Mattafix | |
|---|---|
 Marlon Roudette of Mattafix | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2005–2010 |
| Labels |
|
| Past members |
|
| Website | myspace |
Mattafix were an English electronic music duo, consisting of vocalist Marlon Roudette and producer and keyboardist Preetesh Hirji. Their sound was a fusion of hip hop, R&B, reggae, dancehall, blues, jazz, soul and world. Known for their 2005 hit single "Big City Life", they won the Sopot International Song Festival in 2006.
Marlon Rosegold McVey-Roudette was born in London and is the son of Cameron McVey, a British music producer, [4] and Vonnie Roudette, a designer and artist from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. [5] As a young child, he moved with his mother and sister to St. Vincent, where he began his music career before returning to London when he was 18. [6] Preetesh Hirji was born in London of dual-Indian parentage and grew up in the heart of West London, where he started at Eastcote Studios on Kensal Road.
Mattafix released their first single, "11.30 (Dirtiest Trick in Town)", as a limited edition on Buddhist Punk Records on 13 January 2005. However, the song never charted.
Their second single, "Big City Life", was released by EMI on 8 August 2005. It was a considerable hit, managing number 15 in their native United Kingdom and number 1 in Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and New Zealand. It also had considerable success in other countries, including top-20 positions in France, Australia, and Belgium. It can also be heard on the soundtrack to the hit video game 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany , designed by EA Sports. "Big City Life" also received multiple popular remixes over the ensuing decades, including notable remixes by LEEX, Luude, and Sam Jonsson; the Luude remix, released in 2022, has amassed 15.8 million streams on Spotify alone (compared to 118.4 million Spotify streams for the original) as of August 2022. [7] [8]
Signs of a Struggle received positive reviews and had success in Europe where the band toured extensively throughout 2006–08. Signs of a Struggle was a Triple J feature album in April 2006.
The duo toured with the likes of Jem and Joss Stone on their UK tours to promote the album, and have also opened for Sting, in Milan, before a crowd of more than 100,000 people.
Their fourth single, "To & Fro", was released on 13 March 2006. The single was released as a download only in the United Kingdom.
On 7 September 2007, Mattafix released "Living Darfur", the first single taken from their second album Rhythm & Hymns . It was available as a download only. The single was released physically on 22 October 2007. The video features Matt Damon in the intro. The track was featured as part of the Save Darfur Campaign. Working alongside humanitarian agencies operating in the region, the band filmed a video for the song in the refugee camps in the region. The video became extremely popular on YouTube and to date is the only music video by an international group to be filmed in a war zone.
Speaking in June 2008 to English R&B writer Pete Lewis of Blues & Soul , Roudette explained the musical background to Rhythms & Hymns: "With this album I wanted to bring through more aspects of the live show, which is something maybe the first album lacked. You know, we do go out with a seven or eight-piece band, and that has become a big part of the Mattafix sound. So, in addition to keeping the hardcore element and programmed beats from last time round, with Rhythms & Hymns we've also used a lot of live drums. Also, we've added quite a lot of influences that we got from the road. Particularly in places like Johannesburg, where we played a couple of great shows." [9]
The album was released on 23 November 2007 in most European countries. In Australia, it was released on 17 November 2007.
Mattafix remixed Lady Gaga's song "Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)". Their remix appears on her iTunes Remix EP; [10] however, it is not on the UK version.
