Paul Oakenfold Biography

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Paul Oakenfold (born August 30, 1963 in London, England) is a record producer and one of the best-known, and most expensive (£25,000 per gig) DJs worldwide.
He is also one of the world's leading Trance DJs.

History

In 1987, Oakenfold and his friends, Trevor Fung and Ian St. Paul, spent several months in Ibiza, Spain, where they fell in love with the dance club music (see 1987 in music). Using influences from Ibiza's sound, Italo disco, soul and house, Oakenfold produced Happy Mondays' Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, followed by productions of remixes for U2, Massive Attack, Arrested Development, The Cure, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Simply Red, New Order, The Doors, and The Shamen with production partner Steve Osborne under the collaborative name 'Perfecto'. Many of these remixes were released under his label Perfecto Records.

In addition to producing records, Oakenfold also mixes them. He first started playing in clubs as a teenager and soon built up a reputation as a top party DJ. However, it wasn't until the early 1990s when his name was associated with the DJ elite. The reason for this rise in public admiration was his adoption of a new breed of dance music called Trance, something he discovered on the hippy beaches of Goa in India and fused with similar sounding European records to create his own distinct sound. He took this to the mainstream when in 1994 he created a two hour set for BBC Radio One's Essential Mix. This set became known as the Goa Mix and to this day is the most requested broadcast on the BBC radio network.

In 1996, Oakenfold mixed one disc of the double album Fantazia House Collection 6, a UK House music compilation series that had been massively successful at the time. He brought his distinctive style to the mix.

After a short spell as a member of the band Grace, Oakenfold became Cream's resident DJ from 1997 to 1999. During this time, he began to concentrate on building an American audience, which led to the US release of Tranceport in 1998. The album was well-received by American trance music fans, and even garnered him modest acceptance in the mainstream American music scene. Oakenfold followed Tranceport with arguably his most successful album Perfecto Presents Another World which introduced millions to his mixing skills. His popularity across the Atlantic is slowly growing thanks to his work on the film soundtracks of Swordfish, The Matrix Reloaded, Collateral, Die Another Day, for which he remixed The James Bond Theme. He later worked on the James Bond video game, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, contributed to the soundtrack of the Japanese anime film "Appleseed" in 2004 and provided the theme song for the FIFA series of video games since 2005.

In 2002, Q magazine named Oakenfold in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die".

In the same year, Oakenfold released his first solo album, called Bunkka featuring artists like Nelly Furtado and Tricky ("The Harder They Come"), Ice Cube ("Get Em Up") and Shifty Shellshock, then the lead singer of Crazy Town ("Starry Eyed Surprise"). His latest effort is 2006's A Lively Mind.

In 2004, Oakenfold's song "Ready Steady Go" was reproduced with some Korean lyrics for the movie Collateral, and was included in the film soundtrack. "Ready Steady Go" was also used in Saab commercials, the pilot for the television program Las Vegas, the film The Bourne Identity (during a car chase scene), and the Alias episode "Snowman".

'A Lively Mind' was released on June 6, 2006. The first single 'Faster Kill Pussycat' is a collaboration with the actress Brittany Murphy, and was released on May 2, 2006. Oakenfold's 2006 CD was released by Maverick Records.

Also, in 2006, to accompany the new Transformers: Cybertron film, Paul remixed the Transformers theme.

Oakenfold is a big fan of Chelsea F.C., but also likes Fulham F.C..

His name is also associated with a song called "see it", featured in the second stage of "Frequency", a game for the PS2. The game was released November 20, 2001, though the song itself is very inconspicuous and is rarely, if at all, mentioned of; it also does not seem to be on any of his albums.

