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He made disco
cool when they said "Disco is dead" and is widely regarded
as one of the founding faces of the UK garage and house music scene.
With more aliases than Smith and Jones, who on earth is the real
Dave Lee?
As a youngster
growing up on England's sunny South Coast, Dave was glued to local
radio stations, listening to the sounds of Earth, Wind & Fire
and The Jacksons. Fed up with the lack of good quality music available
locally, Dave made regular pilgrimages to London's vinyl mecca to
buy the latest tunes and imports that were not being played in local
nightclubs or mainstream radio at the time.
Eventually,
Dave landed a job in London vinyl store, Smithers & Leigh, where
he first heard the revered house classics "Jack Your Body"
and "I Can Feel It" that were later to become a major
inspiration for him to produce his own records. It didn't take long
for Dave to make an impression on Rough Trade who offered him the
opportunity to set up their dance arm, D-Mix. His first accounts
included Rhythm King, who spawned such acts such as Bomb The Bass,
S-Express, Cookie Crew and Beatmasters, and 4AD who had a hit with
"Pump Up The Volume" by MARRS.
Rough Trade
gave Dave the chance to fulfil his ambition of working in the studio
- his first release was called "Get Busy" under the moniker
MDEMM and reached number 18 in the club charts. This was enough
to convince Dave that the time was right to start up his own label
and, in 1988, Republic Records was born, introducing 'garage' as
a genre of music in its own right. Notable successes in the UK market
were Phase II's "Reachin'" and Turntable Orchestra's "You're
Gonna Miss Me".
It was around
this time that the idea of Joey Negro was born. Dave felt that this
name sounded New York Hispanic and would appear more exotic to the
UK market as well as getting credibility Stateside. His thinking
was bang on the mark as his first tunes as Joey Negro, "Do
It, Believe It" and "Do What You Feel", met with
great acclaim on both sides of the pond, the latter scoring him
an album deal with Virgin. Dave also took this time to enhance his
reputation as a remixer and producer working with the likes of M-People,
Diana Ross, Pet Shop Boys and Simply Red.
Setting up
Z Records as a subsidiary of Republic, Dave now has an outlet for
his own work; championing all things funky and soulful with a consistently
high level of quality underground releases. The label has showcased
the remix and production work of other such luminaries as Blaze,
Basement Jaxx, Bini & Martini and Seamus Haji's Big Bang Theory.
As if that wasn't enough, such is his reputation for injecting disco
back into the 21st century, he was drafted in to work with Take
That, producing "Relight My Fire". Well, even Dave Lee
has to cross the lines of taste occasionally!
An accomplished
and highly respected producer/remixer who never fails to delight
the underground dance music scene with his classic records, Dave
is one of the dance music's best kept secrets - modest, hugely talented
and more than a little quirky. Ten years on and Dave Lee aka Joey
Negro, the Hed Boys, Doug Willis, Raven Maize and now Jakatta is
still at the forefront of the global scene even if he still hasn't
decided what name to go by!
New Years Eve
– Luna Park, Sydney
Fri Jan 13th – Electric Circus, Adelaide
Sat Jan 14th – OneLove, Melbourne
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Guest
DJ