Marshall Jefferson | |
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 Jefferson in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Marshall Julius Jefferson |
| Born | September 19, 1959 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
Marshall Julius Jefferson (born September 19, 1959) is an American musician, working in the house music [1] subgenres of Chicago house and deep house. [2]
Sometimes known as the father of house music, Jefferson was originally a record producer in the Universal Recording Studios in Chicago, where he met the owner of Trax Records, Larry Sherman. Jefferson's 1986 single for Trax, "Move Your Body", the first house song to use piano, [3] was a popular and influential song in the genre. During the late-1980s heyday of house music, he recorded solo and collaborative material under various names such as Virgo, Jungle Wonz, Truth, and On the House. Jefferson's deep house productions include songs by CeCe Rogers and Sterling Void, and Ten City's first two albums. [2] In March 1987, the British music magazine NME reported that Jefferson and Frankie Knuckles were in the UK for the first house-music tour. [4]
"Move Your Body" appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , playing on house-music radio station SF-UR. This song also appeared in Michael Winterbottom's film 24 Hour Party People and in the 1991 documentary film Paris Is Burning .
Jefferson took a break from music in 1990, then returned to DJing in 1993. He moved to Billericay in Essex where he had a five-year residency with the Tribal Gathering and Big Love events. [5]
Jefferson now lives in Manchester, England [6] and released a remixed version of "Move Your Body" (credited to Marshall Jefferson x Solardo, with the latter being a Mancunian production duo made up of Mark Richards & James Eliot) in 2019. [7] The remix was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2023. [8]
In 2021, he teamed up again with Byron Stingily to release "Be Free", the first single in 25 years to be credited to Stingily's house music group Ten City. [9] [10] [11] [12]
Jefferson is featured in Episode 3 of the 2024 PBS series Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution. [13]
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's Black gay underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the original house music DJs and producers from the area, such as Ron Hardy and Phuture.
Ten City is an American, Chicago, Illinois-based R&B and house music act, that enjoyed a number of club hits and Urban radio hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was one of the first exponents of deep house.
Byron Stingily is an American R&B and house-music singer born in Chicago, Illinois, known for his falsetto voice. He is now a part-time principal at a school in Chicago while still performing.
Trax Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It played a major part in the development of house music.
Leslie McGregor "Leee" John is an English musician, singer and actor of St Lucian descent. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the soul band Imagination, which had three UK top 10 hits in the early 1980s. He is known for his falsetto voice and his flamboyant sense of fashion and outfits.
"Acid Tracks" is a 1987 acid house song by Phuture produced by Marshall Jefferson and released by Trax Records. Phuture consisted of Nathan Pierre Jones, better known as DJ Pierre, Earl Smith Jr, and Herbert Jackson. Jones had been interested in developing dance music and became superficially interested in house music after Spanky had taken him to see DJ Ron Hardy perform in Chicago. The trio began developing tracks without finding anything that they felt was satisfying; Jones had heard a track made on the unpopular Roland TB-303 bass machine, which led the group to purchase one.
Chris Lake is a British electronic dance music producer and DJ. He rose to fame in 2006 with his hit single, "Changes", featuring Laura V. He is a member of Under Construction with FISHER, and also a member of Anti Up with Chris Lorenzo.
Nathaniel Pierre Jones, better known by his stage name DJ Pierre, is an American DJ and performer of house music based in Chicago.
"Rock Your Baby" is the debut single by American singer George McCrae. Written and produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band, "Rock Your Baby" became an early landmark recording of disco. The song spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1974, and three weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart that same month. The song also topped the Billboard R&B chart. The single has sold over 11 million copies, making it one of fewer than forty singles to have sold 10 million physical copies worldwide.
"Your Love" is a 1986 Chicago house song that was recorded by American house artist Jamie Principle, who wrote its lyrics about a meeting with a woman Lisa. The lyrics were later given to Frankie Knuckles, a DJ who worked in Chicago clubs Principle frequented. Despite having not produced any original music, Knuckles agreed to work on the song after hearing Principle's original version. Knuckles added more music to the song and played it at his club, generating an enthusiastic reception. His version of the song was played from tapes and is different from later releases; according to Jacob Arnold of Wax Poetics, the edit Knuckles played at his club was musically a snare with vocals. For the first publicly available release, DJ Mark "Hot Rod" Trollan later revised the song by adding a synthesizer intro and a bassline; this version was first released in 1986 by Persona Records.