In April 2010, Marlon Roudette made a video appearance where he spoke about recording and making the record in his home-based studio. [11] However, via Facebook, it was announced that Roudette and Hirji had gone separate ways due to their different new ideas for future projects. Roudette's first solo album Matter Fixed was released on 2 September 2011. His sophomore effort, Electric Soul , was released on 8 August 2014.
| Award | Year | Nominee(s) | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eska Music Awards | 2006 | "Big City Life" | Best International Hit | Won | [12] |
| Hungarian Music Awards | 2006 | Signs of a Struggle | Best Foreign Rap or Hip-Hop Album | Nominated | [13] |
| 2007 | Best Foreign Dance Album | Nominated | [14] |
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | AUS [15] | AUT [16] | BEL [17] | EU | FRA [18] | GER [19] | ITA [20] | POL | SWI [21] | ||
| Signs of a Struggle |
| 159 | 56 | 10 | 60 | 62 | 75 | 35 | 12 | 64 | 15 |
| Rhythm & Hymns |
| — | — | — | 69 | 92 | 48 | 73 | 17 | 87 | 22 |
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [22] | AUS [23] | AUT [24] | BEL [25] | FRA [26] | GER [27] | ITA [28] | NOR [29] | NZ [30] | SWI [31] | ||||
| 2005 | "11.30 (Dirtiest Trick in Town)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Signs of a Struggle | |
| "Big City Life" | 15 | 19 | 1 | 12 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
| "Passer By" | 79 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2006 | "To & Fro" | — | — | — | 56 | — | 73 | 56 | — | — | 56 | ||
| "Cool Down the Pace" | — | — | 52 | — | — | 82 | 25 | — | — | 63 | |||
| 2007 | "Living Darfur" | — | — | 21 | 50 | 50 | 32 | 2 | — | — | 13 | Rhythm & Hymns | |
| 2008 | "Things Have Changed" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2022 | "Big City Life" (Remix with Luude) | 8 | 55 | 19 | — | — | 67 | — | — | 2 | — | Non-album single | |
| Year | Title | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | "Big City Life" | Scott Franklin |
| "Passer By" | Rankin | |
| 2006 | "To & Fro" | Max & Dania |
| "Cool Down the Pace" | ||
| 2007 | "Living Darfur" | Toby MacDonald [36] |
| 2008 | "Things Have Changed" | Justin Francis [37] |
Doop is a dance music production duo from the Netherlands formed by Ferry Ridderhof and Peter Garnefski, who have also recorded under the name Hocus Pocus and various other project names. They were producers and band members of Peplab.
Marlon Roudette is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is the former front man for the duo Mattafix who had their first number 1, "Big City Life", in 2006. After the group split, Roudette embarked on a solo career with two number one singles in Europe, "New Age" and "When the Beat Drops Out"; the latter made it to number 7 on the UK Singles Chart and is certified platinum. In recent years, he is also known for his co-writing work for artists, including Sinéad Harnett and his half-sister, Mabel. He co-wrote Mabel's hit singles "Finders Keepers" and "Fine Line", as well as the Not3s single "My Lover" and Jax Jones' hit "Ring Ring". He has also co-written tracks featuring Wiley, Tory Lanez, Kranium, Bad Gyal and Busy Signal.
"Big City Life" is a song by English electronic music duo Mattafix. With a chorus sung in Jamaican Patois, "Big City Life" was released in August 2005 as the second single from Mattafix's debut album, Signs of a Struggle (2005). The single topped the charts in Austria, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and Switzerland, and it peaked at number 15 in the duo's native United Kingdom. The song's music video was directed by Scott Franklin.
Throughout his career, Dutch electronic DJ and producer Tiësto has released seven studio albums. After spending years searching for his personal style and working with DJs like Ferry Corsten, Benno de Goeij and Armin van Buuren, he decided it was time to focus on his solo work. Tiësto's fame started to rise in the late 1990s after his set at the first ID&T Innercity party, and it continued to skyrocket in the early 2000s following his six-hour "Tiësto Solo" sets, which he performed without any other DJs or opening acts. His last three full-length releases broke the 70,000-unit mark, and the 2003 DJ mix Nyana hit 87,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan in mid-2008.
Cameron Andrew McVey is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He worked with the bands Massive Attack, Portishead, All Saints, Sugababes and his wife Neneh Cherry. He is the father of Marlon Roudette, Tyson, and Mabel.
"Hold On Me" is a song by British pop artist Marlon Roudette, from his debut solo album Matter Fixed. It is the third track on the album. It was released as the fourth and final single from Matter Fixed on 1, June 2012.
