A remix album is an album consisting mostly of remixes or re-recorded versions of a music artists' earlier released material.

One of the earliest remix albums was 1971's Aerial Pandemonium Ballet by Harry Nilsson, which was released by Nilsson after the successes of Everybody's Talkin and The Point! after he decided that his older material had started to sound dated. The best-selling remix album of all time is Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix by Michael Jackson released by Epic in 1997.

Sly & The Family Stone's 1979 release 10 Years Too Soon featured disco remixes of the 1960s Family Stone hits. Then, in 1982, Soft Cell's Non-stop Ecstatic Dancing, which contained the track "A Man Could Get Lost," notable as one of the precursors to house music, was released. A month after the Soft Cell album, The Human League's Love and Dancing was released, and just under a year later Imagination's Nightdubbing was released.

The format was later popularized by the Pet Shop Boys' 1986 release Disco, and then the bandwagon was jumped on further by popular artists such as Madonna with her 1987 EP You Can Dance and in 1990 by Paula Abdul's Shut Up and Dance.

Although they had existed for years, remix albums still eluded mainstream acceptance. That would all change in recent years with releases from many popular artists who have taken advantage of the format of the remix album (including Jennifer Lopez, whose 2002 remix album J to tha L-O!: The Remixes was the first remix album to ever debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart).^[1] British band Bloc Party have released remix albums for two of their three studio albums to date (Silent Alarm and Intimacy) which have the same track listing as the studio album, but the remix instead of the original (e.g. on "Intimacy Remixed", track 6 on the original is 'Signs' whist on the remix album track 6 is 'Signs (Armand Van Helden Remix)', etc.)

In the world of reggae music, it is not uncommon for a whole album to be remixed in a dub style. Examples include UB40's Present Arms in Dub (remixed by the band), Massive Attack's No Protection (remixed by the Mad Professor), and Gorillaz's Laika Come Home (remixed by the Space Monkeyz).

In the modern day music business, it is not uncommon for a remix album to be released in lieu of a re-release when an album's performance does not meet expectations. Rihanna's Rated R and Snoop Dogg's Malice N Wonderland will all see a remix album release following lackluster sales.

See also[link]

• List of best-selling remix albums worldwide

Sources[link]

Bob Marley
Bob Marley performing in concert, circa 1980.
Background information
Birth name	Robert Nesta Marley
Also known as	Tuff Gong
Born	(1945-02-06)6 February 1945 Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica
Died	11 May 1981(1981-05-11) (aged 36) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Reggae, ska, rocksteady
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, saxophone, harmonica, percussion
Years active	1962–1981
Labels	Studio One, Upsetter, Tuff Gong
Associated acts	Bob Marley & The Wailers, Wailers Band, The Upsetters, I Threes
Website	bobmarley.com

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers (1963–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.^[1]

Marley's music was heavily influenced by the social issues of his homeland, and he is considered to have given voice to the specific political and cultural nexus of Jamaica.^[2] His best-known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Get Up Stand Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, "Three Little Birds",^[3] as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, going ten times Platinum which is also known as one Diamond in the U.S.,^[4] and selling 25 million copies worldwide.^[5][6]

Early life and career[link]

Bob Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley.^[7] A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names.^[8] His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Jamaican of mixed and English descent whose family came from Sussex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines,^{[citation needed]} as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old.^[9] Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Bob Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 70.^[10] Marley faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:

I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't deh pon nobody's side. Me don't deh pon the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me deh pon God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.^[11]

The Bob Marley House in Nine Mile is a home that he shared with his mother during his youth

Although Marley recognised his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African, following the ideas of Pan-African leaders. Marley stated that his two biggest influences were the African-centered Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie. A central theme in Bob Marley's message was the repatriation of black people to Zion, which in his view was Ethiopia, or more generally, Africa.^[12] In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".^[13]

Marley and his step brother Bunny Wailer (Bob's mother had a daughter with Bunny's father, younger sister to both of them) started to play music while he was still at school, which he left at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. At a jam session with Higgs and Livingston, Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions.^[14] In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell,^[15] attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work. Marley was also known to use an Epiphone guitar for much of his career.

Bob Marley Epiphone guitar at his birthplace in Nine Mile, Jamaica.

Bob Marley & The Wailers[link]

1963–1974[link]

Marley in concert in 1980, Zurich, Switzerland

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh.^[16]

In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.^[17]

Though raised in the Catholic tradition, Marley became captivated by Rastafarian beliefs in the 1960s, when away from his mother's influence.^[18] Formally converted to Rastafari after returning to Jamaica, Marley began to wear his trademark dreadlocks (see the religion section for more on Marley's religious views). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again.

Bob Marley's flat in 1972 at 34 Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, London, his first UK address.^[19][20]

Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialise The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album ... they were just demos for record companies to listen to". Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman.^[21] A three-day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions. This tape is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of an effort to break Marley into the American charts.^[21] According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash".^[21] An artist yet to establish himself outside his native Jamaica, Marley lived in Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, London during 1972.^[19][20]

In 1972, the Wailers entered into an ill-fated deal with CBS Records and embarked on a tour with American soul singer Johnny Nash. Broke, the Wailers became stranded in London. Marley turned up at Island Records founder and producer Chris Blackwell's London office, and asked him to advance the cost of a new single. Since Jimmy Cliff, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label, Blackwell was primed for a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognized the elements needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in he really was that image."^[22] Blackwell told Marley he wanted The Wailers to record a complete album (essentially unheard of at the time). When Marley told him it would take between £3,000 and £4,000, Blackwell trusted him with the greater sum. Despite their "rude boy" reputation, the Wailers returned to Kingston and honored the deal, delivering the album Catch A Fire.

Primarily recorded on eight-track at Harry J's in Kingston, Catch A Fire marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock'n'roll peers.^[22] Blackwell desired to create "more of a drifting, hypnotic-type feel than a reggae rhythm",^[23] and restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. Marley travelled to London to supervise Blackwell's overdubbing of the album, which included tempering the mix from the bass-heavy sound of Jamaican music, and omitting two tracks.^[22]

The Wailers' first major label album, Catch a Fire was released worldwide in April 1973, packaged like a rock record with a unique Zippo lighter lift-top. Initially selling 14,000 units, it didn't make Marley a star, but received a positive critical reception.^[22] It was followed later that year by Burnin', which included the standout songs "Get Up, Stand Up", and "I Shot the Sheriff", which appealed to the ear of Eric Clapton. He recorded a cover of the track in 1974 which became a huge American hit, raising Marley's international profile.^[24] Many Jamaicans were not keen on the new "improved" reggae sound on Catch A Fire, but the Trenchtown style of Burnin' found fans across both reggae and rock audiences.^[22]

During this period, Blackwell gifted his Kingston residence and company headquarters at 56 Hope Road (then known as Island House) to Marley. Housing Tuff Gong Studios, the property became not only Marley's office, but also his home.^[22]

The Wailers were scheduled to open 17 shows for the number one black act in the States, Sly and the Family Stone. After 4 shows, the band was fired because they were more popular than the acts they were opening for.^[25] The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members pursuing solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.

