CARL COX BIOGRAPHY

[pecel_lele]

Carl Cox Biography
   

Carl CoxCarl Cox - Autobiography

Soul Thing
I can't remember a time without the strains of soul music drifting through our house. With both parents coming from Barbados I was brought up very much in tune with a natural party ethos that went hand in hand with a love of good music. My earliest musical memories are of Booker T and the MGs, Aretha Franklin and, of course the great Elvis, and I used to hijack my parents collection of 70's soul 45's and get the whole family grooving round the lounge! I guess the early signs were there - my passion for music combined with an over-whelming desire to entertain as many people as possible.

By 10 I had well and truly caught the bug and was spending every bit of my pocket money on soul and funk records. I got my first pair of decks (just the 2!) by the age of 15 and I started to play as many parties as I could, discovering that I could buzz off a crowd whilst funding my habit at the same time. As the 70's became the 80's I followed the musical trend from soul to disco to hip-hop but it wasn't really until I moved to Brighton in 1986 that I discovered, along with so many others, the pure thrill of acid house.

The 'Summer Of Love' was special for me in more ways than one. It was at the Sunrise rave on the outskirts of London in 1988 that I had had my biggest breakthrough yet. I was already something of a regular on the infamous M1/Orbital rave circuit but it was at Sunrise that I had the idea to hook up a third deck. At 10.30am on a hazy Sunday morning I managed to tempt 15,000 partied out ravers back onto their weary feet and kick the party back into action - it was an amazing experience- and since then my phone has not stopped ringing with offers for 'The 3 Deck Wizard'. I was fortunate enough to participate in many of the events that have gone down in history as defining moments in the history of UK club culture, such as playing the opening night at Rampling's legendary Shoom, running The Project with Oakie as well as holding a residency at Brighton's ZAP club.

With my reputation as a DJ well and truly secured I was able to turn my attentions towards producing. Initially signing to Perfecto I had my first hit in 1992 with 'I Want You' and, believe me, no one was more surprised than me when I found myself performing on Top Of The Pops when my record peaked at number 23 in the UK charts!!

Despite the fact that the follow up 'Does It Feel Good To You' also charted in the top 40, commercial success was never what I had been aiming for, it was all somewhat too far removed from the reality and buzz of setting a dance floor alight. Whilst fellow spinners such as Grooverider and Fabio moved from raves into Jungle, choosing to focus on a very UK and London orientated sound, I couldn't escape the American and European influences that had always been there whilst I was growing up. I have always been very globally minded which comes across in my choice of music, which I use to cross physical and cultural boundaries to bring people together. Essentially my heart lies with house and techno and it was for this reason that I chose to take a back seat from my impending career as a pop star and be true to myself by going underground and re-discovering my roots.

Designer Labels
I started by setting up my first imprint, MMR, for Techno productions. I found that my popularity as a DJ gave me an opportunity to take techno to the masses and my first album FACT (Future Alliance of Communication and Technology) has to this day sold 250,000 copies. I spent 5 years under my own Ultimate Music Management which spawned club nights and tours alike and set up the forward-looking Worldwide Ultimatum to encourage the creative talents of more DJ's such as Josh Abraham's, Trevor Rockcliffe, Earl Gray and DJ Dan. In 1996 Nicky Holloway approached me to start a new night based on the style of music I was playing at the time and Ultimate Base was born at Velvet Underground along with the help of Jim Masters. Over the last 5 years Ultimate Base has showcased some of the world's finest techno DJ's, steered by a futuristic ideal, which very much reflects my own way of thinking.

The last several years have been absolutely mind blowing. In between jet-setting between gigs as far afield as South Africa, Israel, Tasmania and Asia I kick-started my acting career in the classic UK clubbing film 'Human Traffic' and somewhere along the way I found time to start new labels Ultimatum Breaks and Intec to focus on providing quality purist house and techno. I have regularly contributed Essential mixes for Radio One and I followed up the success of FACT (1&2) with several more mix albums including 'Phuture 2000'. My career has been marked by a number of awards - I was awarded IDA 'DJ Of The Year' 2 years in a row, Muzik named me as the Best British DJ and I've had more honours from NME, Dancestar and countless other organisations all over the world.

The time is now
Out of so many highs it is difficult to pin-point the peak for me - it is a close call between The Love Parade and the dawn of the millennium. Playing for a crowd of 1,500,00 up-for-it clubbers in Berlin was the ultimate DJing experience in terms of seeing how wide reaching music can be but then being lucky enough to see in the millennium not once but twice - first on Bondi pavilion, then hopping on a jet over the timeline to Honolulu, Hawaii, was also pretty special.

