Towa Tei

Towa Tei (テイ・トウワ（鄭 東和）, Tei Tōwa, born 1965) is a DJ, artist and record producer born in Yokohama, Japan. Towa debuted as a member of Deee-Lite, from the U.S. label Elektra Records in 1990, and shot to fame via their international hit single, "Groove Is In the Heart". He made his solo debut with the album Future Listening! in 1994. He has since relocated back from New York to rural Nagano prefecture in Japan

His concept party, "Hotel H", started in 2009 as a social spot for music industry people in Tokyo.

Biography

Towa began making demo tapes at the age of 16 having bought his first synthesizer, a Korg MS-10. While studying at Musashino Art University Junior College of Art and Design he sent his tape to a radio program of Ryuichi Sakamoto titled "Sound Street".

In 1987, Towa moved to the US to study graphic design and joined house act Deee-Lite, a trio with Supa DJ Dimitry and Lady Miss Kier, enjoying almost instant success after debuting in 1990 with their album World Clique and the single "Groove Is In the Heart".

TEI

Tei can refer to:

TEI can refer to:

GBI (German Bold Italic)

"GBI (German Bold Italic)" is a single from Towa Tei's 1998 album Sound Museum. The song is a collaboration with Australian singer Kylie Minogue. At the time, Tei was best known as one of the DJs behind New York club sensations Deee-Lite, having produced their biggest hit "Groove Is In The Heart" (and appearing in the promotional video, from which some audio blips were re-used on this single); Minogue meanwhile was going through a difficult point in her musical career - critics were praising her musical ventures on the Deconstruction Records, but the public were failing to warm to it, particularly the Impossible Princess album. Minogue decided to add vocals to this techno-influenced dance record and the result is probably the most avant-garde entry in her entire discography (and probably the most unknown).

Music video

By far, "GBI" is one of Minogue's strangest videos to date. The music video follows Kylie throughout New York City as she is decked out in a full Geisha outfit and make-up and towards the climax of which, the 5"2', then 30-year-old singer was collared like a dog and carried by a Japanese man on a leash. It was directed by then-boyfriend Stéphane Sednaoui. Again, the video fails to appear on any Minogue compilation, although a remixed version of it appears on the "Fever Tour" DVD, released in 2002. The video can be seen on Stéphane Sednaoui's website and on YouTube.