How 4 years in Halifax shaped this music producer who's up for 7 Grammys

It was sometime in 2008 that Henry Walter got a message from his lawyer.

A CD with beats that Walter created had been used in a writing session for what his lawyer would only describe at the time as an A-list musician.

For Walter, who spent four of his teenage years living in Halifax before moving to Toronto in 2004, it was a moment of validation.

"It made me feel like, 'OK, I'm not crazy. I can do this," said Walter, who is musically known as Cirkut.

The beats from that song were used on Britney Spears's Mmm Papi, from her 2008 Circus album.

Today, Walter's a sought-after music producer and songwriter who's had a hand in some of the biggest songs of the past decade and a half, including Katy Perry's Roar, Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball and The Weeknd's Starboy.

While Walter's previously been Grammy nominated, he's up for seven at the Feb. 1, 2026, awards ceremony, trailing only rapper Kendrick Lamar, who has nine nominations.

"I love making music," said Walter. "I love the process of making music, no matter what, so all of this is just the cherry on top."

But in the early 2000s, Walter was a teenager attending Armbrae Academy and later St. Patrick's High School in Halifax trying to find his musical footing.

"Halifax people and the [music] scene had a big effect on me, for sure," Walter told CBC News from a recording studio in Los Angeles.

Online sources often peg Walter as being born in Halifax, but he was in fact born in Ottawa and mostly lived in Montreal, before moving to Halifax, he said.

In Halifax, Walter learned about scratching from artists such as Skratch Bastid, who is an internationally-known DJ today.

Walter used to hang out at Revolution Records on Prince Street in Halifax, which is where Skratch Bastid (Paul Murphy) used to work. When not serving customers, Murphy could be found spinning records on the turntables — and Walter would watch him.

"I guess you never do know who's watching, so as an artist, put your all into what you do and be yourself," said Murphy from Toronto, where he now lives. "And just that might be enough for someone else to be inspired and take their career and life to higher heights."