Stereo MC's | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Clapham, London, England |
Genres | |
Years active | 1985–present |
Labels |
|
Members | Nick Hallam Rob Birch Cath Coffey Tansay Omar |
Past members | Owen If |
Website | Official website |
Stereo MC's are an English hip hop and electronic dance group that formed in Clapham, London, England, in 1985. [1] They had an international top 20 hit with their single "Connected" and a UK top 20 hit with "Step It Up". After releasing eight albums for Island Records, K7, Graffiti Recordings, and Pias, they formed the label Connected with the band Terranova to release their own material and that of other artists within the house/techno/electronic genre. [2]
Rob Birch (vocalist/songwriter) and Nick Hallam (DJ/producer) co-founded the Gee Street recording studio and record label, in 1985 along with Jon Baker and DJ Richie Rich. [3] [4] Part of the finance came from Birch and Hallam's joint receipt of £14,000 from a property developer, on condition they vacated their adjacent flats. [3]
When Gee Street attracted the attention of 4th & Broadway, they recorded the debut Stereo MCs' studio album, 33-45-78 (1989), on a shoestring budget with DJ Cesare. [3] Drummer Owen If and backing vocalist Cath Coffey joined the group for the Supernatural LP. [1] In 1990, "Elevate My Mind" was the first British hip hop single to reach the US Billboard R&B chart. [3] [5] Having supported the Happy Mondays on a US tour, in the emerging UK alternative dance scene, it took an alliance with the Jungle Brothers to ensure chart success for Supernatural (1990). [1] Remix work for U2 and Queen Latifah followed. [5]
Their live band included singers Andrea Bedassie and Verona Davis, [1] and they were one of the few hip hop outfits to play at rock music festivals at the time. [5] 1992's mainstream breakthrough Connected , a number 2 success in the UK Albums Chart, contained the hit singles "Connected", "Step It Up", "Creation", and "Ground Level", and won them 1994 Brit Awards for Best Group and Best Album. [1] Hallam and Birch then created the music-publishing firm Spirit Songs, which signed Finley Quaye. [5]
However, the follow-up to Connected did not appear for almost a decade. Further remix duties for Madonna ("Frozen"), Tricky ("Makes Me Wanna Die" Weekend Mix), and the Jungle Brothers ("Jungle Brother") in 1998 kept the Stereo MCs' name in the limelight. [5] Madonna went on to use the "Frozen" remix on her 2001 Drowned World Tour.[ citation needed ]
In 2000, they released a Disc Jockey mix for Studio !K7's DJ-Kicks series and remixed another song for Madonna ("Music"). The following year saw the release of Deep Down & Dirty, followed by a tour including slots opening for the recently re-united Jane's Addiction.[ citation needed ]
Their sixth studio album, Double Bubble, was released in July 2008, followed by their seventh, Emperor's Nightingale, in August 2011. In December 2008, they supported Madness at the O2 Arena in London.[ citation needed ]
Drummer Owen If died on 10 July 2022, at the age of 63. [6]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certification | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [7] | AUS [8] [9] | AUT | GER | NZ | SWE | SWI | |||
33-45-78 |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Supernatural |
| — | 132 | — | — | — | — | — | |
Connected |
| 2 | 86 | 12 | 47 | 33 | 17 | 19 |
|
Deep Down & Dirty |
| 17 | 58 | 2 | 10 | — | 60 | 20 |
|
Paradise |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Double Bubble |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Emperor's Nightingale |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [10] [7] | AUS [8] | AUT [11] | BEL (FL) [12] | FRA [13] | NED [14] | NZ [15] | SWE [16] | SWI [17] | US [18] | ||||||||
1988 | "Move It" (with DJ Cesare) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single only | |||||
"What Is Soul?" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 33-45-78 | ||||||
1989 | "On 33" | 94 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Lyrical Machine" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single only | ||||||
1990 | "Elevate My Mind" | 74 | 154 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 39 | Supernatural | |||||
1991 | "Lost in Music" | 46 | — | — | — | — | 20 | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"I'm a Believer" (Continental Europe only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
1992 | "Connected" | 18 | 47 | 5 | 19 | 27 | 54 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 20 | Connected | |||||
"Step It Up" | 12 | 87 | 12 | 29 | 50 | — | 13 | 8 | — | 58 | |||||||
1993 | "Ground Level" | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Creation" | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
2001 | "Deep Down & Dirty" | 17 | 115 | — | — | — | 98 | — | — | 97 | — | Deep Down & Dirty | |||||
"We Belong in This World Together" | 59 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
2002 | "Running" | 81 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
2005 | "Warhead" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Paradise | |||||
"Paradise" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Set It Off" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
2008 | "Black Gold" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Double Bubble | |||||
2011 | "Boy" (featuring Jamie Cullum) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Emperor's Nightingale | |||||
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released. |
Concetta Suzanne Kirschner, better known as Princess Superstar, is an American rapper and DJ. She has had two chart hits in the UK, the humorous song "Bad Babysitter", which reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart in 2002, and "Perfect (Exceeder)", which reached number three in 2007. She has recorded with Moby, The Prodigy, Arthur Baker, Prince Paul, and Grandmaster Flash, amongst others.
Armand van Helden is an American DJ, record producer, remixer and songwriter from Boston, Massachusetts. He is considered one of house music's most revered figures, with a career spanning three decades.
Todd Norton Terry is an American DJ, record producer and remixer in the genre of house music. His productions helped define the New York house scene in the 1990s and used extensive samples that blend the sounds of classic disco, the Chicago house sound, and elements of hip-hop. He has remixed a wide variety of artists.
