Francis Warren Nicholls Jr., known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of music that began in Chicago during the early 1980s and subsequently spread worldwide. In 1997, Knuckles won the Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical. Due to his importance in the development of the genre, Knuckles was often called "The Godfather of House Music".
Positiva Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and concentrates on releasing dance music in the UK. The record label was set up in 1993, by Nick Halkes, who previously ran XL Recordings. Its headquarters are at the Universal UK offices, where it is the only large dance music label under the EMI banner.
"Love Hangover" is a song by the American singer Diana Ross, recorded in 1975 and released as a single on March 16, 1976. It rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot-Selling Soul Singles. It also hit number one on the Record World disco charts.
Shapeshifter are a live drum and bass act from New Zealand. They are known for their live shows and blend of heavy soul with drum and bass. They have made appearances at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Big Day Out, Parklife plus sold-out performances across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Full Intention are an English house music duo consisting of Michael Gray and Jon Pearn. They are best known as prolific producers and remixers. They have reworked songs for varied artists such as the Sugababes, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Frankie Knuckles, among others.
Matthew Jonathan Darey is an English trance music producer and performer. Darey has sold over two million albums and singles with numerous top 40 chart hits.
Azuli Records was a British independent record label, focusing mainly on house music and other forms of electronic dance music. The label was founded by DJ Dave Piccioni in London, England in 1991 but went into liquidation in April 2009. Some of its back catalogue was sold to Phoenix Music International Ltd. The label was re-launched by Piccioni and administered by Defected Records. In 2012, the label was sold to Defected Records.
Electribe 101 were an English-based group active from 1988 to 1992, playing dark, psychedelic, bluesy, electronic soulful house, and fronted by Billie Ray Martin.
Mark Summers is the English CEO, sound engineer and music producer of Scorccio, a music production company founded in the UK in 1996. A London DJ since 1979, he is a guest lecturer and masterclass presenter on sample replay production, sound engineering, DJ culture, sampling and the music industry. His productions have been featured on hits for Nicki Minaj, Diplo, Sam Smith, the Prodigy, Pitbull, Fatboy Slim, David Penn, Jess Glynne, Disclosure, Steve Aoki, CamelPhat, Swedish House Mafia, the Shapeshifters and many other notable music artists. He is related to Herbie Flowers, one of the UK's best-known session bass players.
"Lola's Theme" is the debut single of British house duo The Shapeshifters, featuring soul singer Cookie on vocals. It was released on 12 July 2004 as the lead single from the Shapeshifters' debut album, Sound Advice (2004). The song became the duo's biggest hit, peaking atop the UK Singles Chart and charting highly in Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. In Australia, it was the most successful club hit of 2004.
Love City Groove were a musical group who represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995, with their self-titled song after being the winner in a public vote. The song finished tenth with 76 points; and peaked at No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Power of Love/Love Power" is a single by American singer-songwriter Luther Vandross. It was released on April 9, 1991 as the lead single from his 1991 album of the same name. The song spent two weeks at number one on the US R&B chart, and peaked at number four on the US pop chart, becoming his biggest pop solo hit.
"Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up" is a song written, produced and recorded by American singer and songwriter Barry White for his second album, Stone Gon' (1973). In October 1973, it was released as the first single in the United States and reached number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. It became a gold record. In Europe, it was issued in early 1974 and peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart.
"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.
Diana Extended: The Remixes is a remix album released by American soul singer Diana Ross in 1994. The album includes six tracks that were reworked by some of the biggest names in the industry at the time, covering Ross' career as a solo artist and as a member of The Supremes, with Frankie Knuckles updating "Someday We'll Be Together" from 1969. The album also contains a remix of "Chain Reaction", originally released during Ross' time at RCA. The seventh track is "You're Gonna Love It", a track from the album The Force Behind the Power. The version on Diana Extended: The Remixes is a short remix available previously on a 12" single.
Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by Swedish group Ace of Base. It is their second compilation with this title, the first being Arista's 2000 US release Greatest Hits (2000). It was released by Mega Records and Playground Music on 14 November 2008. The compilation was released in multiple formats, including a single disc edition and a 2-CD+DVD compilation which includes 16 of their hits, 13 previously released remixes, and 17 music videos. The set also includes four newly recorded remakes of hit songs. Beside previously unreleased songs included on the 2015 compilation album Hidden Gems, this is the last Ace of Base album to date with new material to feature vocalist Jenny Berggren.
"Hangin' on a String (Contemplating)" is the seventh single by British soul band Loose Ends from their second studio album, So Where Are You?, and was released in February 1985 by Virgin Records. In the group's native UK, the single made the top twenty. Outside the UK, the single went to number one on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart for one week. This made Loose Ends the first British band ever to top that chart It also reached number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Martijn ten Velden is a Dutch house music DJ and producer from Haarlem.
Defected Records, or simply Defected, is a British independent record label specialising in house music recordings, compilation albums, events, publishing, artist bookings and management.
"Where Love Lives (Come On In)" is a song by British singer-songwriter and former dancer Alison Limerick, released first time in November 1990. It was her solo-debut and received favorable reviews from music critics, becoming a massive club hit in the early 1990s in both the United Kingdom and United States. In 1991, the single peaked at number 27 in the UK and number three on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the US. It was also voted Dance Track of 1991 by Billboard magazine. In 1992, it was included on Limerick's debut album, And Still I Rise. In 1996, it was released in a new remix by Dancing Divaz, peaking at number nine in the UK and number four on the dance chart in the US. The song is famous for the funked-up piano intro and remains the singer's most successful release. It is now widely regarded as one of the biggest club anthems of all time, and has been remixed and re-released several times.
