Darren Styles

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Darren Styles
Birth nameDarren James Mew [1]
Also known asDarren Styles, Unique
Born (1975-05-23) 23 May 1975 (age 49)
Colchester, England [1]
Genres UK hardcore, trance, hardstyle
Occupation(s)Record producer, disc jockey, singer, songwriter, manager
Instrument(s)Vocals, keyboards, turntables, music sequencer, sampler, drum programming
Years active1993–present [1]
LabelsUniversal, UK Dance, Raver Baby, All Around the World, Together We Rise, Dirty Workz, Monstercat
Website darrenstyles.co.uk

Darren James Mew (born 23 May 1975), better known as Darren Styles, is an English music producer, DJ, singer and songwriter from Colchester, Essex. Originally a member of the breakbeat hardcore group DJ Force & the Evolution, Styles found success during the 1990s as one half of Force & Styles. The duo were pioneers of happy hardcore and wrote several well-known songs such as "Heart of Gold", "Pretty Green Eyes" and "Paradise & Dreams".

Contents

In the early 2000s, Styles began producing more trance-influenced records with Mark Brady as Styles & Breeze. [2] The duo released two hit singles "You're Shining" (2004) and "Heartbeatz" (2005) which both reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart. [3] They have been involved in all volumes of the popular Clubland X-Treme Hardcore compilation series. Darren Styles also has a collab alias with Stonebank called "Zero Hero".

As a solo artist, Styles has released two studio albums, the gold-selling Skydivin' (2008) and Feel the Pressure (2010). [1] He has also frequently collaborated with several other artists such as Hixxy, Ultrabeat and N-Force.

Early life

Styles was born as Darren James Mew in Colchester, Essex, England. He was encouraged to play music from an early age by his father, a blues fan, and always had a passion for music. He spent many nights mastering his ability on the keyboard and developing his own style, inspired by dance music. In February 1992 in Clacton-on-Sea, Styles had his first "hands on" experience of the underground rave scene in "Oscar's Nightclub" on Clacton Pier. This event lead to him wanting to be a part of the dance music community. [1]

Force & Styles

His first records were as part of the breakbeat hardcore group DJ Force & The Evolution (with Paul Hobbs, James Broomfield and Paul Hughes) released in 1993. The group signed to hardcore record label Kniteforce and many of their tracks were played by Carl Cox. The group also produced tracks using the alias A Sense of Summer for another hardcore label Universal Records owned by Slipmatt.

In 1995, he and Paul Hobbs set up their own label UK Dance Records so they could quickly release more material and have complete artistic licence over their records. They began producing using the alias Force & Styles and released many 12-inch records on UK Dance and by 1996 their popularity had grown so that they were DJing every weekend up and down the UK, as well as touring Australia, North America, and Ibiza on a regular basis. The two also held residencies at various events including those by Slammin Vinyl, Helter Skelter and United Dance.

By 1997, they had produced some of the biggest happy hardcore tracks of the time, many of which went on to be covered by commercial dance artists, including singles "Heart of Gold", "Paradise & Dreams", "Pretty Green Eyes", "Pacific Sun" and "Field of Dreams". Force & Styles picked up many awards at this time and they were the first ever hardcore DJs to do a guest mix for Pete Tong's Essential Mix radio show on BBC Radio 1. [1]

Force & Styles released three albums: All over the UK (1996), Simply Electric (1998) - a compilation of tracks by DJ Force & The Evolution and Force & Styles - and their greatest hits album Heart of Gold (2000).

Solo career

Styles' first solo record was "Feelin' Fine" which was released as Unique in 1998. His solo career as Darren Styles started in 2002 after releasing a record for Nukleuz and other labels. He has also released many records on Raver Baby and his first solo single was "Save Me" released on All Around the World.

In 2005, Styles partnered with Hixxy to follow up the Bonkers series by initiating a popular compilation mix series called Clubland X-Treme Hardcore, several releases of which attained BRIT Certified Gold status. [4] Fellow artist MC Storm claimed the series to be "another massive turning point for hardcore". [2]

Styles has released singles collaborating with other artists on tracks such as "Sure Feels Good" and "Discolights" with Ultrabeat and "Right by Your Side" with N-Force. In 2008, he released Skydivin' . The album was a collection of old and new hardcore and commercial songs. This album reached No. 4 in the UK, [5] # 41 in Ireland and has since been certified Gold in the UK. [6] His follow-up single to "Discolights" with Ultrabeat was the song "Girls Like You", released 2 February 2009. Styles owns Junkbox Records which has released a number of singles.

In June and July 2009, Styles and Ultrabeat embarked on a ten-date UK-wide co-headlined tour, accompanied by Breeze, Infextious, DJ Frisco, MC Domino, Rebecca Rudd (Ultrabeat) and N-force. Starting in Sheffield, the tour went to Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester and London. In late November and early December 2009, Styles was part of Clubland Live 3 which toured through England, Scotland and Ireland. [7]

Styles' most recent album Feel the Pressure was released on 23 August 2010, and features the singles "Outta My Head", "Sound Without a Name" and "Holding On". [1]

Personal life

Styles is married to Fiona Merry who appeared on the 2007 edition of the reality television series Shipwrecked . They had a baby girl on 3 November 2010.[ citation needed ]

Discography

Related Research Articles

Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or "hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s. The thing that makes happy hardcore stand apart from Gabber, is that happy hardcore tends to have breakbeats running alongside the 4/4 kick drum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xploded Music</span> British electronic music record label

Xploded Music is a British record label set up by Cris Nuttall and Matt Cadman. The label is a joint venture with Universal, and has developed from their previous partnership with the All Around the World dance music label. All Around the World originated in Blackburn and has had success with artists such as N-Trance, Cascada, Scooter, Dannii Minogue, Armin van Buuren, Lost Frequencies, N-Dubz, Loud Luxury, Skepta, Starley, Yolanda Be Cool, and many more. AATW also owned & operated four music TV channels; Clubland TV, and three Now Music-branded channels - Now 70s, Now 80s and Now 90s, all of which are now fully owned by Universal.

