Paul Oakenfold
(born 30 August 1963 in Greenhithe, Kent, UK) [1] is a record producer and a trance DJ.
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PAUL OAKENFOLD TICKETS
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History
Early career (1979–1984)
Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with
Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew up listening to
The Beatles. Later 21-year-old Paul Oakenfold and Ian Paul moved to 254 West 54th Street.
Studio 54's
Steve Rubell ran the place and only allowed popular people inside. Oakenfold and Paul used fake passes to sneak into places in
New York where they met
Maze, Bobby Womak and
Bob Marley, whom they also interviewed, as they said to be
NME
and
Melody Maker
journalists. Other people were
Brooke Shields,
Cher,
Donald Trump and Bianca Jagger,
Warhol,
Dali and
Yves Saint Laurent.
[2]
Paul Oakenfold's musical career began in the late '70s, when he started playing
soul in a
Covent Garden wine bar. Here, he met Trevor Fung as well as
Rumours in
London where he played
Earth, Wind and Fire and popular
British bands.
[3] In 1984 he spent several months in
New York City's West
Harlem. During this time
hip-hop was the most popular sound in the area (see
1984 in music).
Larry Levan, one of the early
deejays during this period performed at the
Paradise Garage. He began breaking into the mainstream as he was working as an
A&R man for
Champion Records. At that time, he signed
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, as well as
Salt-n-Pepa. He also appeared on the
Blue Peter
BBC programme for children with a breakdancing crew. He also became promoter and British agent for the
Beastie Boys and
Run-D.M.C.; Since then, he began his presentations at The Project in
Streatham playing soul and
jazz music.
[4] [5]
Perfecto and fame (1985–1991)
In 1985, Oakenfold traveled to the island of
Ibiza for a week to celebrate his birthday. Trevor Fung, Nicky Holloway, Ian Saint Paul, Danny Rampling and Johnny Walker accompanied him. It was during this time when playing at
Amnesia that Oakenfold demonstrated the balearic
trance sound that he would later become known for. The event marked his career as a producer as he convinced the owner to host an "Ibiza Reunion" party after-hours. He had previously made an attempt, but it failed as the crowd was not prepared for the
acid house style until 1987 when the party was successful. Since then, the night became a classic and became one of the UK's major acid house nights, known as "Spectrum at Heaven in Charing Cross". Spectrum became popular in The Sanctuary. As a bigger space was required, it turned into the Heaven club, which was run by Oakenfold and Paul. The party was best known for the "Theatre of Madness", as more than 1,500 people were present on Monday nights, until it went down; with the financial issues it changed its name to the "Land of Oz". Artists like
Alex Paterson DJ'd in the VIP
chillout area known as the "White Room", which gave Paul more free time, and then he began producing music under the alias "Electra" in 1988 with his friend
Steve Osborne.
In 1988 he decided to create a place where new artists could develop their careers. At that moment,
Perfecto Records was born.
[6]
In 1990, he worked with Terry Farley,
Andrew Weatherall and Osborne on two remixes for
The Happy Mondays. The remixes of "Rave On" and "Hallelujah" were released on the
Madchester Rave On
EP, as well as "Step On", a covered version adapted from
John Kongos' 1971 hit "He's Gonna Step On You". The song reached the Top 5 position in the UK.
[7] He was invited as a guest DJ to
Spike Island, a
gig with
The Stone Roses. Pleased with the last single, the Happy Monday's gave Paul and Osborne the opportunity to produce their third studio album,
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
.
[8] The album entered the UK charts at #1 with pre-sales of 150,000. The album was named
NME's "1990 Album of The Year", and both Paul and Osborne won the 1991
Brit Award for "Best Producer".
[9]
“
| This is a tremendous record and a gauntlet chucked at all the other would-be legends in town... Wild, brash, corrosive funk rock, grimly northern and yet pan-cultural in a Tesco's shoplifter kind of way.
| ”
|
As they continued releasing only four singles as Electra, in Full Frequency Range Recordings (FFRR) founded and run by
Radio 1's Pete Tong, the duo created a new alias under the name Perfecto. They remixed
Massive Attack's "Safe From Harm" as well as many others.
