While attending
New York University, Ronson became known as a DJ on the local club scene in the early 1990s. He played a diverse, genre-spanning selection, noting: "I've always loved everything. I've never had any kind of genre boundaries". In 1999, Ronson was featured in an ad for
Tommy Hilfiger wearing the company's denim in the recording studio.
2001–2005: Here Comes the Fuzz and initial producing Ronson transitioned from DJ to producer after
Nikka Costa's manager, Dominique Trenier, heard one of his sets and introduced him to several musicians. Ronson produced Costa's song "Everybody Got Their Something", and Ronson soon signed a record contract with
Elektra Records. He had already produced tracks for Hilfiger ads and, in 2001, used the connection to have Costa's single "Like a Feather" feature in an advertisement. Ronson's debut album,
Here Comes the Fuzz, was released in 2003 and according to a retrospective review "the record sold poorly and (...) critical reception was lukewarm at best, dismissive at worst". The album featured performances from artists from diverse genres, including
Mos Def,
Jack White,
Sean Paul,
Nappy Roots and
Rivers Cuomo. The lead single "
Ooh Wee," reached no. 15 on the
UK Singles Chart, and was used in a number of films, including in
Honey (2003). In 2004, Ronson formed his own record label,
Allido Records, a subsidiary of
Sony BMG's
J Records, along with his longtime manager
Rich Kleiman.
2006–2009: Version On 2 April 2007, Ronson released a cover of
The Smiths' track "
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before", in medley with
the Supremes' "
You Keep Me Hangin' On", under the shortened title "Stop Me", featuring Australian singer and frequent collaborator
Daniel Merriweather. It reached number 2 in the UK singles charts, giving Ronson his highest-peaking single until 2014's "Uptown Funk". Ronson remixed the
Bob Dylan song "
Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine" in promotion for the three-disc Bob Dylan collection titled
Dylan released October 2007. Ronson has also produced
Candie Payne's single "One More Chance" in 2007. The cover album
Version appeared on his own label with
Alexis Petridis describing the song interpretations as "an affectionate pastiche of a 60s soul revue's brass-laden sound". In May 2007 it was awarded the title Album of the Month by the British dance music magazine,
Mixmag. On 23 June, Ronson made the cover of
The Guardian newspaper's Guide magazine, alongside singer
Lily Allen. In June 2007, Ronson signed DC hip hop artist
Wale to Allido Records. In late 2007, he focused on production, working with
Daniel Merriweather on his debut album, and recording again with
Amy Winehouse and
Robbie Williams. On 24 October 2007, Ronson performed a one-off set at
The Roundhouse in
Camden, London as part of the
BBC Electric Proms 2007. The performance featured the BBC Concert Orchestra and included special guests
Terry Hall,
Sean Lennon,
Tim Burgess,
Alex Greenwald,
Ricky Wilson (substituting for Lily Allen), Charlie Waller of
The Rumble Strips,
Adele and
Kyle Falconer. In December 2007, Ronson received his first
Grammy Award nomination, for 'Producer of the Year, Non-Classical'. Ronson's work with Amy Winehouse also received substantial accolades, gaining 6 nominations. Winehouse's "Back to Black" album, mostly produced by Ronson, was nominated for 'Album of the Year' and 'Best Pop Vocal Album'. Her song "Rehab" received nods for 'Best Female Pop Vocal Performance', 'Song of the Year' and 'Record of the Year'. Ronson would go on to win three Grammys: 'Producer of the Year' as well as 'Best Pop Vocal Album' and 'Record of the Year' (the latter two of which he shared with
Amy Winehouse) in early February 2008. Ronson is credited as producer on a mixtape album called
Man in the Mirror, released in January 2008 by the rapper
Rhymefest which is a tribute to the pop star
Michael Jackson. The album features Rhymefest appearing to speak to Michael Jackson using archive audio from interviews with the pop star. The same month Ronson received three nominations for the
