Minnesota native and Grammy winner Dan Wilson picks up his first Oscar nomination

St. Louis Park native Dan Wilson is up for an Academy Award for best song. He co-wrote and produced “It Never Went Away” for Jon Batiste’s Netflix documentary “American Symphony.”

“So many magical things have happened since I met and collaborated with @jonbatiste,” Wilson wrote in an Instagram post. “But this one is the biggest surprise yet. Holy buckets!”

Wilson, 62, first found notoriety when he joined his brother Matt’s band Trip Shakespeare in 1987. The group went on to release “Are You Shakespearienced?” in 1989 and a pair of major label albums for A&M Records before breaking up in 1991.

Two years later, Wilson formed the trio Pleasure with bassist John Munson and drummer Jacob Slichter. After changing their name to Semisonic, the group scored a massive hit with Wilson’s 1998 ballad “Closing Time,” which topped the Billboard modern rock tracks chart. It went on to earn a Grammy nomination for best rock song and hit the charts in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Semisonic stopped touring in 2001, but continued to occasionally perform live. The trio returned to the road last summer on a joint tour with Barenaked Ladies and Del Amitri and then issued “Little Bit of Sun,” their first album in 22 years.

Wilson, who now lives in Los Angeles, has also carved out a prolific side career as a co-writer and/or producer for a wide variety of artists, including Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, John Legend and Josh Groban. He won Grammys for song of the year (the former Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice” in 2007) and album of the year for Adele’s “21” in 2012.

EARLIER: After writing with Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Adele, Dan Wilson is ‘covering’ his own songs

A real Grammy favorite with 20 nominations and five wins, Batiste won his first Oscar in 2020, for best original score for “Soul” with collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

The 96th Academy Awards will air live on ABC on March 10.

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