[10] Grace was formed in the late 1990s, consisting of Oakenfold and Osborne and various singers, including jazz singer
Dominique Atkins and Patti Low.
Tours and nightclubs (1992–2000)
In 1992, when
U2 released their song "
Even Better Than the Real Thing", the Perfecto remix reached a higher charted position than the original song.
[11] In 1993 with the success of his last remix as Perfecto, he was hired by
U2 to provide the warm-up sonics to their
Zoo TV world tour, and replaced
BP Fallon on the 1993 legs in
Europe and
Australia,
New Zealand, and
Japan, with more than fifty shows in Zooropa '93 and Zoomerang from
May 7 to
December 10 of the same year.
"There's no chance whatsoever. Seb Fontaine is our resident and is contracted until the end of the year. Paul will be doing some dates and playing Creamfields but that's it. I think his reason to leave (Home) had more to do with increased demands on his time in the US." — said a spokesperson from Cream to . [12]
"The reason he left was simply because he had so much on this summer and he felt it wouldn't have been fair to play one week and not the other."
— added an Oakenfold spokesperson.
"I disagreed with the way the club was going and it's time to move on."
— responded Paul Oakenfold. [13]
He began producing his own tracks as well, continuing to remix songs from popular artists. He began using
Goa music, something he discovered on the beaches of
Goa in
India, fusing it with similar sounding European tracks to create his own distinct sound. He took this to the mainstream in 1994 he created a two-hour set for
BBC Radio 1's
Essential Mix
. In 1995, he became the first DJ to play on the main stage at the
Glastonbury Festival for 90,000 people, which he considers his favorite
gig.
His album
Perfecto Fluoro
became the #1 essential dance collection of Boston Beat during 1996 with
Jamiroquai's
Travelling Without Moving
.
The group Grace dissolved in 1997 as Oakenfold was touring as a performance DJ more frequently and could not commit to recording.
On June 9, 1997 Oakenfold created
Global Underground 004: Paul Oakenfold, Live in Oslo
(GU004) which is a double mix CD in the
Global Underground series, compiled and mixed by Oakenfold; it is the first work he created for GU. The mix was recorded live at Cosmopolite Club in
Oslo,
Norway, as part of the official launch of the
Quart Festival. It showcases Oakenfold's eclectic taste in music at the time, as the mix combines
drum and bass,
progressive house &
progressive trance, and
goa trance.
[14] In 1997, Oakenfold mixed one disc of the double album
Fantazia House Collection 6
, a UK
house music compilation series. Oakenfold became Cream's resident DJ from 1997 - 1999. During this time, he began to concentrate on the release of
Tranceport
in 1998.
In 1998 and 1999, Oakenfold took the first place in "DJmag's Top 100 DJs". With the two-year contract as a resident in
Liverpool's Cream, it was in 1999 that he released
Resident. Two Years of Oakenfold at Cream.
on
Virgin.
[15] Thrive Records, the US distributor for early
Global Underground releases had a different numbering scheme for the Global Underground albums, due to this
Global Underground 007: Paul Oakenfold, New York
(GU007) was released as (GU002) in the United States only. The compilation was released on May 25, 1998, with the US release on Jan 19, 1999. This was the second production from Oakenfold with GU and it contained trance,
drum and bass, progressive house, progressive trance,
breakbeat and
Downtempo. This became his last work with GU.
[16]
In 1999, he left the
UK and
Europe and moved to the
USA where he went on tour.
[17] A
In 2000 he created fourteen tracks of jazz, soul, house and goa based styles with Mitchell Oakenfold. Twenty-four
FX and scratches
loops and sounds were included too, each consisting of six seconds; the album cover says
"Only for DJs and Producers"
and was released on Music of Life. It is not considered his first studio album, as it only included useful tools for deejays.
