Benny Blanco

Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Blanco has also won five BMI Songwriter of the Year Awards, won the 2017 iHeartRadio Producer of the Year Award, and received eleven Grammy Award nominations.

He was initially mentored by Dr. Luke, who signed him to his production company Kasz Money Productions. Blanco was thereafter credited on various productions with Luke from 2008 to the mid-2010s. Since then, Blanco has contributed to albums and singles that have sold a cumulative 500 million album-equivalent units; having produced or co-written for Ed Sheeran, BTS, Eminem, Justin Bieber, Halsey, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Christina Aguilera, Kesha, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Sia, the Weeknd, Kanye West, Avicii, Adam Lambert, Charlie Puth, Keith Urban, OneRepublic, Wiz Khalifa, J Balvin, Ariana Grande, Kali Uchis, Juice Wrld, and SZA, among others.

In July 2018, Blanco released his debut single as a lead artist, "Eastside" (with Halsey and Khalid). The song peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100—marking his 27th top-ten song as a writer, a sum which includes seven number-one singles on the chart—while peaking the charts in four countries, and reaching the top ten in several others. Each released that same year, Blanco's follow-up singles—"I Found You" (with Calvin Harris), "Better to Lie" (with Jesse and Swae Lee) and "Roses" (with Brendon Urie and Juice Wrld)—preceded the release of his debut studio album, Friends Keep Secrets, in December. A deluxe issue, titled Friends Keep Secrets 2 was released in March 2021, a date which coincided with the original receiving a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The latter spawned the top 40 single "Lonely" (with Justin Bieber). With his wife Selena Gomez, they released the album I Said I Love You First in 2025.

Blanco has founded two labels as imprints of Interscope Records—Mad Love Records and Friends Keep Secrets—in 2014, through both of which he has signed artists including Tory Lanez, Jessie Ware, and Cashmere Cat, among others. After both labels dissolved a decade later, he signed with A&M Records, an imprint of Interscope, where he became a general manager. In October 2025, Blanco left A&M and was replaced by former Elektra Records co-president, Gregg Nadel.

Benjamin Joseph Levin was born on March 8, 1988, in Reston, Virginia, where he also grew up. He is Jewish. He began producing hip-hop instrumentals in his bedroom and recording his own vocals on top of them. His first serious exposure to music came in 1994, when he was six years old with Nas's "The World Is Yours" and All-4-One's "I Swear" on cassette tapes, which influenced his early productions. After early experiments with beat making and recording himself on his boombox, Blanco's rapping earned the attention of The Source magazine and executives at Columbia Records.

His stage name came from the fictional character of the same name (played by John Leguizamo) in the 1993 film Carlito's Way, and was a reference to him being a white rapper.

He attended Camp Airy for many years of his childhood in Thurmont, Maryland, where he would routinely perform and host a radio show under the name "Ebba Ebba". Blanco eventually secured an apprenticeship with producer Disco D after multiple trips to New York City from his home in Virginia to meet with labels and producers.

Blanco was mentored for several years by Dr. Luke, who signed Blanco to his production company Kasz Money Productions. While under Dr. Luke's tutelage, Blanco co-produced and co-wrote many songs, including hits such as Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", Kesha's "TiK ToK", and Taio Cruz's "Dynamite".