 Calvin Harris is a Scottish electronic musician, singer-songwriter and
record producer. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was
released in 2007 and contained the Top 10 singles "Acceptable in the
80s" and "The Girls".
He has written and produced records for other recording artists
including Kylie Minogue's X and his #1 collaboration with British
rapper Dizzee Rascal, "Dance Wiv Me". His second studio album Ready for
the Weekend was released on 17 August 2009 and reached #1 in the UK
album charts on 23rd August. It contains the #1 single "I'm Not Alone"
and his second Top 10 single "Ready for the Weekend", which was
released on 10 August.
Early career (2002–2006)
Harris' earliest success was when he was 21: 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.
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. He had only managed to release one song in 2004 with artist, Ayah.
The song appears on The Unabombers' 'Electric Soul 2'.
Harris in 2007
His first album I Created Disco was released on 29 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.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. "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. His song "Colours" is featured on
the Kia Motors ad for the Soul.
In 2007, Dragonette released their cover of Harris' "The Girls"
retitled "The Boys", during which the band alludes directly to him: "I
even like those scrawny, Scottish, into pop music but not like sorta
like pop dance electro music." It was Dragonette's version of the song,
however, that made its way onto Karl Lagerfeld's Spring/Summer 2008
runway show.
See also: X (Kylie Minogue album) and Dance Wiv Me
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. 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 30 June 2008 and went straight to number 1 in the UK. On
18 October 2008 he was also featured on Radio 1's Essential Mix with a
2 hour set.
In a BBC Radio 1 interview with Fearne Cotton, Harris said that he
turned down working with Lady GaGa in 2008 because he disliked the demo
given to him and that he did not want to offend her at the time. In
later BBC online interview, Harris stated he considers Lady GaGa to be
a "good artist". In the same interview Harris also gave acknowledgment
to 16 year old British musician Richard Jay.
On 3 April 2008, Harris stated 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.
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
recently admitted however that this was an "untruth" as the album was
not in his luggage at all, and that he hoped the lie would buy him some
more time to finish recording the LP. Harris' second studio album was
released on 17 August 2009 in the United Kingdom.
The
first single, "I'm Not Alone" was exclusively performed in Sydney, on
New Year's Eve. The new single debuted on BBC Radio 1 on 23 January
2009, on the Pete Tong radio show and was released in April 2009. It
debuted in the UK Singles Chart at #1 on Easter Sunday on downloads
alone, then stayed on top for a second week after the physical format
had been released. On its release his single "Ready for the Weekend"
went to #3 in the UK Singles Chart.
Harris will be touring around the United Kingdom,
Ireland, France, the Netherlands and the United States promoting his
new singles and his new album. His single "Ready for the Weekend"
features singer Mary Pearce. Other tracks included on the album are
"Worst Day" featuring Izza Kizza and "Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La" used in
a Coca-Cola advertisement. In June 2009, NME announced that Harris'
second album, Ready for the Weekend would be released on 17 August
2009.[13] His songs "Holiday" and "Ready for the Weekend" are listed on
radio line-ups. Excerpts from "I'm Not Alone" were used in Madonna's
remixed version of "Frozen" in her Sticky & Sweet Tour.
On 7 June 2009, Harris appeared at the Summertime Ball at the Emirate
Stadium and performed "I'm Not Alone", "The Girls" and "Acceptable in
the 80s". He then brought on Dizzee Rascal and Chrome and performed
"Dance Wiv Me". Harris will make a guest appearance on Tiësto's song
"Century" on his new album Kaleidoscope which will be released on 6
October 2009. On 15 August, Harris made an appearance on the first
Soccer AM show of the season.
Calvin Harris on MYSPACE , TWITTER and his HOMEPAGE .
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