1974–1981[link]

Bob Marley & The Wailers live at Crystal Palace Park during the Uprising Tour

Despite the break-up, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.^[26] On 3 December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm.^[27] The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.^[28][29]

Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and after a month-long "recovery and writing" sojourn at the site of Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded the albums Exodus and Kaya. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis.^[30] In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.^[31]

Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included Babylon by Bus, a double live album with thirteen tracks, were released in 1978 and received critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jamming" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances.^[32]

Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the 17 April celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions; it includes "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah".^[34] Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.^[35]

Personal life[link]

Religion[link]

Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became an ardent proponent of Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. He once gave the following response, which was typical, to a question put to him during a recorded interview:

• Interviewer: "Can you tell the people what it means being a Rastafarian?"
• Bob: "I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty. Now, the Bible seh so, Babylon newspaper seh so, and I and I the children seh so. Yunno? So I don't see how much more reveal our people want. Wha' dem want? a white God, well God come black. True true."^[36]

Observant of the Rastafari practice Ital, a diet that shuns meat, Marley was a vegetarian.^[37] According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a different month). He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from Genesis that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptised by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on 4 November 1980.^[38][39]

Family[link]

Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.

Those listed on the official site are:

1. Sharon, born 23 November 1964, to Rita in previous relationship
2. Cedella born 23 August 1967, to Rita
3. David "Ziggy", born 17 October 1968, to Rita
4. Stephen, born 20 April 1972, to Rita
5. Robert "Robbie", born 16 May 1972, to Pat Williams
6. Rohan, born 19 May 1972, to Janet Hunt
7. Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen
8. Stephanie, born 17 August 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter
9. Julian, born 4 June 1975, to Lucy Pounder
10. Ky-Mani, born 26 February 1976, to Anita Belnavis
11. Damian, born 21 July 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Makeda was born on 30 May 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death.^[40] Meredith Dixon's book lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.

Various websites, for example,^[41] also list Imani Carole, born 22 May 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.^[40]

Final years and death[link]

Marley performing in Dalymount Park in the late 1970s

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes. Contrary to urban legend, this lesion was not primarily caused by an injury during a football match in that year, but was instead a symptom of the already existing cancer. Marley turned down doctors' advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs.^[42] Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a world tour in 1980. The intention was for Inner Circle to be his opening act on the tour but after their lead singer Jacob Miller died in Jamaica in March 1980 after returning from a scouting mission in Brazil this was no longer mentioned.^[43]

The album Uprising was released in May 1980 (produced by Chris Blackwell), on which "Redemption Song" is particularly considered to be about Marley coming to terms with his mortality.^{[citation needed]} The band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour.

The final concert of Bob Marley's career was held 23 September 1980 at the Stanley Theater (now called The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The audio recording of that concert is now available on CD, vinyl, and digital music services.

Shortly after, Marley's health deteriorated and he became very ill; the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy (Issels treatment) partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks, and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months, Marley boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.^[44]

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) on the morning of 11 May 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life".^[45] Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition.^[46] He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson Les Paul (some accounts say it was a Fender Stratocaster).^[47]

On 21 May 1981, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley, declaring:

His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation.^[48]

Legacy[link]

Marley has remained popular for decades after his death—one of many memorials to him is this representation at Madame Tussaud Wax Museum in Amsterdam

Bob Marley was the Third World's first pop superstar. He was the man who introduced the world to the mystic power of reggae. He was a true rocker at heart, and as a songwriter, he brought the lyrical force of Bob Dylan, the personal charisma of John Lennon, and the essential vocal stylings of Smokey Robinson into one voice.

— Jann Wenner, at Marley’s 1994 posthumous introduction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame^[49]

In 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century.^[50] In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.^[51] A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard".^[52] In 2008, a statue of Marley was inaugurated in Banatski Sokolac, Serbia.^[53]

Internationally, Marley’s message also continues to reverberate amongst various indigenous communities. For instance, the Aboriginal people of Australia continue to burn a sacred flame to honor his memory in Sydney’s Victoria Park, while members of the Native American Hopi and Havasupai tribe revere his work.^[54] There are also many tributes to Bob Marley throughout India, including restaurants, hotels, and cultural festivals.^[55][56]

Marley has also evolved into a global symbol, which has been endlessly merchandised through a variety of mediums. In light of this, author Dave Thompson in his book Reggae and Caribbean Music, laments what he perceives to be the commercialized pacification of Marley's more militant edge, stating:

Bob Marley ranks among both the most popular and the most misunderstood figures in modern culture ... That the machine has utterly emasculated Marley is beyond doubt. Gone from the public record is the ghetto kid who dreamed of Che Guevara and the Black Panthers, and pinned their posters up in the Wailers Soul Shack record store; who believed in freedom; and the fighting which it necessitated, and dressed the part on an early album sleeve; whose heroes were James Brown and Muhammad Ali; whose God was Ras Tafari and whose sacrament was marijuana. Instead, the Bob Marley who surveys his kingdom today is smiling benevolence, a shining sun, a waving palm tree, and a string of hits which tumble out of polite radio like candy from a gumball machine. Of course it has assured his immortality. But it has also demeaned him beyond recognition. Bob Marley was worth far more.^[57]

Film adaptations[link]

In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on 6 February 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday.^[58] However, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He was replaced by Jonathan Demme,^[59] who dropped out due to creative differences with producer Steve Bing during the beginning of editing. Kevin Macdonald replaced Demme^[60] and the film, Marley, was released on 20 April 2012.

