Nina Woodford-Wells is a Swedish-American songwriter.

Career

Nina Woodford (born 13 July 1979)^[1] Stockholm, is the daughter of the Swedish music producer Sten Sandahl,^[2] and the Black American social anthropologist Prudence Woodford-Berger.^[3] At the age of 16,^[4] she began her career singing backing vocals for Swedish artists Eric Gadd, Titiyo, and The Navigators.^[5] She also featured on the Britney Spears album Oops!... I Did It Again.^[6] By the age of 20 she had a publishing deal as a songwriter with Murlyn Music in Stockholm.^[4]

At age 25, Woodford moved to London, and wrote the European Hot 100 #1 smash hit, Broken Strings,^[4] by James Morrison from his album Songs for You, Truths for Me. The song is the biggest single of Morrison's career.

Nina co-wrote the theme song for the 2019 Special Olympics held in Abu Dhabi, titled "Right Where I'm Supposed To Be". Nina was tapped by Sesame Street in 2021 to compose a song honoring Juneteenth, a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of African-American slaves.^[7] She has also written for Leona Lewis, Idina Menzel, Tom Jones, Sugababes, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Christina Milian, The Saturdays, and Jay Sean.^[8] Woodford noted that Kate Bush "makes me feel free to dare to try different things.".^[9]

Personal life

Nina grew up in Stockholm's Södermalm borough. Today she lives in Los Angeles and is married to record producer Greg Wells.

Honours

• 2010 SKAP prize, an award designated to Swedish pop music writers.^[10]