Brit Awards, including 'Best Male Solo Artist,' 'Best Album' (
Version) and 'Song of the Year' ("
Valerie"). Ronson won his first Brit for 'Best Male Solo Artist' in mid-February 2008 over favourite
Mika. He also performed a medley of
Coldplay's "
God Put a Smile upon Your Face" with Adele, "Stop Me" with Daniel Merriweather, and "Valerie" with Amy Winehouse. The performance allowed for a large boost in sales in the
iTunes UK Top 100. "Valerie" would jump almost 30 spots in the days after the event, while "Just", "Stop Me" and "Oh My God" all appeared in the chart as well. That same week, Ronson appeared twice in the UK Top 40, with "Valerie" rebounding to number 13 and "Just" at number 31, his fourth Top 40 entry from "Version". The Brits performance also allowed for "Version" to climb 18 spots to number 4. Around this time, Ronson received his first number one on an international chart (Dutch Top 40) for "Valerie," which spent four consecutive weeks at the top of the chart. He collaborated with the
Kaiser Chiefs on their third album. Ronson toured the album "Version" extensively through both the UK and Europe during 2008. Notable sold-out performances at The Hammersmith Apollo and Brixton Academy. Ronson is known to champion new upcoming artists on the road with him, such as
Sam Sparro and
Julian Perretta. Ronson's string backing was provided by the all-female string quartet
Demon Strings. On 2 July 2008, in Paris, Ronson performed live with
Duran Duran for an invited audience. They played new arrangements by Ronson of some Duran Duran songs, along with tracks from the band's new album,
Red Carpet Massacre. Ronson & the Version Players also performed songs from his album
Version.
Simon Le Bon sang. As of March 2009, Ronson was working with the group on their 13th album. The Album, titled
All You Need Is Now, was released digitally exclusively via Apple's iTunes on 21 December 2010, while the physical CD was released in March 2011 with additional tracks. In 2013–14 Ronson was once again in the studio producing Duran Duran's 14th album,
Paper Gods, making it the first time the band has worked with the same producer on consecutive albums since
Colin Thurston produced their first two albums in the 1980s.
2010–2012: Record Collection In the spring of 2010, Ronson confirmed the name of his new album
Record Collection, and said that he hoped to have it out by September 2010. Additionally, Ronson announced the name of his new band, "The Business Intl.'", which is the alias adopted by Ronson on the third studio album. The first single, "
Bang Bang Bang," which featured rapper
Q-Tip and singer
MNDR, was released on 12 July 2010, where it peaked at number 6 on the
UK Singles Chart, giving Ronson his fourth Top 10 single. The single also entered the
Irish Singles Chart, where it peaked at number 18. The second single from the album, "
The Bike Song", was released on 19 September 2010, and features the Scottish musician
Kyle Falconer from
The View and the American rapper
Spank Rock. The album was released on 27 September 2010. This is the first Ronson album on which he features as a singer. Although Ronson had never met
Michael Jackson, he was given the vocal track to a song titled "Lovely Way", sung by Jackson, in 2010 to produce for his posthumous album
Michael. He submitted the track, but it did not make the tracklisting for
Michael. Ronson said about the rumours surrounding the vocals on the track (due to the controversy surrounding the Cascio tracks on that same album), "It was definitely him singing. I was given a vocal track to work with but I never actually met Michael. [...] It's in the vein of Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' and John Lennon's 'Imagine'." He provided the
score for the 2011 film
Arthur. Ronson was one of the artists featured in the 2012 documentary
Re:GENERATION Music Project. His song "A La Modeliste" features
Mos Def,
Erykah Badu,
Trombone Shorty, members of
The Dap-Kings, and
Zigaboo Modeliste.