In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.^[61]

Ex-girlfriend and filmmaker Esther Anderson, along with Gian Godoy, made the documentary Bob Marley: The Making of a Legend, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2011.^[62]

Discography[link]

• The Wailing Wailers (1965)
• The Best of The Wailers (1970)
• Soul Rebels (1970)
• Soul Revolution (1971)
• Catch a Fire (1973)
• Burnin' (1973)
• Natty Dread (1974)
• Rastaman Vibration (1976)
• Exodus (1977)
• Kaya (1978)
• Survival (1979)
• Uprising (1980)
• Confrontation (1983)

Awards and honors[link]

Marley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

• 1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone).
• June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations.^[54]
• February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honour, the Jamaican Order of Merit.
• March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• 1999: Album of the Century for Exodus by Time Magazine.
• February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
• 2004: Rolling Stone ranked him No.11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[63]
• "One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC.
• Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.^[64]
• 2006: A blue plaque was unveiled at his first UK residence in Ridgmount Gardens, London, dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office.^[65]
• 2010: "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).^[66]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bob Marley

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bob Marley

• Official website
• Bob Marley at the Internet Movie Database
• The Bob Marley Foundation
• Online Home of the Marleys
• Bob Marley at Rolling Stone
• Marley Elected one of the Greatest Songwriters BBC News, 23 May 2001
• Showcase: Bob Marley by James Estrin, The New York Times, 18 May 2009
• Interview with Heather Marley in Bob Marley Magazine
• Extensive discography

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Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell at Moers Festival 2006, Germany
Background information
Born	(1955-02-12) February 12, 1955 (age 57) Salem, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Avant-garde, art rock, ambient, dub, electronic, experimental, punk jazz, industrial hip-hop
Occupations	Musician, producer, arranger
Instruments	Bass, guitar, keyboard
Associated acts	Method of Defiance, The Golden Palominos, Praxis, Massacre, Material, Buckethead, Painkiller, Ashes, Tabla Beat Science

Bill Laswell (born February 12, 1955 in Salem, Illinois and raised in Albion, Michigan) is an American bassist, producer and record label owner.

Laswell ranks among the most prolific of modern musicians, being involved in hundreds of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. Laswell's music draws upon many different genres, most notably funk, various world music, jazz, dub and ambient styles. He has also played or produced music from the noisier, more aggressive end of the rock spectrum, such as hardcore punk and metal.

According to music critic Chris Brazier, "Laswell’s pet concept is 'collision music' which involves bringing together musicians from wildly divergent but complementary spheres and seeing what comes out."^[1] The credo of one record label run by Laswell, and which typifies much of his work, is “Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted”. Though projects arranged by Laswell may be credited under the same name and often feature the same roster of musicians, the styles and themes explored on different albums can vary dramatically: Material began as a noisy dance music project, but subsequent releases have been centered around hip hop, jazz, or backing spoken word readings by beat generation icon William S. Burroughs. Similarly, most versions of Praxis have featured guitarist Buckethead, but have explored different permutations with each new album.

Though some artists have chafed against Laswell's distinctive recording and production style (most noticeably some of his for-hire production gigs including Motörhead, Swans and White Zombie) many other collaborations, such as with pianist Herbie Hancock and singer Iggy Pop have been lengthier and recurring. He has also worked extensively with his wife, Ethiopian singer Gigi.

Biography[link]

Beginnings[link]

Though starting out as a guitar player, he soon switched to bass. Laswell got his earliest professional experience as a bassist with funk groups in and around Detroit, Michigan as well as Ann Arbor. He often would see shows in Detroit that put together acts such as Iggy and the Stooges (he would work with Pop throughout his career starting in the mid ‘80s), MC5 and Funkadelic (many of whose members are part of his stable of musicians).

Seeing these differing styles of music in his frequent trips to Detroit, as well as being rooted in the African-American music that he grew up immersed in have clearly had an influence on Laswell’s music. His exposure to jazz musicians like John Coltrane, Albert Ayler and particularly Miles Davis’ electric experiments of the mid-1960s to mid-'70s, have also clearly had an impact on his thinking. Laswell’s refusal to pigeon-hole himself, his music, or even the people he works with is arguably his greatest asset as a musician and producer.

Move to New York[link]

In the late 1970s Laswell made the move to New York city, immersing himself in the thriving New York scene. He moved into famed producer Giorgio Gomelsky’s loft and became part of a group of musicians that would eventually become the first (and only even remotely consistent) incarnation of Material.

Aside from Laswell’s first known recording on one side of a Michael Blaise and the Cheaters 7” called Scoring Power in 1978, Laswell and Material became the backing band for Daevid Allen and New York Gong, appearing on some recordings and embarking on a small tour. Material, primarily consisting of Laswell, keyboardist Michael Beinhorn and drummer Fred Maher, also cut a number of 12” releases for Red Records and others. They were usually supplemented by guitarists, notably either Cliff Cultreri and occasionally Robert Quine. Living in the East Village also put Laswell at the center of a group of musicians both up and coming such as John Zorn and established, such as Fred Frith and Brian Eno. His persistence in asking Eno to work with him paid off in the form of contributions to Eno and David Byrne’s album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts as well as Eno’s own On Land. Brian Eno also contributed a song to the Material album, One Down.

Celluloid Records[link]

Within a few years of moving to New York, Laswell soon founded a recording studio with producer/engineer Martin Bisi (of later indie rock renown) and hooked up with Jean Karakos and his fledgling label Celluloid Records. Under the Material moniker (now also a production unit consisting of Laswell and Beinhorn – Maher being long gone - and by 1984 consisting solely of Laswell) Laswell became the de facto house producer for Celluloid until the sale of the label in the later ‘80s. During this fruitful time in the early to mid 80s, Laswell was able to record some of his Material excursions (which ran the gamut from experimental jazz/funk to pop and R&B, featuring everyone from avant-jazz figures Henry Threadgill and Sonny Sharrock to Archie Shepp and pop star Whitney Houston) as well as projects such as Massacre, with Fred Frith and Fred Maher.

His association with Celluloid allowed some of his first forays into this so-called ‘collision music' - the term was coined for Laswell by the British writer Chris May, then editor of Black Music & Jazz Review and later a Celluloid staff member - and forays into world music. Recordings with The Golden Palominos and production on albums by Shango, Toure Kunda and Fela Kuti all appeared on the label. Celluloid also released a slew of 12” devoted to Hip-Hop, becoming a pre-cursor to the popularity the form enjoyed starting in the mid 80s. Fab 5 Freddy, Phase II and Afrika Bambaataa all appeared on the label. Criminally forgotten, Laswell also put together the very successful 12” World Destruction which paired PiL’s John Lydon with Afrika Bambaataa – years before the Run DMC/Aerosmith collaboration broke down the rock/hip-hop barrier. 1982 also saw Laswell’s solo debut, Baselines.

Also recording a Laswell-helmed solo album for Celluloid was Ginger Baker whom Laswell coaxed out of semi-retirement, giving the drummer's career a new boost. He likewise brought Sonny Sharrock out of semi-retirement and produced some of the guitarist's most acclaimed recordings starting with the solo LP Guitar.

