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Mark Ronson felt panic after 'Uptown Funk' won multiple Grammys: 'They're going to find out I'm a fraud'
"My first reaction was, 'I've got nothing left,'" says the producer, whose No. 1 smash featuring Bruno Mars took home Record of the Year at the 2016 ceremony.
By
Wesley Stenzel
September 13, 2025 11:57 a.m. ET
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Mark Ronson in September 2025.Credit:
Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty
Mark Ronson is one of the most successful producers in contemporary pop — but he doesn't always feel like he's earned that status.
The multitalented musician — who is publishing his first memoir,
Night People — recently
opened up about his insecurities over his position and reputation in the music industry.
One particular moment of dissatisfaction came immediately after the 2016 Grammy Awards, where Ronson's No. 1 smash-hit collaboration with
Bruno Mars, "Uptown Funk," won the awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
"The morning after the Grammys, I was sitting at the pool at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles," Ronson recalled in a new interview with U.K. publication
The Times. "Beside me is
The New York Times, and on the cover there's a picture of Bruno, Beyoncé, and me on stage. My first reaction was, 'I've got nothing left. They're going to find out I'm a fraud.'"
Mark Ronson accepts his award at the 58th Grammy Awards with Bruno Mars in 2016.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Ronson later admitted that he was "doing drugs in the toilet" at some point during the 2016 ceremony and recalled that his frequent collaborator Lily Allen jokingly asked him if he had disappeared to go "update his Wikipedia page" when he returned from the loo.
"Uptown Funk" ultimately went 11-times platinum in the United States and currently holds the No. 5 position on
Billboard's Greatest of All-Time Hot 100 list based on its blockbuster popularity throughout the 2010s.
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"Uptown Funk" wasn't the only award-winning sensation for which Ronson was hesitant to take credit. During the same
Times interview, the songwriter deflected praise for "Shallow," the hit song from the movie
A Star Is Born that he co-wrote with Lady Gaga, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt. The track was produced by Gaga and Benjamin Rice.
"Sure, I co-wrote it, but if I'd produced it, I would have f---ed it up," Ronson said of the track, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 2019 Academy Awards. "I would have tried to add some clever flourishes or a modern sound."
Bruno Mars in the video for 'Uptown Funk'.
Mark Ronson/YouTube
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The musician also downplayed his contributions to Amy Winehouse's massive 2006 album,
Back to Black, for which he produced six of the LP's 11 tracks and co-wrote the title track. "It's all Amy," he said of the record, which won Best Pop Vocal Album and received a nomination for Album of the Year at the 2008 Grammys. "I could have worked my whole life at the rate I did, but if I hadn't met her, it wouldn't have meant anything."