[18]
In September 2000 he opened the new
Digital Radio station
Ministry of Sound Radio with a live mix from the famous London club
[19].
Deals and barriers (2000–2001)
Oakenfold's next project took him to club
Pacha in
Ibiza for the summer, before returning to America for the
Burning Man festival in August; Even though he had spoken extensively to the press about breaking barriers with the US, the DJ/producer said he felt his "Stateside" ambitions were not unique. Together with drum and bass maestro
Aphrodite, he sold out the 10,000 capacity of the
Red Rocks stadium in
Colorado. He continued to present the Perfecto Nights for a year in Pacha, but he decided to host for a second year; he recruited
Hernan Cattaneo as his co-resident at the club, which has a capacity of 3,500 guests.
"Every artist all over the world wants to do well in America and I'm not different from any [other] artist." — explained Paul.
"I used to warm up for him in Argentina... He started supporting me a lot by sending me records and speaking about me in Europe. Then he called me to be part of the Perfecto tour in the UK and America and now Ibiza."
— explained Cattaneo. [20]
"Like anyone else, it is important for me to crack America. I spend every second month in the US and I play every night, I realise how difficult it is and how much work it takes."
— said Oakenfold about his success in the US.
With the success of
Tranceport
and the mix compilations he created for GU, he released two
DJ Mixes known as
Perfecto Presents: Travelling
and
Perfecto Presents: Another World
, both released in 2000 as
double disc albums. The compilation traces Paul's hip-hop sense as well as underground
disco, and includes Quiver's remix of
Led Zeppelin's "
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" with a passive rock feel to it.
[21] The compilation sold 13,000 copies at counter sales in its first week, and over 80,000 copies were shipped to stores across the US.
[22] While in the US he met actor
Jack Nicholson at a
Lakers game; it was Paul's first
Basketball game.
[3]
Paul joined
Seb Fontaine and
Timo Maas for Cream's event at
Nation before travelling to play at the
Ministry of Sound event at the
Millennium Dome,
London. He performed with The Dreem Team, who broadcasted live on
BBC Radio 1 from 1:00 am to 3:00 am.
[24] In 2001, Oakenfold took part in the first
Area Festival tour. This tour featured
Incubus,
Carl Cox,
Orb,
OutKast, and
The Roots. He later released a new
compilation album,
Perfecto Presents: Ibiza
; The album features the essence which has inspired his dance music focused on
Ibiza.
Global Underground sold over 150,000 copies of Paul Oakenfold's previous
Global Underground: New York
. A spokesperson for the label revealed that in the US, demand for UK dance music had been increasing in the past couple of years, and now made up over two-thirds of the label's sales. The Global Underground New York office opened in on
Ninth Avenue in
Manhattan.
[25] The Mekka Electronic Music Festival, otherwise known as the "electronic
Lollapallooza" took place in ten cities in the US and
Canada during August and September, including
New York,
Los Angeles,
Toronto and
San Francisco. The event featured Paul,
Armand van Helden,
De La Soul,
LTJ Bukem,
Josh Wink,
Derrick Carter,
Roni Size,
Deep Dish,
BT,
Crystal Method,
Carl Craig and
Überzone. Since Oakenfold had been working in the American market for a long time especially during 2001, he moved to
Los Angeles to work on film soundtracks and to intensify his DJing commitments Stateside.
[26] In 2001 he created the soundtrack for the film
Swordfish
,
Swordfish: The Album
contained a transformation of "Planet Rock" into a seven minute
breakbeat trance anthem. Most of the tracks are collaborations with
Andy Gray, the remix of
N.E.R.D.'s "Lapdance" which gained total notability from other tracks.
[27] The soundtrack was produced under
Village Roadshow and
Warner Bros. and distributed through
London-Sire Records. Paul recorded a track with
Crazy Town vocalist
Shifty Shellshock at the end of the year for his new album. In an interview with
Rolling Stone
in the US, Shellshock said that the track known as "
Starry Eyed Surprise" was created after the pair met at a Crazy Town show.