Breakthrough[link]

Laswell's artistic and commercial breakthrough came via jazz icon Herbie Hancock's Future Shock album (1983); Laswell produced the album, played bass on all the songs, and co-wrote most of the material. Its track "Rockit" has frequently been regarded as a pivotal moment in the influence of hip hop and turntablism (via Grand Mixer D.ST). The track was the first hit song to feature turntable scratching. The collaboration has led to three other albums by Herbie Hancock, as well as numerous Hancock appearances on Laswell productions through the early 2000s.

Post-Celluloid 1980s[link]

Concurrent to and post-Celluloid, Laswell became a hot producer in demand, due to the success of Hancock's "Rockit". The often lucrative pay-to-produce nature of some of these projects helped fund much of Laswell's work.

The remainder of the 80’s saw Laswell produce albums for people like Sly & Robbie (whom Laswell continues to work with) Mick Jagger, PiL, Motörhead, The Ramones, Iggy Pop and Yoko Ono. Many of these projects afforded Laswell the opportunity to bring in some of his normal working crew to record on more mainstream records. PiL's 1986 release Album (later CD) has no notes on who performed, but over time, various people have confirmed that no PiL personnel other than singer John Lydon were involved, some of the musicians included drummers Tony Williams and Ginger Baker, bassists Jonas Hellborg, Laswell himself, guitarist Steve Vai and others. Lydon claims that Miles Davis actually recorded parts for the album which were never used.

Laswell has stated in numerous interviews that he met with Davis a number of times and discussed working together, but busy schedules kept them from arranging such a recording before Davis’ death, though Laswell's chief engineer^[2] reports an unreleased Davis recording session from 1986.

1986 saw the formation of Last Exit. Laswell and Sonny Sharrock co-founded the metal and hardcore punk-flavored free jazz supergroup along with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and saxophone player Peter Brötzmann. Aside from one album that Laswell cobbled together in-studio, the band was primarily a live one. The group showed up at gigs and played wild sets with no rehearsal. The first time the four members played together was on stage at their first show.

The later part of the ‘80s also saw Laswell completely sever ties with the Celluloid label, which has since been sold several times: the catalog’s various releases seem to be in constant reissue on one label or another. Many of the labels are known for poor practice in securing rights to recordings and are often rumored to not be paying royalties to anyone other than whomever is licensing the material to them.

Greenpoint Studios, Axiom Records and the 1990s[link]

1990 marked a watershed year in Laswell’s control and ability to produce high-quality recordings controlled by himself. In addition to purchasing his own studio (Greenpoint Studio in Brooklyn), Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records and longtime Laswell booster, gave Laswell the opportunity to begin a new label with the backing of Island Records. Thus, Axiom Records was born.

Axiom played the ‘Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted’ credo to its fullest. With a sizable budget and minimal interference from Island executives, Laswell had the means to make arguably some of the most important music of his career. In addition to albums by Material that featured players ranging from Sly & Robbie, William S. Burroughs, Wayne Shorter, Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell, he produced and released albums by drummer and Ornette Coleman acolyte Ronald Shannon Jackson, Sonny Sharrock (featuring Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones), Laswell main-stay Nicky Skopelitis, Last Poets' Umar Bin Hassan and Ginger Baker.

Axiom also released a slew of well-produced recordings from musicians around the world. Among the studio based albums, Palestinian oud and violin prodigy Simon Shaheen recorded an album of music by Egyptian composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Gambian virtuoso Foday Musa Suso recorded an album of futuristic dance music featuring his electric Kora and Turkish saz master Talip Özkan recorded an album. The real coup was in the series of pristine field recordings that Axiom allowed Laswell the ability to produce. A major-league budget and new, more portable recording technology gave rise to recordings by the Master Musicians of Jajouka (done in their village in the Rif Mountains), Mandinka and Fulani music (recorded at Suso’s family compound in the Gambia) and Gnawa music from Morocco.

The most successful project and one of the few still in print on Axiom – where the first release was produced, was Praxis. Originally the moniker that an experimental Celluloid 12” by Laswell was released under in 1984, Praxis now became a full-fledged band, featuring enigmatic guitarist Buckethead. The release, Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) featured Buckethead, drummer Brain (whom Laswell worked with previously with the Limbomaniacs), Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins and Af Next Man Flip (Afrika Baby Bam from the Jungle Brothers). The album was a racous blend of funk grooves and metal riffs, overseen with many tracks co-written by Laswell. The project has spawned other releases, never with the same line-up twice, generally consisting of the core trio of Buckethead, Brain and Laswell supplemented by others.

1994/1995 saw a bit of a slow-down in Axiom’s output, but a number of genre-shattering 2CD compilation sets were released. Axiom Funk’s Funkcronomicon saw previously released tracks by Praxis and Nicky Skopelitis paired with a host of tracks mainly featuring various members of the Parliament/Funkadelic crew. George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell and the last recordings of Eddie Hazel are featured prominently. The album also features contributions from Last Poets' Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole as well as Torture (now Sensational) and DXT (formerly D.ST). Axiom Dub was another compilation featuring tracks in a new-skool dub style from Laswell along with The Orb, Jah Wobble, Sly & Robbie, Mad Professor, Techno Animal, the WordSound crew, WE and others.^[3] Laswell also remixed the whole of the Axiom catalog into a 2 disc ambient mix called Axiom Ambient, subtley blending seemingly disparate tracks from the catalog into a seamless in the mix translation. Laswell released some of the music recorded in those sessions as a sample library for other musicians to use as raw material when making recordings, on a CD he titled Sample Material - International Free Zone.^[4][5]

The 1990s also saw a number of other labels owned by or thoroughly associated with Laswell, come and go. The most prolific of these was Subharmonic, conceived by Laswell and ex-Celluloid A&R Robert Soares. Though not owned by Laswell, the label was essentially a release house for his projects, most of which fell into the ambient or ambient-dub categories. The label also licensed a few releases from European labels for American re-release, notably Psychonavigation (with Pete Namlook) and Cymatic Scan (with Tetsu Inoue) from Pete Namlook's FAX label, and Somnific Flux (with Mick Harris – there as MJ Harris) and Cold Summer (by Lull – a Mick Harris project) from the Sentrax label. Other collaborators included Jonah Sharp and Terre Thaemlitz. The label also released albums from Painkiller, Praxis and Laswell’s new project, Divination, an ambient dub project (first appearing almost as a project title, and then an umbrella moniker for releases of ambient compilations). Additionally, a sub-label called Strata was created containing five releases mostly in what could be deemed a more experimental dub/noise/ambient vein. Each of these releases (Death Cube K, Cypher 7, Azonic and two under his alias Automaton) came housed in a solid black jewel case with the name of the project and album title printed on the front.