Ultrabeat are a British electronic dance music group from Liverpool, England, formed in 2002. Originally consisting of vocalist and producer Mike 'Re-Con' Di Scala and producers Ian Redman and Chris Henry, Ultrabeat emerged with their cover of the Force & Styles song "Pretty Green Eyes", which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart 2003. With the addition of vocalist Rebecca Rudd in 2005, they released further singles, including top forty hits such as "Feelin' Fine", "Better than Life" and "Elysium ", followed by their début album Ultrabeat: The Album in 2007, which peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart

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The Bonkers series was one of the leading happy hardcore compilation series in the UK. The first release was in 1996 on the record label React. It was available on 2xCD and 2xTC formats. DJs Sharkey and Hixxy were signed by React, and they released "Bonkers", the first in a series of albums that has become the best-selling hardcore compilation series of all time. As of 11 May 2009, the series had reached its nineteenth release, titled Bonkers: The Original Hardcore.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pretty Green Eyes</span> 1997 single by Force & Styles

"Pretty Green Eyes" is a song originally written and recorded by Force & Styles featuring Junior. A remixed version appeared on their debut album, All Over the UK (1996), and the song was released as a 12-inch single in 1997. The song achieved mainstream popularity in 2003 when it was covered by Ultrabeat and peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elysium (I Go Crazy)</span> 2006 single by Ultrabeat vs. Scott Brown

"Elysium (I Go Crazy)" is the 5th single by Liverpool dance trio Ultrabeat. It was released in 2006 and played throughout the summer of that year. Ultrabeat used the vocals of Rebecca Rudd to Scott Brown's hardcore cult hit "Elysium" and gave it a trance remix, achieving further commercial success for a song which is perceived by many hardcore fans as a great dance anthem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sure Feels Good (song)</span> 2007 single by Ultrabeat vs Darren Styles

"Sure Feels Good" is a song written and recorded by Ultrabeat and Darren Styles, released as a single in 2007. It was the first Styles/Ultrabeat collaboration since Ultrabeat covered "Pretty Green Eyes" and "Feelin' Fine" in 2003. The vocals are by Rebecca Rudd, also the singer on "Elysium ".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paradise & Dreams</span> 1997 single by Force & Styles featuring Junior

"Paradise & Dreams" is a song written and recorded by producers Force & Styles, featuring Junior which originally appeared on their album All over the UK (1996) and was released as a single in 1997. Both members of Force & Styles would later record cover versions of the song at later dates, the first was by The Force in 2003 and another was by Ultrabeat versus Darren Styles which appeared on both artists début albums Ultrabeat: The Album (2007) and Skydivin' (2008).

"Pacific Sun" is a song originally written and recorded by Force & Styles featuring Junior. It was originally released on white label in 1997 and appeared on their greatest hits album Heart of Gold (2000). The song has also been covered numerous times with other versions recorded by Flip & Fill featuring Junior, Ultrabeat and Darren Styles

This is the discography page for Darren Styles. It also includes the discography of his groups DJ Force & The Evolution, Force & Styles and Styles & Breeze. It also includes the peak chart performance of each album or single where applicable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save Me (Darren Styles song)</span> 2007 single by Darren Styles

"Save Me" is a single by British DJ Darren Styles, the third single released from his album Skydivin', it was released in 2006. The single reached #70 on the UK Singles Chart.

Clubland X-Treme Hardcore are a series of compilation albums from Clubland, released by Universal Music TV and AATW, that was initiated by DJ producers Hixxy and Styles. The series has been credited as a turning point in the popularity of the hardcore music scene.

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Karen Jane Danzig is a British singer with paternal German ancestry. She was raised by profoundly deaf parents, with a hearing brother and a deaf younger sister.

<i>All over the UK</i> 1996 studio album by Force & Styles

All Over the UK is the debut studio album by British happy hardcore musicians Force & Styles released on 26 August 1996 on United Dance Recordings.

Dowster or DJ Dowster, also known as David Thomas,, is a Welsh record producer, singer-songwriter and disc jockey from Cwmbran in South Wales. David has been involved in the rave scene since 1998 and his love of the music lead him to begin his DJ career in In 2001, Dowster was signed to Raver Baby Records by its owner DJ Hixxy to become part of the original Raver Baby Collective. This collective, known at the time as the RBC, included some of the UK Hardcore scene's leading DJs and MCs – Hixxy, Breeze, Darren Styles, UFO, MC Storm and MC Whizzkid. In addition to his DJ bookings and single releases within this period, Dowster's solo and collaborative studio projects can be found on certain volumes of the highly successful Bonkers series as well as other leading names in UK hardcore compilation albums. Three of his most popular tracks were "Starlight", "Steps Ahead" and "Here We Go".

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 O'Brien, Jon. "Darren Styles Biography". All Music. Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  2. 1 2 Hodgson, Jaimie (20 July 2021). "'Why Don't We All Go Bonkers?' – The Rise and Fall of Happy Hardcore". Vice . Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  3. ↑ "BREEZE & STYLES". Official Charts . Archived from the original on 21 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  4. ↑ "Aatw/Umtv Various Artists Clubland X-Treme Hardcore 2". BPI . Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Coldplay score first ever UK number one single Archived 23 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine . New Musical Express (22 June 2008). Retrieved on 19 December 2008
  6. ↑ "Aatw/Umtv Darren Styles Skydivin'". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  7. ↑ "Clubland Live 3". Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
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