Nu-Birth
Comprising of Danny Harrison & Julian Jonah
Danny Harrison: Acclaimed Producer hailing from South London. Danny Harrison first shot to success with Danny Matlock under the guise of Nush, most notably with "U Girls". He later moved onto working under a series of different aliases, proving to be instrumental in the rise of UK Garage along with fellow cohort Julian Jonah (achieving greatest accomplishment under "187 Lockdown" and "Gant").
After the demise of the UK Garage scene, Stella Browne was born - a Disco-House project which was deliberately delayed to fit in with the sounds of that time. Currently, Danny is gaining formidable success along with Arthur Smith as "Moto Blanco".
Official website - www.myspace.com/bobbyblanco.
Julian Jonah
Inspired and influenced by disco, funk ,soul,jazz and the emerging '80s Chicago House scene, Julian Jonah hit the UK club scene with his seminal 'Jealousy And Lies' single (Cooltempo Records), recognised by the dance cognoscenti as the one of, if not the first bona fide UK House record, followed through with a succession of club hits. A self-taught guitarist, bass player, keyboardist and drummer and drum programmer, Julian used his early notoriety to sign a deal with Bump'N'Hustle Records for his next project - a UK Soul album. Watergates, essentially Julian as composer, lyricist, musician, arranger and producer joined by chanteuse Janette Sewell (ex-Double Trouble), released an album 'The Scandal' which showcased Julian's songwriting skills.
By the early nineties Julian followed his 'solo' success with club hits under various aliases, Tyanda ('I Get A Rush', Blunted / Island Records); East 57th Street 'Saturday' (AM:PM records), and it was at Island's Blunted imprint where he hooked up with Danny Harrison. Danny Harrison's edgy South London, UK tunes had been causing seismic tremors in clubs, his most successful single ('U Girls', Blunted / Island Records) released under the alias Nush, charted nationally in 1994.
This collaboration led to the duo's 1996 'Anytime' under the group name nu birth. It launched the duo's own record label Nu Jak Records designed specifically to promote and test out their new styles. Nu Jak Records released two further singles which immediately drew major interest and within weeks all three Nu Jak singles were licensed and re-issued on major record labels, and all cracked the national charts. nu birth's 'Anytime' quickly established as a club anthem, was re-released by XL Records - twice - charting nationally both in 1997 & 1998.
Their next moniker Gant scored two club hits 'Sound Bwoy Burial' and 'All Night Long' (Positiva) - but it was their subsequent project, 187 Lockdown, that cemented their reputation. 187 Lockdown's debut single 'Gunman' was "the sound of a subculture exploding", according to Muzik magazine, caned in Ibiza, and signed to East West in September 97, it went Top 20....
And like 'Anytime', doing so twice! It was nominated for the inaugural Ivor Novello Award for Best Dance Song. 'Gunman' is still used heavily to this day on radio and television, it's most recent insertion was as a motif for Ali G reports on Carlton's '11 O'clock Show' and again for the first series of the 'Ali G Show'.
Four more hits, and a critically-acclaimed debut album followed for 187 Lockdown, which included the Top 10 single 'Kung Fu', and the Cosa Nostra-flavoured follow-up 'The Don'. At the turn of the millennium Julian & Danny's new monikers, DYNK, Bass City Rollaz and ReFlex, ignited the UK Garage scene. The former two monikers scored underground success with tracks on underground labels (licensed to countless compilation CDs) and supplied a barrage of 2Step mixes for the likes of Another Level, George Morel, Lisa Stansfield and Donnell Jones.
Reflex, on the other hand released a chart hit 'Put Your Hands Up' (Gusto Records). In 2001 the guys main project was the disco-house flava of Stella Browne, borne out of a desire to return to the proper club song, that, as the boys admit, "just wouldn't have worked a few years ago", but is bang on the current nu-disco tip , blending quality 'feel good' vocals over fat basslines and topped with insidiously hooky-choruses.
Two singles for Oakie's Perfecto Records kept the boys in the national charts; Every Woman Needs Love (..21 in Music Week's Top Dance Tracks of 2000) and Never Knew Love (..48 in Music Week's Top Dance Tracks of 2001). More up-tempo house tracks were dropped by the guys under the moniker Mareeko, with the underground anthem 'More' (Cream Records). Julian returned to his other main love - song writing - whenever time in his busy schedule with Danny has allowed.
The first fruits of his endeavours were borne when he penned the lyrics for Discotex's chart hit 'I Can Cast A Spell'. In 2001 the boys re- invented themselves as M-factor and exploded on the scene with the ground breaking 'Mother' (Serious/Mercury records} which was soon followed by ' Come together' for EMI's Credence records.
He has just released a single called You're No Good For Me on Litmus Recs / Unique as Roxy St and has forthcoming singles by M Factor & various other projects due soon
Official website - www.myspace.com/julianjonah. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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