Nick Furlong didn’t enter the music industry with a co-sign or a safety net. He grew up in northern Nevada and taught himself how to write and record music in a makeshift bedroom studio he built as a teenager. At 21, he moved to Los Angeles and started from zero, taking any session he could get and learning the business the only way it actually works—by being in the rooms and earning his place in them.

His breakthrough came when he wrote and performed “The Nights” for Avicii — a track that became a generational anthem, crossing two billion streams, joining Spotify’s Billions Club, and topping a billion music video views. It’s now one of the most streamed songs of this century. The message at its core, “live a life you will remember,” became both a signature and a compass for Furlong’s work. It didn’t turn him into an overnight celebrity, but it gave him the foothold he used to build a real career.

Across nearly two decades, he’s built a reputation as a rare multi-lane operator: a songwriter with range, a producer who knows how to evolve artists without diluting them, and a creative mind who understands how to position music so it actually cuts through. His catalog has earned international awards, a GRAMMY nomination, and a lasting footprint across genres.

In modern rock, he played a central role in pushing the genre back into relevance, producing and executive producing a run of albums with Papa Roach that delivered multiple No. 1 singles and helped reshape a space many had written off. His approach hasn’t changed since Nevada: focus on the songs, push the work, keep things honest.

Outside the studio, Furlong’s reputation in creative direction and marketing has grown in parallel. His leadership on a global mental-health campaign earned him a Clio Award and the AFSP Lifesaver’s Award, underscoring his ability to make projects resonate far beyond entertainment.

Today, he’s still operating with the same drive — experienced now, but no less relentless — choosing projects with substance, building work meant to outlast the moment, and continuing to move forward.