More recently I have given up my residency at Base in order to concentrate on spreading myself even further afield. But don't worry, in between producing, writing, remixing, presenting, TV appearances, managing, not forgetting DJing I will still be making regular appearances at Base and hanging with the very people who got me where I am today.


http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj_view.asp?ID=25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Upcoming Events:    Carl Cox @ Embassy (1 Dec 2006)
   Carl Cox @ Double Six Club (2 Dec 2006)

Press Biography

How do you measure a DJ's popularity? By club bookings, remix credits, solo releases, and mix CDs? By branding, sponsorship and endorsements? Through glamour quota and celebrity status? Or by radio, television and movie appearances?

By any of these criteria, Carl Cox could claim he's got the love. Ultimately, though, it's the paying public that makes or breaks - and more importantly, maintains - a DJ's popularity. And in that case Carl Cox absolutely has got the love. Time and again, when music magazines print their end of year polls, it's Carl Cox who tops them. Alongside accolades from NME, Dancestar and countless other organizations all over the world, Carl was also awarded the IDA 'DJ Of The Year' two years in a row, and in 2002 Muzik Magazine [RIP] named him 'Best British DJ', as well as offering him a regular column.

Across the globe, when club crowds are asked who they most want to have spin, it's Coxy they request. Promoters who need an arena to go off at three in the afternoon, or a club to stay full until the early hours, know that Carl's their man. He may not be a household name, but in the scene itself, he's a living legend, as big as they come. Quite simply, Carl Cox is the People's DJ.

A musical ambassador since he was in short trousers, a professional DJ since his early teens, a veteran of acid house and a champion of techno, Carl Cox emits a love of his work that is dangerously infectious. Check him when he's behind the turntables and you can't mistake his ecstatic visage, dripping with sweat as his head bobs up and down to the beat, his hands pumping the air whenever they're not manipulating the turntables, his body swaying back and forth, frequently taking to the mike to share word on the latest underground tune he's about to break. You name it, Carl's been there and done it, but he's never lost sight of the point of it: playing music, breaking tunes, spreading love, celebrating life.

Now, having extricated himself from his own thriving but overly time-consuming business empire, Carl is finally concentrating on his solo career. In 2002 he released the critically acclaimed 'Global' compilation, which received ecstatic reviews in a broad range of titles including Q, Independent on Sunday, Big Issue, Mixmag and DJ.

Born in Manchester, Carl and two sisters were raised in the suburbs of south London. Carl's parents had emigrated from Barbados, and brought their Caribbean party spirit with them - especially for the annual harvest festival of 'crop-over.' While mum cooked and made the punch, dad lined up music on a turntable that could drop discs on top of each other. But when the records ran out, it was young Carl who'd be by the player, checking which b-sides would work, searching other tunes to keep the parents going.

"It just hit me," says Carl of his early engagement with destiny. "Instantly, I became 'Cox's boy,' who put on good music wherever my mum and dad went for a party. People would say to them 'Don't forget to bring Carl.' I would go record shopping with my dad. And then I would hear something - a new James Brown record I thought was brilliant and I knew they would dance to - and get him to buy it."

Carl's enthusiasm for black dance music was boosted in the mid-70s when London was granted an independent radio station, Capital, with an American soul DJ, Greg Edwards. "The first time he played 'Running Away' by Roy Ayers, I was completely in heaven," recalls Carl. "I didn't need any women in my life, not my family, not anything. I was like 'This is it. If they make more records like this, I will be so happy.' And they did! The Blackbyrds, Norman Connors. . ." On Fridays, Carl would go to a store in nearby Croydon "and just buy buy buy. All my friends thought I was nuts, because McDonalds had just come out, and they would all go out and buy double cheeseburgers, and I'd go off and get myself a record. They'd have come back and eaten it and gone 'wicked' and I'd come back and say, 'This record by Brass Construction is unbelievable!'"

Competition from American cheeseburgers notwithstanding, by 1976 soul music was everywhere, and Carl and friends, still in school uniform, would board the bus into central London for late afternoon sessions at the 100 Club and Crackers. In 1977, aged 15, Carl got a set of turntables and began working as a mobile DJ. Disco captivated him. "I liked how it was orchestrated in such a way that a record could take you somewhere," he enthuses, citing Sylvester's 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)' because "it had a 4/4 beat, it had energy, it had breakdowns, and it had a diva singing his heart out - or her's!"