Three other short-lived labels were also created around the time of the demise of the Subharmonic deal. Meta, which was intended to be a spoken word label, and SubMeta. Submeta managed four releases before folding. Meta (co-created by Janet Rienstra) released only one album, Baptism of Solitude, - of Paul Bowles reading excerpts from his work over soundscapes by Laswell. Meta would appear periodically again, distributed by other labels, over the next few years until it came back in full as its own entity as a spiritual/yogic label run by Janet Rienstra, though Laswell still heavily figures in Meta’s output. Black Arc was also created as an associated label of Rykodisc, focusing on ‘Black Rock, Cyber Funk and Future Blues’, according to a released sampler. The label featured a number of P-Funk alumni on most of the albums, as well as releasing albums by Parliament/Funkadelic members Bootsy Collins (under his Zillatron moniker), Bernie Worrell (Japan-only), Mutiny (Jerome Brailey) and Billy Bass.

Late 1990s[link]

Always one to be courting controversy due to his alleged radical treatment of music, Laswell released two albums of remixes from dead artists – Bob Marley's Dreams of Freedom on Axiom and Miles Davis’ Panthalassa. The first contained airy, ambient dub translations of some of Marley’s Island catalog, largely sans Marley’s voice. Chris Blackwell, largely the man responsible for bringing Marley to the masses in the ‘70s requested the album as part of a planned series of remix albums by various producers who were rooted in the reggae/dub tradition. Blackwell’s departure from Island killed any further albums.

For Panthalassa, Laswell took the tapes from Miles’ ‘electric period’ and re-imagined them. The impetus for the project being that the original releases were just mixes made by Teo Macero from long in studio sessions. Nothing originally released was necessarily exactly what was done in the studio, but rather a cut-up and remix to begin with. Needless to say, critic and fan responses varied wildly with Laswell and Macero conducting a public feud in the media.

The late ‘90s saw two other major changes. As noted before, Chris Blackwell left Island Records. Although he took the Axiom imprint with him to his new Palm Pictures label, the back catalog stayed with Island. Many of the albums are now out of print, efforts to obtain master recordings and new distribution has been unsuccessful. The other change came in the form of studio space. Laswell, seeing that Greenpoint had turned into a sort living space for hanger-ons moved his studio to West Orange, New Jersey, calling it Orange Music Sound Studios.

21st century[link]

With Palm Pictures slowly moving into film and away from music with the changing landscape of the industry, Laswell lost a major supporter of his more high-concept albums as well as the Axiom imprint. Under Palm’s umbrella, though, four highly regarded albums and a DVD set were released. Of those releases there was a DVD set, a studio release and a live 2-disc set from Tabla Beat Science. Tabla Beat Science is a project that revolves somewhat around the tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, son of the late Alla Rakha. The studio release also featured Karsh Kale, Trilok Gurtu, Ustad Sultan Khan and Talvin Singh. This very popular and well received grouping has become a primarily live project playing everywhere from the US to Beirut to Japan over the years. The core of Laswell, Kale, Kahn and Hussain are usually supplemented by other musicians, which have included at various times Gigi, DJ Disk, Serj Tankian from System of a Down, Sussan Deyhim, visual artists Petulia Mattioli and others. 2001 saw the release of the album Life Space Death with Japanese trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, Laswell on bass, guitar and keyboards and words by The 14th Dalai Lama,^[6] interviewed by Kondo.^[7]

At the request of Chris Blackwell, 2001 also had Laswell overseeing Ethiopian singer Gigi’s debut release for Palm Pictures. Supplementing Gigi’s multilingual, Ethiopian rooted vocals with a vast array of well respected musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Laswell himself, they created a strong release that was very well received. Laswell and Gigi also became romantically involved and were later married. She has figured in a number of his releases and concerts over the years, and he has produced further outings by Gigi such as her Abyssinia Infinite grouping and her second solo release for Palm, Gold & Wax.

1999 also saw the first release on Laswell’s new label, called Innerythmic (Eraldo Bernocchi and Toshinori Kondo’s Charged project). After a brief inactive period, the label re-started again in earnest in 2001, releasing over the next few years a slew of innovative albums from the likes Nicky Skopelitis/Raoul Björkenheim, James Blood Ulmer, Shin Terai and Gonervill among others. Innerhythmic also released a live Praxis recording and re-issued some of the Black Arc releases from the ‘90s including Zillatron, The Last Poets Holy Terror and Buddy Miles’ Hell & Back. The label tends to go through extended periods of inactivity but still releases albums here and there, the next planned release being a studio recording featuring Raoul Björkenheim, Bill Laswell and Morgan Ågren anticipated in the summer of 2011 according to Björkenheim's website.^[8]

Though touching on the realm of drum and bass in the 1990s with his Oscillations releases and the compilation Tetragramaton: Submerged - conceived along with Soares - the last few years have seen Laswell step up his work in this area with Soares as a collaborator in concept/A&R for drum & bass artist development. Starting with Brutal Calling, a hard drum 'n' bass release with Ohm Resistance label owner Submerged (Kurt Gluck), a series of releases and live dates have cropped up. Laswell’s new project in this vein is Method of Defiance (the actual Method of Defiance name and the original idea of a futurist, cyborg drum 'n' bass driven group consisting of laptops breakbeat artists, electric instrumentalists and trumpeter Graham Haynes was conceived by Soares). The first release focused on the core of Laswell and Submerged once again, entitled "The only way to go is down", featuring photos of Soares, with contributions from Toshinori Kondo and drummer Guy Licata. The second release under the moniker, though, was more of a compilation style project, though still focusing on drum 'n' bass. Inamorata stretched the concept out, pairing Laswell’s bass with a different combination of respected jazz and world musicians and drum 'n' bass producers linked to Soares on each track. Artists including Herbie Hancock, John Zorn, Pharoah Sanders, Nils Petter Molvaer, Toshinori Kondo and Buckethead were paired with drum 'n' bass producers including AMIT, Paradox, Submerged, Future Prophecies, Karsh Kale, Evol Intent, SPL, Outrage, Fanu, and Corrupt Souls. To that end, Laswell’s last collaboration with Soares was a full-on recording with Finnish drum 'n' bass maestro Fanu on Ohm Resistance and Karl Records, entitled Lodge, which includes contributions from Molvaer and Bernie Worrell amongst others. After collaborating with Laswell for 15 years, Soares left the crew in 2008. The concept of the group has once again morphed into a full band concept. In 2009, Rare Noise Records released Live in Nihon, which showcased this new direction/grouping. The group now consisted of Laswell, Guy Licata, Dr. Israel, Toshinori Kondo and Bernie Worrell.

