Maureen Anne McDonald (from Detroit, Michigan) better known as MoZella is an American songwriter and recording artist.

Along with her own artist success, Mozella co-wrote the Miley Cyrus Billboard #1 "Wrecking Ball"; and co-wrote with Fransisca Hall the Billboard Dance Club Songs #1, "Generous," performed by Olivia Holt.

Some of MoZella's other notable co-writes include Kelly Clarkson's 2017 single "Love So Soft", "One Call Away" by Charlie Puth, Ellie Goulding's "Don't Panic", "Holding on for Life", and "We Can't Move to This" from Goulding's album Delirium (co-written with Goulding and Greg Kurstin), "Speechless" from Rachel Platten's Columbia released Wildfire, "Dancing in the Dark" by Rihanna for the DreamWorks animated movie HOME, "Bright" by Echosmith, "Feels Like Vegas" with Tinashe, and "Take You High" off Kelly Clarkson's 2015 album. Madonna and MoZella co-wrote 11 of the 19 tracks on the album Rebel Heart, including the single "Living for Love" with Diplo, Ariel Rechtshaid, and Toby Gad.

Crossing genres into film, television and theatre, she co-wrote "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody" with Goonrock and Fergie for Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby". In early 2014 she continued her work with Baz Luhrmann, penning "A Beautiful Surprise" with David Foster for Luhrmann's musical theatre adaption of his cult classic film "Strictly Ballroom".

Mozella's more recent TV sync success is the usage of her song "Love Is Endless" in the 2015 McDonald's "Archenemies" campaign. Beginning April 2015, Chase Bank will be using her song "Can't Get Enough" for their new commercials in the US. Some of the brands that have used MoZella's music in their branding include Chrysler, Verizon, Microsoft, Jeep, Amazon, Mercedes Benz, JC Penney, Aqua Fresh and many more.[citation needed]

Mozella has released three full-length albums, I Will (Warner/Maverick, 2006) and Belle Isle (Universal/Motown, 2009), and "The Brian Holland Sessions" on Belle Isle Records, as well as three EPs, MoZella (Warner/Maverick, 2005), The Straits EP (Universal/Motown, 2009) and The Love EP (Universal/Motown, 2010).[1][2]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Music career 2.1 Warner/Maverick Records 2.2 Universal/Motown Records 2.3 The Brian Holland Sessions on Belle Isle Records 3 Touring 4 Film and TV placement 5 Discography 6 Songwriting credits 6.1 Songs written 7 References Early life

Mozella was raised in Livonia, Michigan, where she first got her start as a performer booking her own gigs in coffee houses at age 15.[3] Immediately after graduating from high school, she set out for Los Angeles to pursue a career in music. She took a day job decorating cakes, leaving her free to perform at coffee houses in the evenings. In 2002, MoZella was invited to England to write and record with Tim Saul, producer for Portishead.[citation needed] After she spent six months in Europe, she returned to Los Angeles when label interest was building.[4]

Music career Warner/Maverick Records

Mozella signed to Madonna’s Maverick Records in July 2003. In 2004, when Maverick was absorbed into Warner Bros. Records most of their artists were dropped, however, Mozella was amongst a select few who survived the merger. In July 2005, she released her self-titled debut EP on Warner/Maverick Records. Then, in November 2006, she released her full-length debut I Will (produced by Jude Cole) on the same imprint. I Will was well received by fans and critics alike. Allmusic.com even called MoZella, "One of the best things to come out of pop music this year."[5]

Universal/Motown Records

Mozella signed to Universal/Motown Records in July, 2008. She immediately enlisted multiple producers for her second album, including Marty James, Jimmy Harry, Tony Kanal, Sunny Levine, and Smidi. ‘The Straits EP’ was released on July 7, 2009 on Universal/Motown Records. On October 20, 2009, her album Belle Isle was released.[6]

The Brian Holland Sessions on Belle Isle Records

Mozella released The Brian Holland Sessions on July 24, 2012. She co-wrote the album with legendary Motown songwriter Brian Holland of the famous trio Holland-Dozier-Holland. It was co-produced by Dave Wilder. On July 26, 2012 Mozella performed a song from The Brian Holland Sessions on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She was also interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered. The album has been mentioned or featured in rollingstone.com, Grammy.com, USAtoday.com, and spin.com.

Touring

Following her Warner/Maverick debut in 2006, MoZella toured the U.S. with Tyler Hilton, Dave Matthews Band, Lifehouse, Five for Fighting, Daniel Powter, Michelle Branch, and Colbie Caillat.[3]

Film and TV placement This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately.Find sources: "Mozella" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)