The Lady Gaga producer looking for "diamonds in the rough"

Nadir Khayat, better known as RedOne, says that he could only ever be a musician. He is the youngest of nine brothers and sisters, and in his house, from sunrise to sunset, there was music playing. "I grew up in a musical family," he says. "My grandfather played the lute for fun and we all listened with respect."

At the age of 19, RedOne left Morocco, with the desire to be a famous musician. He ended up in Sweden. "I gave up studying IT and created my own group, called Subculture. It didn't have the success that I wanted though, and so I thought that I could compose and produce for other musicians."

Whenever he can, RedOne opts for flavors from his childhood. In fact, he has chosen a Moroccan restaurant for this interview. In his search for fame, the producer, who speaks six languages, discovered unknown, talented musicians and singers. In 2003, he ended up in New York, and before long was writing songs for Shakira to sing at the World Cup in Germany. After that, many would have sat back and lived off the royalties, but not him. "I felt the need to do something else, to take it further, and to launch someone who was a true phenomenon to fame, without it being marketing," he explains. And then one day, someone who called herself Lady Gaga sat down at his desk.

"After 15 minutes I could see she knew her music, I got a feel for her story, and I felt something really special," he says. "She sang a little and her voice was incredible. I said to her, 'People need to see what you are like, and understand your music. A sound is born'."

That was how RedOne became the producer of Lady Gaga's first worldwide hit, Boys Boys Boys, which sold 60 million copies. He has also worked on songs by Michael Jackson, Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez. All of them want his advice and his music. "I could see that this was my talent, finding diamonds in the rough and polishing them up."

But he's not interested in repeating the same sound with another artist. "Right now I want to do something that doesn't sound like Lady Gaga," he says. For a year or so he's been working with the African musician Mohombi and the rockers Detroit Porcelain. "You'll be hearing a lot of them soon." After the success of Lady Gaga, no one doubts that.