[28]
“
| I am a big fan of his music and we just kicked back and talked and said that we should do something. I already laid the rough vocals for it and (we are) going to go in right when I'm done with this tour and finish it.
| ”
|
Bunkka (2002–2004)
In 2002,
Bunkka
became his first official studio album when he signed to
Maverick. Bunkka is a compilation of styles which Paul has learned to mix throughout his career; the blending in of progressive trance with goa makes the album different from other conventional dance album. The name
Bunkka
comes from
Peter Gabriel's studio in the UK, where the album was recorded. An extended play was released featuring live versions of four songs under Peoplesound Records.
[29] It is also Oakenfold's best selling album to date, with sales largely exceeding 1,000,000 (1 million) copies worldwide.
“
| For the past 10 years I've been creating music under various different names, but I was never comfortable with putting out an Oakenfold record... It was, however, an idea that I'd been thinking about for a long time and Steve Osborne, my colleague in some of the production work I was doing at the time, kept putting pressure on me, saying "you should do it, you should do it"
. So eventually I felt it was time to make that record.
| ”
|
"I'm a big fan of Nelly Furtado and she's on the record. She's got this wonderful way about her, she's extremely talented and a great vocalist. Most of all she's good fun, she doesn't take it as seriously as some people do."
"I'd always wanted to do something that represented by own musical background... I grew up on pop music, I love guitar bands and I was very influenced and involved in hip-hop during the early days, so I wanted to build from those roots upwards rather than doing a contemporary dance record." — said Paul Oakenfold on several interviews. [30]
The album features the vocals from singers from Jane's Addiction vocalist
Perry Farrell on "Time of Your Life" and
Shifty Shellshock of
Los Angeles rock and rap band
Crazy Town on "Starry Eyed Surprise" with popular
Ice Cube on "Get Em Up",
Tricky and
Nelly Furtado on "The Harder They Come". The album contains the appearances of Asher D of
So Solid Crew on "Ready Steady Go" and Grant Lee Philips, founder of the 90's Los Angeles rock band,
Grant Lee Buffalo, is also included as part of the disc with
Carmen Rizzo's version of his song "Motion". Bunkka also provided the start to three new artists,
Carla Werner on the smashing single "Southern Sun",
Tiff Lacey on "Hypnotized" and
Emiliana Torrini on "Hold Your Hand";
Hunter S. Thompson's spoken words are provided on "Nixon's Spirit". The world-renowned
Pakistani musician
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's composition was adapted in an electronic version on the tracks "Zoo York". In 2002,
Q
magazine named Paul in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die".
[31] In 2002, Oakenfold revealed he had struggled with
dyslexia as a child and announced his intention to help dyslexic children.
[32] [33]
In 2002, Paul remixed
David Arnold's widely popular "
James Bond Theme", the song was released under
Warner Bros. Records and was followed by the album's next two singles after "Starry Eyed Surprise", "
Ready Steady Go" and "
Southern Sun". "Southern Sun" with
Carla Werner was first issued as a
B-Side of "Ready Steady Go" until it was included on
Tiësto's
In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama
compilation with his own remix of the song.
[34] "Southern Sun" became a smashing hit as it was then released as the
A-Side of "Ready Steady Go" in mid-2002, "Ready Steady Go" was featured in
Saab commercials, the
EA Sports game
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003,
THQ game Juiced, the pilot for the television program
Las Vegas,
NASCAR theme song for 2006, It appears in the video game series
Dance Dance Revolution in DDR Ultramix for the
Xbox,
Fastlane episode "Dogtown" and the
Alias episode "Snowman". In an earlier episode, "The Imposter", of
Radio Free Roscoe, a 2005 series on
The N, a character Travis Strong DJed to the song, acting as if it were his own. It has more recently been used in the film adaptation of
Anthony Horowitz's novel
Stormbreaker,
The Bourne Identity and it was reproduced with
Korean lyrics for the movie
Collateral, the song has also been used during the performances of extreme freestyle water ski jumpers, the song later became the theme song for the TV Show
TRL Italy since 2003 until 2005.