The early 80s saw Cox playing the same music as other young London DJs - rare groove (obscure funk), New York hip-hop, and electro. He was perfectly placed to hear Chicago house music in its earliest forms, and when the epic 'Acid Trax' by Phuture (a.k.a. DJ Pierre) came out in early '87, "I was just 'This is it.' I would do my parties, and I'd play old rare groove and hip hop and soul and I would say 'Right you've got to hear this, Phuture,' and people would just stop. 'What the hell are you doing?' I was just like, 'You've got to check this out, the 303s, the 909s...' I just had to go there. It's funny because all the people who thought I had freaked out then, are the people who are making the music now."

As a founder of the sound, Carl rode the exploding British rave scene. He played the opening night of Danny Rampling's legendary Shoom, co-promoted The Project with Paul Oakenfold, held a residency at the Zap Club in Brighton and at the Sunrise rave in 1988, hooked up a third turntable for his dawn-breaking set, got 15,000 kids back on their feet, and established a personal rep for three-deck wizardry.

The next step was to make music, and Carl's 1991 debut single for Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto label, 'I Want You,' gave him a top 30 hit and a Top of the Pops appearance. Two more singles also made the charts. But Carl was a reluctant pop star and as the masses moved onto fluffy house and trance, and the hardcore created jungle, Cox retreated into the club world that had nurtured him and instead embraced the underground sounds of techno.

"Techno drives home somewhere," he says of his core music. "It takes you to an element of surprise, not knowing where you're going. It's scary but wonderful at the same time." A 1995 mix CD, 'F.A.C.T.', became a techno benchmark, selling over 250,000 copies. His own 1996 EP 'Two Paintings and a Drum' again broke the British top 30. With then-wife Rachel running the business side, Carl set up Ultimate Music Management, which counted Josh Wink and Laurent Garnier among 27 clients. There was the Ultimatum record label, for which Cox recorded his third top 30 UK single 'Sensual Sophis-ti-cat.' And inevitably there was a weekly London techno club, Ultimate B.A.S.E., for which Carl was resident.

Carl also began traveling to America, thanks to a deal with Moonshine, which saw the Stateside release of 1997's 'F.A.C.T. 2' (recorded live in L.A.); 1998's 'The Sound Of Ultimate B.A.S.E.'; Carl's second studio album 'Phuture 2000' ('At The End of the Cliché,' his debut, was only released in the UK); and that same year's 'Mixed Live', recorded at the Crobar in Chicago.

Carl famously brought in the Millennium in Sydney, then traversed the International Date Line to do it again in Hawaii. His most treasured performances, though, have been for the Berlin Love Parade, which he played four years in a row, often the only British DJ at this trance-European techno-fest. "I can't think of anything that comes close to when you actually stand there and you see a million and a half people waiting for you to play the best records possible to give them the best possible time," he says.

After forming his Intec Records in 1999, alongside DJ C1, the label went on to score a series of underground hits, including last year's inescapable anthem 'Sunshine' by Tomaz vs. Filterheadz, which was the one of the biggest selling tracks on the label to date. "In only a few short years Intec has already become an integral part of the dance industry," he explains. "It's fantastic to be able to showcase quality music that I really believe in, to a wider audience." Continuing his mission to conquer the entire world, Carl now also has a weekly radio show fittingly entitled Global, which is syndicated to over 10 million people including listeners in China, Argentina, Colombia and Istanbul.

2002 saw him further add to his "little empire", by launching 23rd Century Records, an outlet for his own burgeoning production output. "A lot of the industry are not signing artists anymore," he laments. "They go for bubblegum acts of five good looking girls and boys who dance around to pop...it doesn't leave much room for what I do! So I thought if the majors don't really understand this music, then I'll have to put it out on my own." The label's first release was Carl's acclaimed collaboration with Christian Smith a speaker-freaker entitled 'Dirty Bass'. "I'd just finished that track and I took it with me to Miami." he recalls. "I went up to Danny Tenaglia while he was playing one of his legendary sets in Space, and said 'you need to play this record right now.' It was 6.30 in the morning, he put it into his CD deck, gave it a quick listen and then mixed it straight in to his set. The place went absolutely ballistic."