Along with frequent live dates around the world with Method of Defiance, Material, Painkiller and the reformed in the late ‘90s Massacre (with This Heat's Charles Hayward now in the drum chair) Laswell still makes numerous trips to Japan each year for various recordings and live dates, including his ongoing Tokyo Rotation^[9] mini-festivals at the Shinjuku Pit-Inn, which is now a yearly occurrence. In addition to Tokyo Rotation being an actual mini-festival, the moniker has been used as a sort of umbrella to include general operations revolving around activities in Japan, as witnessed by the usage of Tokyo Rotation Presents in relation to the website's announcement of other gigs outside the Pit Inn shows as well being noted on Method of Defiance's release Nihon.

M.O.D. Technologies[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

In 2010, Laswell created his newest label, M.O.D. Technologies, in partnership with Giacomo Bruzzo of Rare Noise and John Brown, his longtime Manager. The label is centered around the activities of the principles of the now-solidified Method of Defiance lineup, and is intended to be one of Laswell's main creative vehicles moving forward, being seen as the successor to his Axiom label. The label kicked off with the release of three albums toward the end of 2010: two from Method of Defiance - Jahbulon (a reggae/dancehall/vocal affair featuring Hawk and Dr. Israel) and the instrumental album Incunabula, which features Herbie Hancock on one track and DJ Krush throughout. The third release was a new live album from Gigi w/Material entitled Mesgana Ethiopia. In 2011, the label released an album by Praxis (a US/European version of the Profanation album, with bonus tracks), as well as a new collaboration with Lee 'Scratch' Perry featuring Gigi, Dr. Israel, Hawk, Sly Dunbar, Bernie Worrell, TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe and more, in May in the US. A remix album focusing on Method of Defiance tracks from Jahbulon and Incunabula, with new mixes by Mad Professor, Laswell, Scientist and more, came out in October. 2012 will see a further movement of many of Laswell's projects to the M.O.D. Technologies umbrella. In addition to Garrison Hawk's album "Survive" released on April 17, 2012 will see the first in an intended batch of releases that focus on Ethiopian music and artists. The first project is Jano, a young rock band that was the first band recorded in Addis Ababa at the new studio that Laswell built.

Frequent collaborators[link]

Even though many Laswell-produced albums have featured dozens of musicians, he tends to work with a small group of collaborators who appear on most of his recordings. Such musicians include bassists Jah Wobble, Jonas Hellborg and Bootsy Collins; guitarists Buckethead and Nicky Skopelitis; keyboardists Jeff Bova and Bernie Worrell; and percussionists Aïyb Dieng and Karsh Kale. Laswell has also frequently worked with musicians from the sprawling P-funk camp.

In addition, Laswell has relied on the expertise of a small number of engineers over the years. Robert Musso (a producer, musician and label-owner in his own right) has been Laswell's chief engineer for close to 25 years. Oz Fritz has occasionally filled the role as well over almost the same time period, though (particularly in the last few years after a move to the West Coast) Fritz is usually Laswell's live engineer of choice, known for his stellar live mixing technique. In addition, a small core of assistants have come through over time, the most recent mainstay being James Dellatacoma.

Over the years, Laswell has also been an in demand remixer and purveyor of what is usually noted as ‘mix translation’. Remixes (released and unreleased) have been done for artists including Sting, Nine Inch Nails, Almamegretta, Scorn, Ozzy Osbourne, Tori Amos. In addition he is often hired for his skills at the board doing straight mixes of albums. In recent years he has done much work in this area for various projects on John Zorn's Tzadik record label.

In 2005, Laswell was invited to appear on the PBS series Soundstage. The show featured a host of the musicians he has played with over the years including incarnations of his Praxis and Tabla Beat Science projects. In addition to some of the core performers from these projects, Pharoah Sanders, Foday Musa Suso, Bootsy Collins and Catfish Collins and many others participated. Though Laswell mixed the show in 5.1 surround sound, to date no DVD or official recording has been released. The hour-long aired version (part of a much longer show) has popped up on file-sharing sites.

Laswell has also participated on a collaboration with Sony Creative Software on a box set Loop Library called The Bill Laswell Collection.^[10]

See also[link]

• Axiom (record label)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bill Laswell on Myspace
• M.O.D. Technologies on Facebook
• M.O.D. Technologies on Myspace
• Official M.O.D. Technologies site
• Official Method of Defiance site
• Official Tokyo Rotation site
• Innerhythmic.com (record label)
• discography at silent-watcher.net
• discography at turning-groove.de
• Sacred Dub fan site/community site, includes podcasts
• Bill Laswell discography at Discogs
• Last.FM: Bill Laswell pages
• 2011 Innerviews interview
• 1999 Innerviews interview
• Method of Defiance "Inamorata" review by Mark Jenkins, The Washington Post, December 21, 2007
• Bill Laswell Interview by The Wire Magazine. December, 1994
• Part 1 of Interview with Directors of Destroy All Rational Thought DVD - which celebrates the work of Brion Gysin and William Burroughs. Contains music/text by Bill Laswell
• Part 2 of Interview with Directors of Destroy All Rational Thought DVD - which celebrates the work of Brion Gysin and William Burroughs. Contains music/text by Bill Laswell

DJ Krush
Background information
Birth name	Hideaki Ishi (石 英明)
Born	(1962-07-29) July 29, 1962 (age 49)
Origin	Ibaraki, Japan
Genres	Instrumental hip hop, trip hop, hip hop, turntablism
Occupations	Producer, DJ
Instruments	Sequencer, turntable, sampler, mixer
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Mo' Wax
Website	www.sus81.jp/djkrush/# Official site

Hideaki Ishi (石 英明, Ishi Hideaki^?) (born 1962, Tokyo, Japan), better known as DJ Krush, is a producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples.

Biography[link]

Ishi was born in 1962 in Tokyo. Ishi dropped out of school at an early age and joined a local gang, and a few years later, the yakuza. Early into his career as a yakuza underling, Ishi discovered a severed finger wrapped in paper on his desk. Later, after discovering that it had belonged to his best friend, he decided to leave the yakuza and cut ties with the criminal underworld.^[1]

In the early 1980s, Ishi went to the movies with his girlfriend and saw the film Wild Style, the first hip hop motion picture directed by Charlie Ahearn. He was inspired to become a hip hop musician, and made the firm decision to become a DJ. The day after seeing this movie, he headed to instrument shops looking for equipment. At this time the term "mixer" was unknown to most of Tokyo's electronic store salesmen. After a hard time buying the things he needed, Ishi started his career as one of the first hip hop artists in Japan.