"Living Darfur" is the first single from Mattafix's album Rhythm and Hymns, released in 2007. The beginning of the song sounds similar to a part of Madonna's song "Mother and Father", taken from her 2003 release American Life. The Zulu part of the song is a sample of South African song "Umagubane" by Chicco Twala.
Signs of a Struggle is the debut album by English recording duo Mattafix, released on 31 October 2005 throughout Europe. The duo stated that the album is a reflection of the experiences and hardships they have gone through.
Rhythm & Hymns is Mattafix's second and final album, released in November 2007. The album includes the charity single "Living Darfur", as well as "Shake Your Limbs", "Things Have Changed" and "Angel".
"New Age" is a song by British recording artist Marlon Roudette, released as the first single internationally from his debut studio album, Matter Fixed. The song was released as a single, initially in Germany, on 20 July 2011. After high airplay on VIVA Germany, the single charted at number one on its first week of release in German singles chart and remained at number one for 8 consecutive weeks. It also topped the charts in two other German-speaking European countries - Austria and Switzerland - and reached high positions in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia. However, in Roudette's motherland, the UK, it was a market failure, reaching only number 90 in the UK Singles Chart.
Matter Fixed is the first album by the English singer, Marlon Roudette, released on 2 September 2011. The name is a reference to the project he was involved with before starting solo, a duo with Preetesh Hirji called Mattafix.
"Anti Hero (Brave New World)" is a song by British recording artist Marlon Roudette from his debut studio album Matter Fixed. It was released as the second single from the album on 20 January 2012. The song has charted in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The song was written by Roudette and Naughty Boy.
"When the Beat Drops Out" is a song by British/Vincentian musician Marlon Roudette from his second studio album, Electric Soul (2014). The song was written by Marlon Roudette and Jamie Hartman. It was released in Germany on 18 July 2014 as the lead single from the album. It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2015.
English electronic music group Clean Bandit have released two studio albums, two extended plays, 22 singles, 22 music videos and 13 remixes. In December 2012, the group released their debut single "A+E", which peaked at number 100 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is the lead single from their debut album, New Eyes, which was released in May 2014. The album's second single, "Mozart's House", charted at number seventeen on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Clean Bandit's first top twenty single on the chart. "Dust Clears" was released as the third single from the album, reaching number forty-three on the UK chart. The album's fourth single, "Rather Be", features Jess Glynne and topped the UK Singles Chart, the group's first number one on the chart.
Tom Stræte Lagergren, professionally known as Matoma, is a Norwegian DJ and record producer.
Valentin Brunel, better known by his stage name Kungs, is a French DJ, record producer and musician. A native of Toulon, he released his first album Layers in 2016 after success with "This Girl", a collaboration with Cookin' on 3 Burners that became an international hit for him, and the follow-ups "Don't You Know" featuring Jamie N Commons and "I Feel So Bad" featuring Ephemerals.
German DJ Felix Jaehn has released two studio albums, one extended play, one remix album, one DJ mix, and thirty-six singles.
German DJ Robin Schulz has released five studio albums, two DJ mixes, 41 singles and one promotional single. Schulz achieved his worldwide breakthrough with his remix of Mr. Probz's "Waves" (2014), which reached the top ten of the charts in over ten countries, while further peaking within the top ten in various other. It was also certified—among others—Platinum in both the United Kingdom and the United States. While the disc jockey's follow-up recording, "Prayer in C" (2014), was met with similar commercial acclaim, two fellow singles from his debut studio album Prayer (2015) were released, including a collaboration with Jasmine Thompson.
English DJ Jax Jones has released one studio album, three EPs and thirty singles, including one as a featured artist. His debut album Snacks (Supersize) was released on 6 September 2019.
Christian Benson, known professionally as Luude, is an Australian electronic dance music producer. He is best known for his 2021 cover of "Down Under".
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