Biography

Justin Tranter is an American musician, songwriter and designer. Their writing credits include collaborations with major artists such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, DNCE, Nick Jonas, Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy, John Legend and more. Tranter got their start in the music industry as the lead singer of NYC rock band Semi Precious Weapons. Justin identifies as GNC (Gender non-conforming) and resides in Los Angeles.

Tranter began their activism with the initiation of an annual AIDS benefit while attending high school at the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Tranter's advocacy continued while attending Berklee where they founded Musicians With a Mission, a scholarship fund for LGBTQ youth education. In 2016, after flying to Orlando to help with the aftermath of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, Tranter joined with frequent collaborator, Julia Michaels, and GLAAD CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis to find a way to make a larger contribution. Through Interscope Records, and joined by many talented artists and the music community, they brought about the release of the charity single "Hands" to raise funds for Equality Florida Pulse Victims Fund, GLAAD, and the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida.

Tranter recorded their first album, Scratched, while still at Berklee. After graduation Tranter moved to New York where they put together their first band as the house band for an off-broadway show called Rockstars NYC. The show closed after 3 weeks and Tranter went on to record their second album, Tear Me Together.

In 2003, Justin won an Outmusic Award for the song "Blend In," co-written with Stephanie Delk, from "Scratched." Tranter began their music career on the Lower East Side of New York City's underground club circuit. In 2004, Tranter joined forces with fellow Berklee graduates, Cole Whittle, Dan Crean, and Aaron Lee Tasjan (who has since been replaced by Stevy Pyne) to form Semi Precious Weapons. Tranter and Semi Precious Weapons opened for Lady Gaga on her Monster Ball from 2009 - 2011.

After moving to Los Angeles in 2012, Tranter signed a new publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music to write songs for other artists. Since then they have collaborated on numerous Billboard hits including Bieber's "Sorry", Selena Gomez "Good For You" and "Hands To Myself", DNCE's "Cake By The Ocean", Maroon 5's "Cold" and many more.

Late Fall 2015, Britney Spears shared on Instagram that she was collaborating on her 9th album with Tranter and their frequent writing partner, Julia Michaels. In December 2015, Tranter was named one of Rolling Stone's "20 Biggest Breakouts of 2015" for their songwriting contributions to the 2015 pop charts. As of 2016, Tranter teamed up with Gwen Stefani to co-write her third solo album, along with Julia Michaels, entitled This Is What the Truth Feels Like. They also provided back vocals on Kygo's song "Carry Me", which was taken from the debut album, entitled Cloud Nine.