Aside from being considered one of the pioneers of Japanese hip hop,^[2] Ishi has established himself as one of the most respected artists and producers in the hip hop industry, both in Japan and abroad. Upon entering the industry, Ishi, with his experimental beats and instrumental sounds, changed the face of hip-hop at a time when it was dominated by the American rap scene.^[3] He is reluctant to identify his music with any particular genre, for it would place limits on his listeners and on his talents. He has been regarded as ambient, trip hop, some combination of the two, and hip hop. DJ Krush prefers to exercise an ideological distance from the genres he is usually grouped into, while maintaining a healthy appreciation for all music forms and styles.^[4] In 1996, DJ Krush contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Krush (1994)
• Strictly Turntablized (1994)
• Meiso (1995)
• Ki-Oku (1996)
• MiLight (1997)
• Kakusei (1999)
• Zen (2001)
• The Message at the Depth (2002)
• Jaku (2004)

Singles[link]

On Mo'Wax

• Lost And Found / Kemuri 12" (With DJ Shadow, MW024)
• A Whim / 89.9 Megamix 12" (With DJ Shadow, MW033)
• Meiso 12" (MW042)
• Headz 2 Sampler 12" (With Zimbabwe Legit, MW052)
• Only The Strong Survive 12" (MW060)

^[5]

MONTHLY SINGLE SERIES:

• The 1st of the series “Koufu no Tsubasa – breathe of wings” 2011
• The 2nd of the series “Kuon – far and away” 2011
• The 3rd of the series “Shuya no Chiheisen - sleepless horizon” 2011
• The 4th of the series "Kaginote - phasic swing" 2011
• The 5th of the series "Kouro - optical path" (Available on Jan.25 2012)

^[6]

Remixes[link]

• Rebore Vol.3 Dj Krush Giga Mix A remix of the Boredoms
• L・O・V・E ’95 Dj Krush Mix A remix of Naniwaman

Mixtapes[link]

• Holonic-The Self Megamix (1997, Mo' Wax MW088)
• Code4109 (2000)

Compilations[link]

• ColdKrushCuts - DJ Krush + DJ Food + Coldcut (1997)
• Reload-The Remix Collection (2001)
• Stepping Stones - The Self Remixed Best: Lyricism (2006)
• Stepping Stones - The Self Remixed Best: Soundscapes (2006)
• OuMuPo 6 - (2007)

"Shin-Ki-Row" DJ Krush- Altered Beats: Assassin Knowledges Of The Remanipulated (Axiom) [1996]

Collaborations[link]

• Zap Mama, "Danger of Love" (2001)
• Bad Brothers (1994) (with Ronny Jordan)
• Ki-Oku (1996) (with Toshinori Kondo)
• Ryu (1999) (with DJ Hide & DJ Sak)
• "Sweetest Coma Again", Lunacy (2000) (with LUNA SEA)
• "Kiss", Lunacy (2000) (with LUNA SEA)
• Zero Landmine (2001) (with Ryuichi Sakamoto and others)
• Blue Fantasy DJ Krush Remix (2002) (with Tetsuya Komuro)
• 2007-2009 Bill Laswell presents Tokyo Rotation, session with Dj Krush on turntable Tokyo Rotation video
• 2009 Method of Defiance, DJ Krush playing live with Bill Laswell

DVD[link]

• Suimou Tsunenimasu (2007)/History of DJ Krush (US Title - 2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Nippop Profile |DJ Krush
• DJ Krush in Barcelona
• Suimou Tsunenimasu DVD set review
• Interview at britishhiphop.co.uk, Feb. 2008
• DJ Krush at IKRA club (Moscow), 2007
• DJ Krush at All Music

Ellie Goulding
Goulding performing at Lincoln Hall, Chicago, U.S., March 30, 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Elena Jane Goulding
Born	(1986-12-30) 30 December 1986 (age 25) Hereford, Herefordshire, England
Origin	London, England
Genres	Indie pop, electropop, synthpop, folktronica
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist, drummer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, drums, piano, clarinet, mandolin, tambourine
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Neon Gold, Polydor, Cherrytree, Interscope
Associated acts	Starsmith, Frankmusik, Diana Vickers, Gabriella Cilmi, Little Boots, Tinie Tempah, Erik Hassle, Lissie, Mumford & Sons, Skrillex,Swedish House Mafia, Lupe Fiasco, DJ Daaar
Website	elliegoulding.com

Elena Jane Goulding (born 30 December 1986),^[1] known professionally as Ellie Goulding, is an English singer-songwriter. In 2010 she became the second artist to both top the BBC's annual Sound of... poll and win the Critics' Choice Award at the BRIT Awards in the same year, following Adele's win of both in 2008. After signing to Polydor Records in 2009, she released her first EP in 2009, An Introduction to Ellie Goulding, followed by her debut studio album Lights in 2010. Her album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and has sold over 650,000 copies in the UK. "Lights" was released in America March 8th 2011, where the title track has been certified platinum by the RIAA (excess of 1 million units sold) ^[2].

Goulding is a soprano,^[3] and her musical style has been compared to that of Kate Nash, Meiko, Lykke Li and Tracey Thorn.^[4]

Background and personal life[link]

Goulding was born and brought up in a small town near Hereford, Herefordshire, the second of four children.^[5][6] She began playing the clarinet at the age of nine, and at 14 began learning guitar. She attended Lady Hawkins' School in Kington, where she won a main part in a school production, the Wizard Of Oz, as the scarecrow. She started songwriting at the age of 15 and while in college she won a singing competition.^[7]

After commencing a drama course, politics course, and an English course at the University of Kent,^[8] where she was exposed to electronic music, she developed her sound on the track "Wish I Stayed" with the help of Starsmith and Frankmusik. Starsmith went on to become her chief collaborator and primary producer of Lights. After two years at Kent, she was advised to take a gap year to pursue singing,^[9][10] and moved to West London.^[11]

She is a keen runner, running six miles every day, and in 2010 announced plans to run a marathon.^[6] In support of her second EP, Run Into the Light, she invited a small number of fans through her Facebook pages, to run with her in seven different cities on her UK tour,^[12] and has announced that she will be doing the same across Europe and the United States. Goulding is considered to have an impressively athletic physique.^[13][14][15]

Music career[link]

Early career[link]

Signed to Polydor Records in September 2009,^[9] Goulding's debut single, "Under the Sheets", was released digitally in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2009,^[16] peaking at number fifty-three on the UK Singles Chart.^[17] In October 2009 she toured the UK supporting Little Boots,^[18] and appeared on Later... with Jools Holland, performing "Under the Sheets" and "Guns and Horses".^[19] "Wish I Stayed" was available as a free download as the Single of the Week on iTunes Store UK from 22–28 December 2009.^[20]

[edit] 2009–11: Lights and Bright Lights

Before the release of her debut studio album, Goulding won the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, which showcases the critics, broadcasters and music industry insiders' top choices for rising stars and artists for the coming year.^[21] She also won the Critics' Choice Award at the 2010 BRIT Awards, which prize made her the second artist to win both in the same year.^[22]

Goulding performing in Amsterdam on 17 September 2010.