[35] An EP of "The Harder They Come" was released on Perfecto and featured other works from Oakenfold and other artists. On the
Creamfields event, in 2002 at Speke Airfield DJ's like Paul Oakenfold, Seb Fontaine,
Paul Van Dyk performed along
Dave Clarke,
Jon Carter,
Richie Hawtin and
Felix Da Housecat, the event also featured live appearances from
Basement Jaxx,
All Saints,
Death In Vegas and
Moloko.
[36] In 2003 he released the fourth single of his album,
Hypnotized
which became successful enough to be included on Paul's next compilation from the "Perfecto Presents..." series, "
Perfecto Presents: Great Wall" included the
Deepsky remix of the song as well as tracks like
Motorcycle's "
As the Rush Comes",
Björk's "
Pagan Poetry",
UNKLE's remix of
Ian Brown's "
F.E.A.R." and Paul's recent remix of
Madonna's "
Hollywood" song.
[37]
With the event of
Creamfields that took place in 2004, Oakenfold felt inspired enough to release a compilation of songs he played during the event as well as tracks influenced by the environment and the vibe of deejays like
Paul Van Dyk,
Armin Van Buuren,
Ferry Corsten,
Judge Jules,
Fergie,
Tall Paul,
Eddie Halliwell,
Chris Lawrence, Adam Sheridan,
Shan, and
Alex Kidd at the
Cream/
Goodgreef &
Mixmag Arena.
[38]
Greatest hits and side work (2005–2007)
In 2005, Oakenfold was contacted by the car manufacturer
Toyota to create a free promotional CD available from
aygo.com to promote a new Toyota car. The CD contained only seven songs which he worked on with Ian Green; the album was entitled
Feed Your Mind
.
[39]
“
| I think the Hollywood Bowl was the most memorable experience. It's a very unique venue that never had a DJ play there before me. The likes of Frank Sinatra and the Beatles had performed there so it's a truly magnificent place - it holds about 15,000 - and it was a big achievement for me as much as Wembley and the Great Wall because it had never been done. After seeing that gig, Madonna (entertainer)
| ”
|
During Paul's career he has remixed a variety of songs from
Madonna, like "
What It Feels Like For A Girl", "
Hollywood", "
American Life", "
Sorry" and later in 2008 "
Give It 2 Me" from her album
Hard Candy
, Paul went on tour with Madonna for two months opening her presentation in the
Confessions Tour, previously he had supported her in 2004 at
Slane Castle in
Ireland.
[41] His sets lasted for an hour and a half, followed by Madonna's two-hour show.
[42]
Oakenfold remixed the
Transformers
theme as the theme song for then-new TV series,
Transformers Cybertron
.
[43] He also contributed with his single "Beautiful Goal" for the
2005 video game. His single
Ready Steady Go
was composed for the 2005 video game
Juiced. His second studio album,
A Lively Mind
was released on June 6, 2006. Receiving unsuccessful reviews, the first single "
Faster Kill Pussycat", a collaboration with the actress
Brittany Murphy, was released on May 2, 2006; the second single was "
Sex 'n' Money". Both songs stand out from the rest, as most of the album has a more trance-like feel.
[44] Gregory Jeffries from
Allmusic stated the album might have been in the nominated albums of dance music in 1997 but not in 2006, as the album has guitars with disco sounds that might be only appealing to trance addicts.
[45]
"I've done so many remixes from the likes of the Rolling Stones to Snoop Dogg etc, but you can only get a certain amount on the CD. It was difficult for me but I had to choose what I wanted and what I felt were the best mixes that showcased my art in the best way." — said Paul Oakenfold.
With the film scores and soundtrack productions he did for $90,000,000, he decided in 2007 to play live at the
Boston Pops which created a piece of orchestral music with electronic music. The event took place in Miami for 10,000 people with a 75-piece orchestra, he wrote a piece of music which he described as "difficult".
