Mark Ronson: Beyond "Uptown Funk"

We take note this morning of the record producer behind a number of pop music's greatest hits. Mark Ronson talks with our Anthony Mason:

It's the song that spent 14 weeks at Number 1 this year, tying for the longest run at the top so far this century.

Bruno Mars sings lead on "Uptown Funk," but the artist behind it -- 39-year-old producer and guitarist Mark Ronson -- almost hides in the background of his own video.

"How does it feel to have a number one song?" Mason asked.

"You know, it was something that I never thought was even remotely attainable," Ronson replied.

But the song, which started as a jam session, did not have an easy birth, as Ronson recalled: "It was really when Bruno kind of towards the end came up with the bass line, the hook that opens the song, that the song really gelled together. And then, you know, we got the horns. And now, it's my time to deliver, you know? I need to find a guitar part that's memorable and special and whatever it was.

"So, you know, I cut, I think it was 60 takes. This has never happened to me -- I fainted, like, in the middle of doing guitar takes."

"Why were you working so hard on this song?" Mason asked.

"I don't really know why. I just felt it really needed to be fought for."

Until "Uptown Funk," Ronson had largely worked in the shadows of the artists he produced, like Adele, Paul McCartney and Amy Winehouse.

He was largely unknown when he co-produced Winehouse's second album at London's Metropolis Studios. That album, "Back to Black," would go on to sell 20 million copies and win five Grammys.

Mason asked, "What did that record mean for you?"

"It's probably the reason I'm here talking to you now," Ronson said.

Ronson and Winehouse were both living in New York City when a producer friend sent her over to his house to meet: "Actually she was standing outside. And I walked up and I was like, 'Amy?' She was like 'Yeah.' I could tell she was all confused. She didn't know who I was. And she later told me she thought Mark Ronson was like some old, as she said, 'Jewish guy with a big beard' -- a more Rick Rubin vibe."

But the two would spend the next week working on songs.

The chorus of "Rehab" came from a walk they took: "We were walking around Soho in New York. So she was telling me a bit of her history. And she said, 'Yeah, there was kind of a bit of this dark time, you know, my whole family came over. And they tried to get me go to rehab, and I was like 'No, no, no.' It just sounded like a hook right away. I was like, 'I know this sounds a little like it could be a bit gimmicky. But let's go back to the studio and maybe we try to write a song with that thing.'"

Winehouse and Ronson had been talking about working together again, when the singer died suddenly of alcohol poisoning in 2011. She was 27.

• Second inquest confirms Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning (CBS News, 01/08/13)
• Gallery: Celebs mourn Amy Winehouse
• Watch the first trailer for the Amy Winehouse documentary "Amy" (CBS News, 04/02/15)

How difficult was it for Ronson to watch her decline? "It was difficult, but at the same time, you think, 'Could I have done more?' Or 'should I have been more forceful?'"

"When you asked yourself those questions what did you decide?"

"I feel like I've always had a little bit of guilt," Ronson said. "You know, it's the record that made me a career. But I just didn't have to go through any of the turmoil and the heartache that she did to write those songs, right? I just provided some nice arrangements and band performances and produced it.

"I don't know. It's still kind of like -- I just miss my friend."

Like Winehouse, Ronson was born to Jewish parents in London, where he lived until he was eight: "I moved to New York and I had this funny accent," he told Mason. "So the kids in school tease you. So I ditched my English accent pretty quickly!

"I feel like an English New Yorker," he said.

After his parents split, his mother, socialite Ann Dexter, married Mick Jones, lead guitarist of the band Foreigner.

"I was always producing records," said Ronson. "My stepdad had a little home studio when I was 17."

• The remarkable comeback of Foreigner's Mick Jones ("Sunday Morning," 12/28/14)

But DJ-ing would be his way into the music business.

Ronson made his name at clubs in New York, and at one in London (then called YoYo) where friends like Adele would drop by: "I couldn't dance to save me life, [but] I really loved playing music," he said. "It just becomes this dense sweat box, and kids, when they hear a song they love, they're leaning over [the DJ booth]. Everyone's almost over this glass."

His wide knowledge of music made him a popular producer. But he also had hit albums on his own. "Version" went platinum in Britain in 2007, led by the single "Valerie," also sung by Amy Winehouse.

But Ronson's follow-up sold poorly. So when he started work on "Uptown Special," his fourth studio album, his career was on the line.

Mason asked, "Do you think part of the reason you were putting so much pressure on yourself was you felt like you needed this?"

"Yeah, I think so. I kinda went through this sort of intense writer's block for about a year-and-a-half, and I was going to the studio every day and not coming up with anything."

"Were you worried at one point that you were sort of getting left behind in music?"

"Yeah, absolutely," Ronson replied. "I mean, that's how music works. You kind of have a short shelf life."

"Uptown Funk" has extended his expiration date. But Mark Ronson is already looking past his biggest hit.

"Are you enjoying it?" Mason asked.

"'Enjoying' is -- I am enjoying it!" he laughed. "I don't know. I'm not a big enjoyer. I'm an appreciator!"

"But shouldn't you be kind of enjoying it, 'cause it's that much a phenomenon?"

"It's amazing how the song is doing. But, like, I'm always just thinking, 'Okay, what's the next song?' It is really great to enjoy and sit back every now and then. But what actually makes me the happiest in when I'm in the studio creating music."

• GALLERY: Mark Ronson

For more info:

• markronson.co.uk (Official site)
• "Uptown Special" by Mark Sonson (Sony); Available via Amazon, iTunes and Spotify