Mysterious production team Shampoo Press & Curl earns nods for ‘24K Magic’

OK, maybe “mysterious” is the wrong word at this point, but the production team known as Shampoo Press & Curl earned three Grammy nominations today for its work on Bruno Mars’ massive hit album”24K Magic.” Other than with Mars, the production team has no other credits.

But it’s not too hard to deduce its members, even if the origin story hasn’t officially been written. The songwriters included in Mars’ nominations for album of the year are identified as Christopher “Brody” Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence & Bruno Mars, and those credits permeate the album. Each time the team is cited as Shampoo Press & Curl, three of those four members are also listed as songwriters.

So who are they?

Mars himself is a member, and likely established Shampoo Press & Curl to add some clarity to the project.

Brown is a songwriter affiliated with the Inglewood music collective 1500 Or Nothin. Born in South Los Angeles, he has co-written or performed on songs with Mars (“Grenade”), B.o.B (“Nothin’ on You”) and Cee-Lo Green (“Forget You”).

Lawrence is best-known for his production and songwriting work with Mars as the Smeezingtons. Along with Ari Levine — who doesn’t get any credits on “24K Magic” — Lawrence helped establish Mars as a hit-maker and has Grammy trophies to prove it.

Then there’s Fauntleroy, who also is nominated for co-writing the songs on “24K Magic.” The Inglewood native has written or sung on tracks by Sza, Rihanna, Jay-Z and others, but in the album credits, his name appears separately on tracks produced by Shampoo Press & Curl, which would seem to exclude him from membership.

We’ll find out soon enough. Mars likely will earn a trophy or two for the work. When he takes the stage with them, hopefully one will explain the genesis of their name.