"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" is a 1978 song by American disco/R&B singer Sylvester. It was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester, and released by Fantasy Records as the second single from the singer's fourth album, Step II (1978). The song was already a largely popular dance club hit in late 1978, as the B-side of his previous single "Dance (Disco Heat)", before it was officially being released in December. It rose to the number one position on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Music critic Robert Christgau has said the song is "one of those surges of sustained, stylized energy that is disco's great gift to pop music".
"That's the Way Love Is" is a song by Chicago-based dance trio Ten City, released in 1989 as a single from their debut album, Foundation (1989). The song reached number eight in the UK and number eighteen in West Germany, and was also the group's highest charting single on both the Billboard R&B and dance charts in the US. It peaked at number twelve on the Hot R&B Singles chart, and number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. Rolling Stone ranked "That's the Way Love Is" number 165 in their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" in 2022.
Vince Lawrence is an American dance music record producer, businessman and is one of the leading innovators of the genre of music called house music. Industry insiders recognize Lawrence as co-author of "On and On", the first recording officially designated "house music". He worked with Jesse Saunders in the initial creation of Jes Say Records, designing its logo by hand. He served as head of marketing and was the lyric writer for "Funk U Up", "Undercover" by Dr. Derelict, "Real Love", and many other songs released in the label's heyday. He also co-authored "Love Can't Turn Around", which featured Daryl Pandy and reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart in 1986, starting the house music revolution in the UK. He organized Trax Records, a Chicago house label. He is the founder of Slang MusicGroup, which has received numerous gold and platinum awards for their contributions.
Terry Hunter is an American house music DJ from Chicago, Illinois. He has been active in the Chicago music scene since the early 1990s. He has produced many of his own albums, as well as remixes for other artists.
"Under Cover of Darkness" is a song by American rock band The Strokes. The single served as the lead single for their fourth studio album, Angles, and was released online on February 9, 2011 as a free download for 48 hours exclusively. It was the first single release from the band in five years, following the release of "You Only Live Once" in 2006. "Under Cover of Darkness" received positive reviews, managing to reach BBC Radio 1's A Playlist; before going on to debut at number 47 on the respective chart. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 133 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
Screamin' Rachael, born Rachael Cain, is an American musician and Chicago native dubbed the "Queen of House Music" by Billboard magazine,. Rachael has been connected to the evolution of the House music genre. She has worked with performers such as Grandmaster Melle Mel, Marshall Jefferson, Colonel Abrams, Afrika Bambaataa, and many others.
Derrick Harris was a Chicago music producer and one of the pioneers of house music and acid house. He is known for the song "I've Lost Control", which was released as a 12" single on the Trax Records label, issue number TX 113. The song used a Roland TR-808 and a Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer to create the signature modulated waveform sound which would directly inspire acid house. The track is arguably the first to use this particular sound, and rose to cult underground popularity thanks to DJ Ron Hardy's Music Box club in Chicago.
"Move Your Body" is a 1986 house music song by American musician Marshall Jefferson. The track was released by Trax Records label, following several earlier tracks under aliases such as Virgo. After several popular tunes given to Chicago-based DJ Ron Trent, Jefferson released his first track "Go Wild Rhythm Tracks" on Trax Records and later became an A&R in 1986. Despite negative reception from his co-workers and Trax owner Larry Sherman, Jefferson's track "Move Your Body" became popular with patrons of Chicago dance music clubs in 1985 from cassette tapes, leading to the tracks eventual release in June 1986.
"Get Up" (also known as "Get Up (Everybody)") is a song by American house music singer-songwriter Byron Stingily, formerly of the band Ten City. A massive hit in the clubs, it was released in 1996 by Nervous Records and Manifesto Records, and samples Sylvester's 1978 song "Dance (Disco Heat)". "Get Up" was written by Stingily with the producers, Paul Simpson and Zack Toms. It reached number-one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1997 and was a top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 14, while going right up to number-one on the UK Dance Singles Chart in January 1997. The single has sold 300.000 units worldwide, and in 1998, it was included on Stingily's debut solo album, The Purist. In 2007, new remixes were released.
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