About Maks Gabriel

A person working in a music studio surrounded by audio equipment, including a mixing console, synthesizers, and speakers, with a laptop on the desk.

Maksim Gabriel Knecht (born January 5th, 1984), known professionally as Maks Gabriel, is a Canadian-American music producer and songwriter. He began his musical journey with over a decade of classical piano training at McGill University’s Conservatory of Music in Montreal. From 1991 to 2002, he studied under renowned Russian concert pianist Marina Goglidze-Mdivani, a distinguished student of Emil Gilels. Gilels, in turn, was personally recognized by Russian Piano Virtuoso Sergei Rachmaninoff as his pianistic successor — creating a rare artistic lineage that Maks is directly connected to. This heritage adds a profound depth to the discipline, emotion, and musical insight that define his work today. While in Canada, Maks worked closely with Ryan Kowarsky of the group RyanDan. They successfully wrote and produced hit songs for numerous Canadian artists including Belly, Massari, Mia Martina, Danny Fernandes and Tyler Medeiros. They also received a Juno nomination for Dance Recording of the year for his work on Mia Martina's album Devotion. Maks's love of songwriting eventually led him to Nashville. In Nashville, Maks has been able to work outside of the pop genre with artists such as "American Idol" winner Trent Harmon, rock supergroup members from 3 Doors Down, Sevendust, Limp Bizkit, Radney Foster, Muscadine Bloodline, Svrcina, Honey County, Eric Paslay, CB30, Spencer Crandall, Runaway June and a long list of hit songwriters. Maks' love for producing and songwriting drew him closer to one of his passions - Writing for TV & Film. He has had his songs placed on hit TV shows such as Yellowstone, CMT's Nashville, Roswell New Mexico, Legacies, True Blood, The Mindy Project, Containment and many more