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Calvin Harris

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Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Calvin Harris (born January 17, 1984)[1] is a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in and grew up in Dumfries.

Music career

Harris began making music at the age of 15. His earliest success was when he was 18: the songs "Da Bongos" and "Brighter Days" were released as a 12" club single and CD-EP by the Prima Facie label in early 2002 under the name Stouffer.[2]

Harris signed contracts with EMI (publishing) and Sony BMG (recording) in 2006, after his music had been discovered on the social networking website MySpace. Harris had recently moved back from London to his hometown of Dumfries because he was unable to find a job.[3] He had only managed to release one song in 2004 with artist, Ayah. The song appears on The Unabombers' 'Electric Soul 2'.

I Created Disco

His first album I Created Disco was released on 18 June 2007. The album contained uptempo electroclash songs that were influenced by music from the 1980s. To promote I Created Disco, Harris embarked on a tour of the UK, supporting Faithless and Groove Armada.[4][5]

The first release from the album was "Vegas" on limited edition vinyl and the first charted single released from the album was "Acceptable in the 80s", a tribute to the style and culture of the decade. The song reached the top ten on the UK singles chart, remaining on the chart for fifteen weeks.[6] "The Girls" was the album's second single, it reached the top 5 in the UK singles chart. The fourth release from the album was "Merrymaking at My Place" which reached #43 in the UK chart.

In 2007, Dragonette released their cover of Calvin Harris' "The Girls," now retitled "The Boys," during which the band alludes directly to Calvin Harris: "I even like those scrawny, Scottish, into pop music but not like sorta like pop dance electro music." Ironically enough, Dragonette's version of the song made its way onto Karl Lagerfeld's Spring/Summer 2008 runway show.

Collaborations

In 2007 Harris recorded with Kylie Minogue. He had caught Minogue's attention after his recordings had been passed on to her by another record producer.[4] Harris says that working with Kylie was "surreal, but fun" although he admitted to Mixmag in 2007 to "needing a few drinks before meeting her." Harris co-wrote and produced two songs on Kylies' X album; 'In My Arms' and 'Heart Beat Rock'.

He was recently credited as being the producer in a remixed version of The Mitchell Brothers song "Michael Jackson". Harris is also currently working with British pop-star Sophie Ellis-Bextor, co-writing some new songs for her upcoming fourth studio album.

In 2008 he collaborated with UK rapper Dizzee Rascal on Dizzee's song "Dance Wiv Me". They performed an acoustic version for the BBC as part of the Glastonbury Festival 2008 coverage. The song was released digitally on June 30, 2008 and went straight to number 1 in the UK. On October 18 2008, he was also featured on Radio 1's Essential Mix with a 2 hour set.

Upcoming work

On April 3, 2008, it was revealed that the only existing copy of his upcoming album work was lost when his laptop was misplaced during the baggage handling problems at the opening of London Heathrow Terminal 5.[7] He later stated on the BBC's Glastonbury Festival 2008 coverage that he got his baggage back including the album within a few days. Harris' second studio album is expected to be released in mid-2009 in the United Kingdom.

The first single, "I'm Not Alone", was exclusively performed in Sydney, in New Year's Eve. The single will be released in April 2009. The new single debuted on BBC Radio 1 on Friday, January 23, 2009, on the "Pete Tong" radio show. The song featured on his MySpace with the infamous spoiler, which repeated the phrase "I Am Your Nan" in a robotic voice.

Calvin will be touring around the UK, Ireland, France and the Netherlands promoting his new single and his forthcoming new album.

Discography

Albums

  • I Created Disco - June 11, 2007 - (UK) #8 - September 4, 2007 (USA)
  • TBA - 2009

Singles

Year Single Chart positions Album

UK
UK DW
IRL
AUS
2007 "Acceptable in the 80s" 10 11 23 — I Created Disco
"The Girls" 3 3 30 33
"Merrymaking at My Place" 43 — — —
"Colours" 127 — — —
2008 "Dance Wiv Me" (with Dizzee Rascal and Chrome) 1 1 5 13 'Single only'
2009 "I'm Not Alone"[8] — — — — TBA

Notes

  1. ^ "Calvin Harris Biography". starpulse.com. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  2. ^ "Calvin Harris Biography". starpulse.com. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
  3. ^ Liam Ronan. "Acceptable In The Noughties - Calvin Harris". gigwise.com. March 26, 2007. Retrieved June 12, 2007.
  4. ^ a b "Web wonder Calvin wins over Kylie". BBC. February 19, 2007. Retrieved March 12, 2007.
  5. ^ "Calvin To Support Groove Armada On UK Tour". calvinharris.tv. Retrieved June 12, 2007.
  6. ^ ""Acceptable in the 80s" World Charts. acharts.us. Retrieved June 12, 2007.
  7. ^ BBC NEWS | Scotland | South of Scotland | DJ loses album in baggage backlog
  8. ^ Calvin Harris preforming "I'm Not Alone" in Sydney at New Years Eve
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