An interview with Oakenfold, where he discusses his passion for Chelsea and football, is available for download from the EPL Talk Podcast at http://epltalk.libsyn.com

Dyslexia

Oakenfold has admitted to struggling with dyslexia as a child www.literacytrust.org.uk - Reading Champions 2002 Paul Oakenfold and has stated his intention to help dyslexic children Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Paul Oakenfold, DJ and producer.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Electra

as part of the 'Balearic House' group 'Electra'

• "Jibaro" (FFRR Records - 1988) # 54 UK
  
• "It's Your Destiny" / "Autumn Love" (FFRR Records - 1989) # 51 UK
  

Solid Gold Easy Amex

remix of former Red Box b-side

• "Enjoy" (EastWest Records - 1990)
  

Paul Oakenfold

as Paul Oakenfold presents Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force:

• "Planet Rock" (Tommy Boy Records - 2001) # 47 UK, #21 US dance
  

as Oakenfold:

• "Southern Sun" / "Ready Steady Go" (Perfecto Records - 2002) # 16 UK, #9 US dance
  

as Oakenfold with vocals by Shifty Shellshock Of Crazy Town

• "Starry Eyed Surprise" (Perfecto Records - 2002) # 6 UK, US: #10 dance/#41 Hot 100/#13 Top 40 Mainstream/
  

as Oakenfold with vocals by Nelly Furtado and Tricky

• "The Harder They Come" (Perfecto Records - 2003) # 38 UK
  

as Oakenfold:

• "Hypnotised" (Perfecto Records - 2003) # 57 UK, #16 US dance
  

as Oakenfold ft Brittany Murphy

• "Faster Kill Pussycat" (Perfecto Records - 2006) #7 UK, #44 AUS, #4 US dance
  

as Oakenfold ft Pharrell

• "Sex 'N' Money"
  

Paul Oakenfold with Steve Osborne

as Rise:

• "The Single" (Perfecto / EastWest Records - 1994) # 70 UK
  

as Perfecto Allstarz:

• "Reach Up" (Perfecto - 1995) # 6 UK
  

as Virus:

• "Sun" (Perfecto - 1995) # 62 UK
  
• "Moon" (Perfecto - 1997) # 36 UK
  

as Grace:

• "Not Over Yet" (Perfecto - 1995) # 6 UK, #4 IE
  
• "I Want To Live" (Perfecto - 1995) # 30 UK
  
• "Skin on Skin" (Perfecto - 1996) #21 UK
  
• "Down to Earth" (Perfecto - 1996) #20 UK
  
• "If I Could Fly" (Perfecto - 1996) #29 UK
  
• "Hand in Hand" (Perfecto - 1997) #38 UK
  
• "Down To Earth Remix" (Perfecto - 1997) #29 UK
  

Paul Oakenfold & Andy Gray

as Element 4

• "Big Brother Theme" (Channel 4 Music - 2002) #4 UK
  

Remixes

• Transformers: "Cybertron" (The Transformers Theme)
  
• Dave Matthews Band - "When the World Ends"
  
• Muse - "New Born"
  
• N*E*R*D Feat. Paul Harvey & Vita - "Lapdance"
  
• "James Bond" (Bond vs. Oakenfold)
  
• The Doors - "L.A. Woman (Paul Oakenfold Remix)"
  
• U2 - "Beautiful Day (Paul Oakenfold Remix)"
  
• The Faint - "Glass Danse (Paul Oakenfold Remix)"
  
• Madonna - "What It Feels Like for a Girl (Paul Oakenfold Perfecto Mix)"
  
• Madonna - "Hollywood (Paul Oakenfold Full Remix/12" Dub/7" Full Edit)"
  
• Madonna - "American Life (Paul Oakenfold Downtempo Remix/Edit/Edit w.o rap)"
  
• Madonna - "Sorry" (Paul Oakenfold Remix/Edit)
  
• Elvis Presley - "Rubberneckin"
  
• Justin Timberlake - "Rock Your Body"
  
• Justin Timberlake - "My Love"
  
• John B - "Mercury Skies (Trance Mix)"
  
• Björk - "Pagan Poetry"
  
• Motorcycle - "As The Rush Comes"
  
• Girl Nobody - "Cages (Lemon 8 Mix)"
  
• PPK - "Resurrection (Perfecto Edit)"
  
• Jan Johnston - "Flesh"
  
• Led Zeppelin - "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"
  
• Kim Wilde - "Cambodia" (2006)
  
• Incubus - "Are You In? (Oakenfold Remix)"
  

See also

• Movement 98
  

References

External links

• Official Website
  
• 
  
• Fantazia House Collection 6 - Detail of mix by Paul Oakenfold
  
• Paul Oakenfold Profile on Fantazia
  
• Paul Oakenfold interview at musicOMH.com
  
• fansite of the band happy mondays
  

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