Skubiszewski was born in Melbourne. After spending his early childhood in the Otway Ranges rain forest, he moved to the Melbourne suburb of East St Kilda. His musical education began early under the guidance of his father, acclaimed Polish-Australian film and TV composer Cezary Skubiszewski.[9]
In 1999 at the age of 18, Skubiszewski collaborated with his father Cezary to compose the score for Two Hands starring Heath Ledger, which won the APRA award for Best Film Score.[11]
2000-2010: Gold records, ARIA Award, number one records, Screen Music Awards, and AIR nominations[edit]
Throughout the 2000s, Skubiszewski began to gain widespread recognition as a songwriter, producer and performing musician, securing awards and nominations at APRA, AIR and ARIA for songwriting and production work with Illy,[12]Phrase,[13]The Cat Empire[14] and Daniel Merriweather,[15] as well as his own band Jackson Jackson, a joint project with Harry James Angus that secured an ARIA nomination for Best Urban Album in 2007.[16]
In 2007, Skubiszewski worked with British producer Mark Ronson as an engineer on Ronson's album Stop Me, which reached number 2 in the UK singles charts.[17]
2011-2020: Multiple number one records and gold discs, Screen Music Awards, ARIA Awards[edit]
Skubiszewski's status as one of Australia's top producers was consolidated by a stream of awards, nominations, number one hits, gold records and critical acclaim throughout the 2010s. Some key milestones were:
In 2014, Skubiszewski co-wrote and produced the single "On and On" on Cinematic with Illy,[25] which was nominated for Best Urban Album[26] at the ARIA awards and which garnered critical and commercial success upon release, debuting at number four on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart.
In 2016 'Rising With The Sun' by The Cat Empire, produced and recorded by Skubiszewski, debuted at number one on the ARIA and AIR charts in Australia, staying in the AIR top 20 for 21 weeks.
In 2017, Skubiszewski's production on Dan Sultan's record Killer, was recognised when the album was nominated for three ARIA awards[28] and met with widespread critical acclaim, specifically for Skubiszewski's production,[29] including four stars from Rolling Stone.[30]
In 2018 Skubiszewski won the APRA 2018 Screen Music Awards[31] for the score of Picnic at Hanging Rock (another collaboration with father Cezary)
In 2018, John Butler's record 'Home', which Skubiszewski produced, debuted at number one on the Australian charts.[32]
Nali and Friends, a children's record released by ABC Music by Dan Sultan which Skubiszewski produced, won the 2019 ARIA award for Best Children's record after it debuted at number one on the children's chart, beating The Wiggles, and at number 22 on the ARIA chart.
In 2021, Jan won the Screen Music Awards, Australia for Best Television Theme for Halifax: Retribution.[39]
In 2022 Little J and Big Cuz (an Indigenous children's television, which Skubiszewski wrote the music for with his father Cezary) won its second Logie Award for Most Outstanding Children's Program.
In 2024, Skubiszewski composed the score for High Country season 1. High Country premiered on 19 March 2024 on Foxtel-on-demand service, Binge, followed by a television screening on Foxtel's Showcase.
In June 2017, Skubiszewski and his wife opened Red Moon Studios, formerly The Stables, a music production studio in the Macedon Ranges specialising in high-end record production and film composition.[42][43]
When not composing or producing, Skubiszewski plays in bands, including The Counterfeit, which performs iconic film scores at venues including Thornbury Theatre, Brunswick Ballroom, Memo Music Hall and Theatre Royal, and headlined at Boogie Festival.[48]