2013–2017: Uptown Special and Amy On 30 October 2014, Ronson announced, via Twitter, a new single from his upcoming album, to be released on 10 November 2014. The single, "
Uptown Funk," features the American singer-songwriter
Bruno Mars on vocals. On 22 November 2014, Ronson and Mars appeared as the musical guest on
Saturday Night Live performing "Uptown Funk" and "Feel Right" (featuring
Mystikal). "Uptown Funk" reached number one in the UK and US singles charts, and also became the all-time most streamed track in a single week in the UK, having been streamed a record 2.49 million times in a week. "Uptown Funk" reached the top 10 in nearly every country it charted; it spent fifteen weeks at number one on the
Canadian Hot 100, fourteen weeks at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100, and seven weeks at number one on the
UK Singles Chart. In February 2015 the song won Ronson the
Brit Award for
British Single of the Year. As of August 2022, the song's music video on YouTube has amassed over 4.6 billion views. In 2015, Ronson starred in the documentary film
Amy about his late friend
Amy Winehouse. His voice features in the film where he talks about his career and relationship with Winehouse and there is footage of Ronson from the recording session of the single "
Back to Black" from March 2006 and also at Winehouse's funeral in London in July 2011. On 16 October 2015, Ronson became a patron of the
Amy Winehouse Foundation. In January 2016, Ronson was nominated for two Brit Awards; Best British Male Solo Artist, and British Producer of the Year, at the
2016 Brit Awards. At the
2016 Grammy Awards Ronson won two awards for "Uptown Funk", including Record of the Year.
Jason Iley, the head of
Sony Music UK and Ronson's UK label
Columbia Records, hailed Ronson as "a true gentleman" and "one of the most considerate, kind and humble artists in our industry." He added, "the monumental success of Uptown Funk is so thoroughly deserved and has established itself as, not only one of the Records of the Year but of our lifetime." At the
Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show Ronson performed "Uptown Funk" with Mars. He went on to executive produce
Lady Gaga's fifth album,
Joanne. Ronson produced the
Queens of the Stone Age's 2017 album
Villains.
2018–present: Silk City, "Shallow", Late Night Feelings and Night People In 2018, Ronson founded his own label, Zelig Records, an imprint of
Columbia Records and the first artist he signed was singer
King Princess. He formed the duo
Silk City with fellow producer
Diplo. Their first single "
Electricity" featuring
Dua Lipa was released on 6 September and peaked at the US
Dance Club Songs and received the
Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording at the
61st Annual Grammy Awards. In May 2018, it was revealed that Ronson was working with the American singer
Miley Cyrus in the studio. Their first collaboration "
Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" was released in November 2018. Ronson also co-wrote the song "
Shallow" for the film
A Star Is Born with his frequent collaborators
Lady Gaga,
Andrew Wyatt, and
Anthony Rossomando. The song earned Ronson an
Academy Award and the
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, as well as two
Grammy nominations, winning the
Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. On 12 April 2019, it was announced that Ronson would release his fifth album,
Late Night Feelings, on 26 June 2019. The album features Cyrus,
Angel Olsen,
Lykke Li and
Camila Cabello. Ronson has described the album as a collection of "sad bangers," with the title track laying down a warm mid-tempo dance groove under Li's melancholy vocals. On 12 October 2019,
BBC Two broadcast the documentary
Mark Ronson: From the Heart, directed by Carl Hindmarch. In June 2021, Ronson, along with the
Foo Fighters, shared a "re-version" of their single "
Making a Fire". In 2023, Ronson was announced as the executive producer of
Barbie the Album, the soundtrack of the film
Barbie by
Greta Gerwig. In addition to executive producing the album, Ronson also served as co-producer and co-writer on several of the tracks, including "
Dance the Night", "
What Was I Made For?", "
Man I Am", and "
I'm Just Ken". He co-wrote the score of the film. In October 2023 Ronson released a remixed version of
Mina's classic "
Ancora, ancora, ancora". The song premiered at
Gucci’s runway at Milan Fashion Week in September 2023. Ronson's debut memoir
Night People: How To Be A DJ in ‘90s New York City was published by
Grand Central Publishing on 16 September 2025. He received the
Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the
Brit Awards in February 2026. ==Personal life==