Rihanna, and even recorded a solo version that was later featured on her fourth EP, The Buried Sessions of Skylar Grey (2012).
Alex da Kid went on to sign Skylar Grey to a production deal on his KIDinaKORNER record label imprint. In 2010, Grey also co-wrote and was featured on Diddy – Dirty Money's single "Coming Home", which gained massive commercial success. Also in 2010, Grey co-wrote "Castle Walls" by American rapper T.I. and American pop singer Christina Aguilera. On February 1, 2011, American renowned hip-hop producer Dr. Dre released a song titled "I Need a Doctor", featuring Eminem and Grey. "I Need a Doctor" managed to peak at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. The song garnered Grey several Grammy nominations.
Grey made her national television debut under her new alias during the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, where she performed "I Need a Doctor", with Eminem and Dr. Dre. During this time, Grey announced that she had begun working on her album then-titled Invinsible. In March 2011, it was revealed Grey signed to Interscope Records, through Alex da Kid's KIDinaKORNER and announced she would be releasing a single in the spring. Later in 2011, Grey was featured on a song titled "Words I Never Said", the second single from Lupe Fiasco's Lasers (2011).
Grey released her debut single, "Dance Without You", on June 6, 2011. The song later received a music video, which was released on July 5. Grey's second single and formerly her second album's title-track, "Invisible", was released to radio on June 16. Grey performed alongside aspiring rapper Eli Porter on the September 20, 2011 episode of Tosh.0. In October, Grey was featured on American DJ Kaskade's seventh album Fire & Ice, writing and singing on two versions of the song "Room for Happiness", which became the album's third single and earned a Grammy nomination.
2012–2014: Don't Look Down and collaborations
In August 2012, Grey appeared twice as a guest vocalist on American hip-hop supergroup Slaughterhouse's second album, Welcome to: Our House (2012). In September 2012, Grey's song "Building a Monster", was featured on the soundtrack to Tim Burton's Frankenweenie.
In 2012, Grey co-wrote Russian-German producer Zedd's 2012 single "Clarity" featuring Foxes, which won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2014.
In February 2013, American recording artist CeeLo Green released a single titled "Only You", which he co-wrote with Grey. On March 8, 2013, Grey performed a six-song set for "Guitar Center Sessions" on DirecTV. Grey also contributed an exclusive song, titled "Slowly Freaking Out", to the soundtrack album for the film 2013 film The Host, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer, In April 2013, Grey contributed to will.i.am's fourth solo album #willpower, on the song "Love Bullets".
On October 31, 2012, Grey announced Eminem would be executive producer for her album whose title she had changed from Invinsible to Don't Look Down. The album was preceded by the singles "C'mon Let Me Ride", "Final Warning", and "Wear Me Out". Grey's second album, Don't Look Down, was released July 5, 2013.The album debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 24,000 copies in the United States.