In 2007 he was nominated to 2
International Dance Music Awards (IDMA) at the
Winter Music Conference (WMC),
Best Underground Dance Track
for "Faster Kill Pussycat" and
Best Full Length DJ Mix CD
for "
A Lively Mind".
[46] 2007 saw the publication of the first official biography of Paul Oakenfold, written by
Richard Norris of The Grid and Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve fame.
Paul Oakenfold: The Authorised Biography
was published by
Bantam Press on
24 September,
2007. Oakenfold is said to be a big fan of
Chelsea F.C.. It was thought that he played a zombie in the movie
28 Weeks Later
however this is incorrect, he was offered the opportunity but turned it down. He also scored the soundtrack for the 2007 Japanese CGI anime film
Vexille
.
thumb
In October 2007 he released his
Greatest Hits & Remixes, Vol. 1 which features his best performance tracks. Oakenfold was a judge for the 6th and 7th annual
Independent Music Awards to support independent artists. In October 2007 Oakenfold also remixed
Britney Spears number one hit
Gimme More, which became the lead remix off it's release.
[47] Paul Oakenfold has created more than one hundred remixes, and has sold over 5,000,000 (5 million)
long plays.
More recently, he has been touring in
British universities to promote his new album and
autobiography. The tribute album was released in November in the
United Kingdom with a 2 CD set and a 3 CD version with the same number of songs. It was also released in the
United States with only 20 tracks in one CD; it featured some remixes from the original version but it also included, two new remixes which are;
Justin Timberlake's "
My Love" song and his remix of
Hans Zimmer's "
Jack Theme Suite" which was used for the film
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Exclusive 2008 Remixes from Paul were also included from
Mark Ronson's "
Stop Me" song,
Radiohead's "
Everything In Its Right Place", Eisbaer from Grovezone, "
Missing" by
Everything But The Girl and a remix of Paul's own "Southern Sun". Releases with Catalog#:
UL 1602-2
included a
DVD of live show and documentary. The compilation consists of tracks which influenced his career and made his personality what it is nowadays, with artists like
The Cure,
Happy Mondays,
The Stone Roses,
Massive Attack,
U2,
Olive,
The Smashing Pumpkins,
Madonna, &
Underworld.
[48]
Pop Killer and film scoring (2008–present)
In 2008, he released the last single from his last studio album,
Not Over
. This was a new version of the tracks known as "
Not Over Yet" which he produced while working with Osborne as
Grace and in collaboration with
Ryan Tedder from
One Republic. The song was also covered by
Klaxons as "
It's Not Over Yet". In 2008 Oakenfold worked on
film scores for various films and television programs such as
Californication
,
The Heavy
,
Fever
,
The Bourne Identity
, and
Speed Racer
. In mid-July Paul ended his world tour promoting his greatest hits album. He also joined
Madonna again in her
Sticky & Sweet Tour in
London,
Santiago,
Buenos Aires,
Rio de Janeiro and
Sao Paulo.
[49]. After touring, he began his residency in
Las Vegas on
August 30, where he plans to release a new album titled "Decade of Dance" and write the score for the film
Humboldt Park
.
[50] In the fall of 2008, he started his first Resident DJ position in the United States. "Paul Oakenfold Presents: Perfecto Las Vegas" was conceptualized specifically for Rain Nightclub, the legendary nightclub and concert venue at the
Palms Casino Resort
[51] known for its special effects and international headliner acts. From July to August 2009, Paul will again open Madonna's concerts from the Sticky & Sweet Tour on Europe. In 2009 Paul's third studio album was announced to be actually named, "Pop Killer", and not "Decade of Dance" as the article from
The Sun
stated.
He is currently working with Madonna on two new songs that will be included on her upcoming Greatest Hits collection
Celebration and her final release with
Warner Bros. Records. The first single to be released on
August 3,
2009 is also titled "
Celebration", which was produced by Paul Oakenfold.
Discography
Albums
;Studio Albums
- 2002 Bunkka
- 2006 A Lively Mind
- 2009 Pop Killer
;DJ Tools