The summer of 2002 also saw Carl launch his now legendary residency at Space in Ibiza, offering clubbers a chance to get into the club for half the normal entry price. Carl flew over a seemingly inexhaustible supply of worldwide DJ talent to join him behind the decks and the night proved such a success that he's returned to the White Isle every season since. "We really put Tuesdays on the clubbing map," he beams. "Space has been incredible for the third year in a row. You still have all these people moaning that Ibiza is losing it but we couldn't be getting any more people through the door. We're also going to be launching the new single, 'Give Me Your Love' out there this year. It's a real summer track and I want people to think 'Wow, I didn't realize he made music like that.'

The track is taken from Carl's highly anticipated third album, 'The Second Sign' which will be out at the beginning of next year and is anything but a straight up techno affair. "I've been working with Roni Size, Josh Wink, Saffron from Republica and Onallee of Reprazents. There's drum & bass, punk, house; it's got a real festival sound to it. Of all my three albums, this is the one I think I'm most happy with."

As well as fulfilling his production and DJ commitments, Carl has somehow found time to follow up his cameo role in the 1999 rave flick 'Human Traffic,' with a part in the forthcoming film 'L.A. DJ', written by the team behind American Pie. "I play myself and the film is all about two young Jewish boys who want to become superstar DJs," he chuckles. "It's hilarious."

In November Carl is also going to be releasing his DVD, 'Carl Cox and Friends' recorded from a recent live show in Rotterdam. "The venue we filmed at usually hosts people like Britney and Sting," he explains. "Now they can add Carl Cox to that list! It was amazing, there were 12,000 people going crazy and we had DJs like Kevin Saunderson and Michel de Hey, alongside live percussionists and vocalists from the album including Saffron from Republica. It went on for 7 hours," he laughs.

It's his obvious passion for music and loyalty to his fans that are the real reason Coxy is so loved and respected by clubbers of all ages. "I went to Bulgaria for the first time in February," he smiles. "It was one of those gigs that made me remember why I got into this industry in the first place. The sound system was incredible, the arena was jam packed and everyone was going berserk. I've been doing this for 34 years and I just stood back from it all and smiled. It made me feel great knowing that I could still move people that way after so long.

"Even if I'm just playing records, I'm into the moment of playing and with that, if I'm dancing, and I'm enjoying this moment, then I'm sure you guys can too, without the record having to be the focal point of why we're here. That's why I find it a lot easier to push new music on people - because I believe in what I'm playing, full stop. And everyone can feel that, and go with it, and then they can walk away with the experience of Carl Cox."

http://www.residentadvisor.net/event_view.asp?ID=17177

[eclecticboogaloo]

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature_view.asp?ID=773

[cruelsummer]

coxy , the legend ....one of the best eclectic dj ever 

[soul_selekta]

cant wait for coxy gigs !!!

[fyong]

mudah-mudahan jadi dateng !(ngarep )

[wangchung]

hopefully ,come to jakarta

[lesli]

The track is taken from Carl's highly anticipated third album, 'The Second Sign' which will be out at the beginning of next year and is anything but a straight up techno affair. "I've been working with Roni Size, Josh Wink, Saffron from Republica and Onallee of Reprazents. There's drum & bass, punk, house; it's got a real festival sound to it. Of all my three albums, this is the one I think I'm most happy with."

coxy udah ngacack 2 semua genre label juooo mulai dr trance (perfecto),moonshine (house),beberapa label techno,drum and bass dll,one of the most ecelectic styley ....dia di terima di semua label genre termasuk beberapa funky disco label (bused dehh...)

[pecel_lele]

The track is taken from Carl's highly anticipated third album, 'The Second Sign' which will be out at the beginning of next year and is anything but a straight up techno affair. "I've been working with Roni Size, Josh Wink, Saffron from Republica and Onallee of Reprazents. There's drum & bass, punk, house; it's got a real festival sound to it. Of all my three albums, this is the one I think I'm most happy with."

coxy udah ngacack 2 semua genre label juooo mulai dr trance (perfecto),moonshine (house),beberapa label techno,drum and bass dll,one of the most ecelectic styley ....dia di terima di semua label genre termasuk beberapa funky disco label (bused dehh...)

asli....coxy memang bused ....hihihihih

[bayu_disccolabs]

wah mantab nih.... kayanya harus hadir nih.....

[ableh]

wah mantab nih.... kayanya harus hadir nih.....

wajib !!!

[bayu_disccolabs]

@ ableh

ya nih wajib sekali..  rugi kalo nggak hadir..
hehe btw salam kenal ya...