David James Andrew Taylor, better known by his stage name Switch, is an English record producer, songwriter, DJ, and sound engineer. He is best known for his work with Beyoncé, M.I.A. and Major Lazer, of which he was a founding member. He was nominated at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in the Record of the Year category for "Paper Planes" by M.I.A.,[1] which he co-produced with Diplo. Other artists he has produced include Christina Aguilera, Chaka Khan, Santigold, and Brandy among many others. He has released various singles under his own name, and is also well known for remixing and producing for many major artists.
Most notably, Switch has worked extensively with fellow British artist M.I.A., co-producing tracks on her albums Arular, Kala, and Matangi. For the latter, he travelled to work with M.I.A. in A. R. Rahman's Panchathan Record Inn and AM Studios and other locations such as Kodambakkam, Chennai and Trinidad and Tobago. He says "When you go somewhere like India, and especially Jamaica, it puts you in a different train of thought, outside your usual working conditions. They use music as their voice; they use it for politics, for religion. So, I think for people that are struggling, they can use it to vent frustrations, or to celebrate".[2]
In 2009, Switch collaborated with fellow producer Diplo (whom he met through M.I.A.) to create the album Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do under the name Major Lazer; however, he left the group in 2011.
Switch is the founder and owner of the independent record label Diary Records, which began in 2018 and released Chaka Khan's most recent record Hello Happiness.[3]
