Bill Bottrell

William A. Bottrell is an American record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has collaborated with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Electric Light Orchestra and Sheryl Crow.

In 1989, Michael Jackson asked him to co-produce, engineer and write songs for his album Dangerous, co-writing and rapping on the album's biggest hit, "Black or White". The song spent 7 weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1991.

In 1990, Bottrell built his own recording studio and founded a musical "think tank" called the "Tuesday Night Music Club". One of the resulting acts was Sheryl Crow, whose 1993 debut album (produced and co-written by Bottrell) was entitled Tuesday Night Music Club. Her single "All I Wanna Do" from that album won the 1995 Grammy Award for Record of the Year for Bottrell and Crow. The album won three additional Grammys and sold 10 million worldwide and influenced a generation of female singers.

Bottrell was nominated for another Grammy for his work on Shelby Lynne's 1999 breakout album, I Am Shelby Lynne. During the making of that album, he closed his recording studio and moved his family of five to Northern California.

He has also worked with many other artists, including David Baerwald, Alisha's Attic, Five for Fighting, Rosanne Cash, Lisa Germano, Kevin Gilbert, Jasun Martz, Tom Petty, Rusted Root, Ben Jelen, Toy Matinee and Annie Stela.

In 1999, Bottrell formed a group called The Stokemen. This group has become known around northern California for their cabaret-style shows.