Grammy-nominated producer almost didn't work with fun.

When the members of fun. attend the Grammy Awards on Sunday, Jeff Bhasker will be in tow.

Bhasker may not be a household name, but he is for music industry folks. The Rolling Stones, Kanye West and Beyonce are just a few of the acts he's worked with over the years.

Now you can add fun. to that growing list.

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Bhasker will be at the Grammys this year for his work on the pop-rock group's 2012 Grammy-nominated album, "Some Nights." Fun. is up for six awards this year, including best new artist, record of the year and song of the year for "We Are Young" and album of the year for "Some Nights."

Although Bhasker, who's also up for a producer of the year Grammy, ended up playing a large role in the album's sound, the collaboration almost didn't happen.

"I didn't really at first glance have very much interest in doing it," Bhasker told CBSNews.com. "We kind of blew them off."

He finally agreed to a brief meeting at a bar in New York with singer Nate Ruess. "We met, we talked a little bit," Bhasker recalled. "And he sang me 'We Are Young.' When I heard his voice and how good his songs were it really got me excited to work with them and we went into the studio the next day and cut 'We Are Young.'"

Little did they know, they would end up scoring one of the biggest hits of 2012 with the song.

"He had the chorus and the verse," said Bhasker. "And we fleshed out the chords and the end part. Nate really had the song pretty well-conceived in his brain. At that point, my job is to add the music behind it, the chords and the structure. I actually even threw in the part 'Carry me home tonight.' I helped put in the drums, the keyboard and the piano. The other members came in and added parts, too."

The more they worked together, said Bhasker, the more he realized, "'Wow, all this music is amazing.'"

Even when they were in the studio, Bhasker knew something special was brewing.

"I really felt like we were making a Grammy-worthy album," said Bhasker. "I actually told them, 'We are making an album of the year.'"

Bhasker said he was impressed with Ruess' musical style, calling him the "heart and soul" of the group.

"He writes very meaningful and brutally honest lyrics," said Bhasker. "He has a knack for taking dark subjects and making them sound very light in the music. He takes a sad song and makes it sound happy. It's very multi-dimensional and layered."

Come Sunday, fun. and Bhasker could have a couple of Grammy Awards in hand, but Bhasker says he's not over-thinking it all.

"I'm taking it easy. It's an honor to be recognized, especially to be recognized in all the major categories. I'm preparing by not preparing. I'm getting this year started -- continuing to find more and more freedom and push the boundaries of what music can be and not be contained in an industrialized or mass-produced market," said Bhasker, who's working on his own solo project under the name Billy Craven.

And when it comes to producing, Bhasker says he won't pigeon-hole himself into one music genre. And by looking at the list of people he's worked with, it's easy to understand why he's keeping an open mind. Bhasker has written and produced for Bruno Mars, Drake, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Robin Thicke and Taylor Swift.

"I don't look at like that, 'I'm going to be doing more pop-rock or go back to rock.' You just express a good idea," he said. "I think fun. mixed genres. A lot of projects I do, I'm mixing genres...and kind of find connections between genres. And I wanted the fun. album to be pleasant to the ears of people who like different genres. It has some heavy hip-hop beats...but the songs are very rock, you might say. That's what makes it cool. "