Michael Alec Anthony West, better known as Rebel MC and Congo Natty, is a British jungle producer, spiritual chanter and toaster. He has also gone by aliases including Conquering Lion, Blackstar, Tribe of Issachar, Lion of Judah, X Project and Ras Project.
Gee Street Records was a British hip hop record label started by Jon Baker, Rachel O'Neill, Stereo MC's and DJ Richie Rich in 1985. The label's name came from its original location, a converted warehouse on Gee Street in London.
Connected is the third studio album by Stereo MC's. The tracks "Connected", "Ground Level", "Step It Up" and "Creation" became hit singles.
Nicholas William Dennis Hodgson, also known as MC Tunes, is an English rapper from the Moss Side area in Manchester. His name was legally changed to Lockett in 1981, and he also goes by the name Nicky Lockett. Tunes played a significant role in the Madchester-music scene during the 1980s and 1990s. In his early career Tunes took niche music genres into the UK Singles Chart, whilst fronting 808 State, and later achieved cult status with the band Dust Junkys.
!K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7. !K7 has since opened branch offices in New York City and London. It has five independent imprints as part of the K7 Label Group: !K7 Records, 7K!, Strut, Soul Bank and Eternal Source Of Light. K7 also runs successful Label Services and Synch and Licensing departments.
Smith & Mighty are an English trip hop group from Bristol, England, consisting of Rob Smith, Ray Mighty and Peter D Rose. They pioneered the Bristol sound producing Massive Attack's "Any Love". The Bristol sound being a precursor to trip hop. As well as producing for others, they produced their own work, and various solo projects and collaborations.
Kashif Adham, better known by the stage name of MC Duke, was a British rapper from the East End of London. He was one of the pioneers of the early British hardcore rap sound and later went on to produce breakbeat hardcore. Throughout his career he worked with his DJ partner Leader One and was part of IC3.
Terranova is a German band based between Berlin and Paris made up of current members Fetisch and &me. Terranova are signed to Kompakt records. Terranova was formed in 1996 by Fetisch, Marco Meister and Kaos. They previously went under the moniker Turntable Terranova on the Compost label and sometimes as Edition Terranova. Their music is a fusion of punk rock, electronic, hip hop and House. They currently reside between Paris and Berlin and perform DJ sets worldwide. They have been constant collaborators with artists in the past, Cath Coffey, Nicolette Krebitz, Tricky, Ari Up, Mike Ladd, Khan, Snax, Billie Ray Martin e.a.
Catherine Muthoni Coffey is a British singer who was one of the earliest members of British hip hop band Stereo MCs. The single "Elevate My Mind", from the Stereo MCs album Supernatural, in which Coffey was the backing vocalist, was the first British rap single to reach the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
"Connected" is a song by British hip hop/electronic music group Stereo MC's. It is the title track of their third studio album, and was released in September 1992 by Gee Street and Island Records as the album's lead single. The song samples "Let Me " by Jimmy "Bo" Horne and peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. Internationally, "Connected" peaked within the top 10 of the charts in Austria, Sweden and Switzerland, and entered the top 20 of the charts in Belgium, Finland and the United States. Its music video was directed by Matthew Amos. NME and Melody Maker ranked "Connected" number 16 and 19 in their list of "Singles of the Year" in December 1992. The song later appeared in the 1995 movie Hackers, and it was the theme to the Rob Lowe programme Dr. Vegas (2004).
Supernatural is the second album by Stereo MC's, released in 1990. The US release is subtitled "American Mix" and has a different track list. In 1996, Mixmag ranked the album at number 46 in its list of the "Best Dance Albums of All Time".
"Step It Up" is a song by British hip hop and electronic dance group Stereo MC's, released in November 1992 by 4th & Broadway as the second single from their third album, Connected (1992). It was written by Nick Hallam and Rob Birch, charting higher than both the band's previous single "Connected" and their next single "Ground Level". The single peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, number 13 in New Zealand, and number 87 in Australia. It appeared in the 1993 comedy film Wayne's World 2 and was also included on the 1996 compilation album The Beautiful Game.
This article is a detailed listing of releases by the hip hop group De La Soul. They have one platinum and two gold records, and one Grammy Award. The group have sold over 5 million albums in the US.
DJ-Kicks: Terranova is a DJ mix album, mixed by Terranova. It was released on 19 January 1998 on the Studio !K7 independent record label as part of the DJ-Kicks series.
Stefan Kozalla, better known as DJ Koze, is a German DJ and music producer.
Deep Down & Dirty is the fourth studio album by the British electronic band Stereo MC's, released on 28 May 2001, nine years after the album Connected. The album maintains a similar style to its predecessor with deep-groove, beatbox funk, nods to soul-jazz and gospel though music critics at the time noted its grittier, edgier approach. The title track was released as the album's first single. It was recorded at Frontline Studios, Brixton, London.
Black Sheep is an American hip hop duo from Queens, New York, United States, composed of Andres "Dres" Vargas Titus and William "Mista Lawnge" McLean. The duo was from New York but met as teenagers in Sanford, North Carolina, where both of their families relocated. The group was part of the Native Tongues collective, which included the Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul. After getting together in 1989, Black Sheep debuted in 1991 with the hit song "Flavor of the Month" and later released its first album, A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, which gained them praise and recognition in the hip-hop community for the album's unique rhythms and intelligent, often humorous lyrics. After six years together, Black Sheep disbanded in 1995, citing creative differences.