Last week DJ and producer Mark Ronson sat on the Red Bull Music Academy couch in London to talk about his music. Find out why we love the man and shake your booty to his new mix.
We love Mark Ronson. He's got great taste and impeccable style, and has boundless enthusiasm for music both old and new. He also knows who to listen to for music tips, such as the young tastemakers he employs on his East Village Radio Show. It was these DJs who brought New York soul revivalists The Dap-Kings to his attention, a band Ronson then dragged out of obscurity and installed as Amy Winehouse's backing band for the London chanteuse's greatest moment, Back to Black. It won our boy a few well-deserved Grammy Awards.
We're rather less fond of him for inspiring all those ropey DJs who attempt to copy him in the clubs. But that's just another sign of Mark Ronson's talent. DJs and producers can only wish they had his ear for a tune. Ronson also has a much more diverse sound than he's given credit for. As well as being a soul fan and a terrific DJ, he's a man with hip hop pedigree, having worked his way up from unsigned British ex-pat living in New York to bright young thing with an album deal. The once cutting edge Elektra Records released Ronson's vastly underrated hip-pop record Here Comes The Fuzz in 2003.
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Since then, Ronson has tried to spread the wealth. He's signed rappers Saigon and Rhymefest to his own label, Allido (a Sony subsidiary), and produced albums for Lily Allen and Robbie Williams. He's also the first person - that we know of, anyway - to officially remix the Bob Dylan song, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine). Apparently Dylan himself has given the remix the thumbs up. And he still finds time to drop chart-topping albums such as 2007's The Version and his latest (and best yet), The Business.
Yet, it's probably as a club-rocking DJ, a friend to the famous, and, as GQ voted him, Most Stylish Man in the UK, that people know him best. And that, to Ronson, is probably just fine. Just think about it: you'd definitely return his call, right?
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