Goulding's debut album Lights was released in March 2010, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the Irish Albums Chart.^[23][24][25] Its singles, "Starry Eyed", "Guns and Horses" and "The Writer" peaked at numbers 4, 26, and 19 respectively.^[17] The album has sold over 650,000 copies in the UK as of April 2012.^[26] In August 2010, Goulding released a second EP, Run Into the Light, containing remixes of songs from Lights. The album was supported by Nike and was released through Polydor as a running soundtrack in an effort to get Goulding's music taken up by the national running subculture.^[12]

In November 2010, Lights was re-released as Bright Lights, with six new tracks added. It was originally announced that the lead single from Bright Lights would be the new edit of the title track with a release scheduled for 1 November 2010.^[27] Yet this was scrapped to allow her cover of Elton John's "Your Song" to be released in conjunction with the John Lewis Christmas 2010 advertising campaign in the UK.^[28] The single became Goulding's highest-charting single to date, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart.^[17] The song also charted in some European countries in early 2011.^[29]

Goulding toured in support of Lights and supported Passion Pit in March 2010 and John Mayall during his British tour in May 2010.^[30] During the summer she performed at a number of festivals. On 29 May she performed at the Dot to Dot Festival in Bristol.^[12] She performed a set on 25 June at the Glastonbury Festival 2010 on the John Peel Stage.^[31] Her third EP was a live recording of part of her set at the iTunes Festival 2010.^[32] The whole set was ultimately included as bonus content on the iTunes version of Bright Lights.^[33] She made her T in the Park debut on 11 July.^[34] She played on the Nissan Juke Arena at the 2010 V Festival in late August.^[35] In September she was part of the line-up at Bestival 2010 on the Isle of Wight.^[36] In support of the album in Europe she performed on the first day of Pukkelpop in Belgium, at the Open'er Festival in Poland and at Benicàssim in Spain.^[37] A track from Lights, "Every Time You Go", was featured in the Vampire Diaries episode "Founder's Day", "Your Biggest Mistake" appeared in an episode of The Inbetweeners.^[38] and "Believe Me" appeared in an episode of 90210. She began a tour of the United States and Canada in February 2011 to coincide with the release of the American edition of Lights.^[39] In August/September 2010 the singer was an opening act on Irish alternative rock band U2's U2 360 Tour in Munich, Germany, Vienna, Austria, and Zurich, Switzerland.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2011 it was announced that the title track from Lights would serve as the second single from Bright Lights.^[40] In early 2011 she recorded an original song for the film Life in a Day. Goulding was placed at number five on Rolling Stone's annual hot list in February 2011.^[41] In February 2011 she returned to the BRIT Awards where she was nominated for Best British Female and Best British Breakthrough Act, but lost out to Laura Marling and Tinie Tempah, respectively.^[42] Previously she had performed at the BRITs launch party where the nominations were announced.

She also played live at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2011.^[6] Goulding made her American television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live on 7 April 2011 performing "Starry Eyed". She appeared as the musical guest on the 700th episode of the Saturday Night Live, broadcast 7 May 2011 and hosted by Tina Fey.^[43][44] She served as one of many live performers at the wedding reception of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April 2011 singing her rendition of "Your Song" for the couple's first dance as well as her hits "The Writer" and "Starry Eyed" and several of William and Kate's personal favourites.^[45] She was introduced to Prince William by Tinie Tempah at a music festival during the summer of 2010. Goulding performed, for the second consecutive year, at Radio 1's Big Weekend on Saturday 14 May.^[46]

Goulding headlined the 2011 Wakestock Festival in Wales, performing on 8 July.^[47] In August she, again, performed at V Festival for her second year in a row.^[48] Following the re-release of Lights and the American release of the album, Goulding said she would soon begin work on a second studio album with an expected release in September 2011.^[49]

On 6 August 2011, Goulding performed at Lollapalooza in Chicago.^[50] Goulding performed at the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert on 11 December 2011 in Oslo, Norway, where she also served on a panel discussion with Amy Lee of Evanescence and Janelle Monáe.^[51] On 1 December 2011, Goulding performed at the White House during the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, alongside the likes of Big Time Rush and will.i.am.^[52] On 18 January 2012, Goulding performed "Lights" on Late Show with David Letterman.^[53]

2011–present: Second studio album[link]

In February 2011, Goulding told the Daily Star that she had plans to release a follow-up to Lights sometime in 2012, commenting, "I'm not going to go away for ages. It'll be out this year or the start of next."^[54] The following month, when asked about the album's musical direction in an interview with gossip website Dean Piper's World, Goulding stated, "It's started to sound very dark and very weird. This album is going to be even more emotional [...] I wanted to make it so there is hope. I want to make an effect whether it's happy or sad."^[55] In April 2012, Goulding stated that she hoped the album would be released in October 2012.^[26] That same month, her single Lights was certified platinum in the United States by the RIAA ^[56].

Work with other artists[link]

Goulding co-wrote "Love Me 'Cause You Want To" for Gabriella Cilmi's second album, Ten, and three songs, "Remake Me + You", "Notice" and "Jumping Into Rivers", for Diana Vickers's debut album, Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree.^[57] Her song "Not Following" was used by German singer Lena on her debut album My Cassette Player.^[58] Goulding was featured on rapper Tinie Tempah's single "Wonderman" from his debut studio album Disc-Overy. Goulding's "Under the Sheets" was also remixed by American rap duo Chiddy Bang, featured on their 2010 mixtape Air Swell, and by DJ Frenzy (F^K Y3AH! Breaks Mix). Frankmusik, who produced Goulding's song "Wish I Stayed", told Digital Spy he hoped to collaborate with her on his second album, Do It in the AM.^[59] "Lights" was remixed by Bassnectar, which appears on his 2011 album Divergent Spectrum.

On 19 September 2011, it was announced that Goulding would open for Katy Perry on her "California Dreams Tour", replacing Jessie J due to a foot injury.^[60][61]

On 14 December 2011, Mika announced that Goulding had involvement in his upcoming album The Origin of Love.^[62]

Goulding collaborated with American electro artist and producer Skrillex on a song titled "Summit", included on his 2011 EP Bangarang.

Discography[link]

• 2010: Lights

Tours[link]