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Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris Website calvinharris.tv
Calvin Harris (born 17 January 1984)[1] is a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in and grew up in Dumfries. His debut album I Created Disco was released in 2007 and contained the singles "Vegas", "Acceptable in the 80s", "The Girls", "Merrymaking at My Place" and "Colours". In 2008 he recorded the song "Dance wiv Me" with British rapper Dizzie Rascal. He will release his second studio album in 2009 that will contain the UK #1 single "I’m Not Alone".
Music career
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.[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’.
Calvin Harris in 2007
I Created Disco
Stouffer 17 January 1984 (1984-01-17) Dumfries, Scotland Electronica Disco Pop New Wave Singer-songwriter, Producer 1999-present Sony BMG, EMI Music Publishing
Background information Also known as Born Origin Genre(s)
Occupation(s) Years active Label(s)
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.[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
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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." It was Dragonette’s version of the song, however, that made its way onto Karl Lagerfeld’s Spring/Summer 2008 runway show.
Calvin Harris
days. Harris’ second studio album is expected to be released in mid-2009 in the United Kingdom. Calvin recently admitted however that this was an ’untruth’ as the album was not in his luggage at all, and that it had in fact been a lie that he hoped would buy him some more time to finish recording the LP.[8] The first single, "I’m Not Alone", was exclusively performed in Sydney, on New Year’s Eve. The single was released in April 2009. The new single debuted on BBC Radio 1 on Friday 23 January 2009, on the "Pete Tong" radio show. The song featured on his MySpace with the infamous spoiler, which repeated the phrase "I’m Your Nan" in a synthesized voice. 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. Calvin will be touring around the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and the United States promoting his new single and his forthcoming new album. According to his Twitter account, his next single will be called "Ready for the Weekend" and features singer Mary Pearce. Other tracks expected to be included on the album are "Worst Day" featuring Izza Kizza[9] and "La La La, Yeah Yeah Yeah" used in a Coca-Cola advertisement.[10]
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 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.
Discography
• 2007: I Created Disco
Awards and nominations Notes
[1] "Calvin Harris Biography". starpulse.com. http://www.starpulse.com/Music/ Harris,_Calvin/Biography/. Retrieved on 2009-01-16. [2] "Calvin Harris Biography". starpulse.com. http://www.starpulse.com/Music/ Harris,_Calvin/Biography/. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. [3] Liam Ronan. "Acceptable In The Noughties - Calvin Harris". gigwise.com. March 26, 2007. Retrieved June 12, 2007. [4] ^ "Web wonder Calvin wins over Kylie". BBC. 19 February 2007. Retrieved March 12, 2007.
Upcoming work
On 3 April 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
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Year Award 2007 BT Digital Music Awards Q Awards 2008 Xfm New Music Award Shortlist Music Prize Popjustice £20 Music Prize 2009 The Music Producers Guild Awards 2009 BRIT Awards NME Awards Category Best Electronic Artist or DJ – – – Best Remixer British Single Best Dancefloor Filler Title –
Calvin Harris
Result Nominated Nominated Nominated Nominated Nominated Won Nominated Won
Best Breakthrough Artist – I Created Disco I Created Disco "Dance Wiv Me" – "Dance Wiv Me" "Dance Wiv Me"
[5] "Calvin To Support Groove Armada On UK Tour". calvinharris.tv. Retrieved June • calvinharris.tv – official website 12, 2007. • www.caughtinthecrossfire.com/music/ [6] ""Acceptable in the 80s" World Charts. interviews/4120 - Interview acharts.us. Retrieved June 12, 2007. • Upcoming Tour Dates [7] BBC NEWS | Scotland | South of • Calvin Harris at MySpace Scotland | DJ loses album in baggage • Calvin Harris at Discogs backlog • www.nypress.com/blogx/ [8] "Calvin Harris: ’I Lied about losing my display_blog.cfm?bid=7619152 new album at Heathrow’". NME.com. Interview: Calvin Harris: Playah, Geek, or http://www.nme.com/news/calvin-harris/ Electro Man? Just Don’t Call Him a 44171. Retrieved on 2009-04-24. MySpace Sensation by Gerry Visco, New [9] http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/music/ York Press, April 30, 2008 article.html?Want_to_dance_wiv_Calvin_Harris?&in_article_id=610011&in_page_id=25 [10] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/ may/07/coca-cola-ad-calvin-harris
External links
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Harris" Categories: People from Dumfries, Scottish electronic musicians, Tracker musicians, 1984 births, Living people This page was last modified on 21 May 2009, at 09:34 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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