I've been involved in the music industry all my working life. I started out DJing when I was still at school and was fortunate enough to make a career out of it by the time I was 18 DJing across London at various rave parties like Crazy Club at The Astoria, Innersense at The Lazerdrome and A.W.O.L. and Vivid at The Paradise Club. I opened my own independent dance record shop in Camden (London) when I was 22 (Deep Freeze Records) and then took on an A&R role for Locked On Records in Archway. I managed to sign a few acts that sold pretty well (The Streets, Artful Dodger, Todd Edwards, Zed Bias, etc...) and had the best time in my life running arguably the best UK Garage label in the world. After three wonderful years I moved to Virgin Records as A&R Manager. After Virgin there was the briefest of encounters with Mercury Records before I went to work with Mark Hill and his Soundproof label through Island Records whilst also holding down an A&R consultancy with Ministry Of Sound. Whilst taking a short break from the day job when my son was born in 2004, I had the pleasure of setting up Prolific Recordings with my old mate MJ Cole and now I'm back to the old 9 - 5 working as a label manager for an independent record company in Shepherds Bush...
Someone asked me recently, what tunes I signed and released while I was at LOCKED ON RECORDS, well... here's the list:
The Streets - Has It Come To This?
Artful Dodger - Movin' Too Fast
Todd Edwards - Saved My Life
Todd Edwards - Shut The Door
Monsta Boy - Sorry
Monsta Boy - Baby Can't You See
Zed Bias - Neighbourhood
Zed Bias - Time Out
Zed Bias - Spare Ribs
Dem 2 - Baby (You're So Sexy)
El-B - Digital
El-B - Serious
Leee John - Your Mind, Your Body, Your Soul
The Wideboys - Something's Got Me Started
The Wideboys - Sambucca
Ruff Cut Bias - Down
James Lavonz - Mash Up Da Venue
James Lavonz - Let Me Show U
James Lavonz - Feel My Dreams
James Lavonz vs Deneshae - Personality
Antonio - Bad Funk
De Souza - Keep It Coming
Suburban Lick - You're Mine
Suburban Lick - Here Come The Lick
Phuturistix - Matrix EP
Phuturistix - Deepdown EP
David Howard - U & I
Tallisman - Bad Blood
Red Or Dred - How I Feel
Brotherz In Law - U.N.D.E.R.G.R.O.U.N.D.
E.S. Dubs - Urban Myth
Sovereign - Raver Ravin
DJ Faz - The EP
Southside Allstars - Angel
London Dodgers - Down Down Biznizz
DJ Kin & Robloe - Bounce
DJ Spark E - Something In Your Eyes
The Best Of LOCKED ON - Exclusive Remixes (Volumes 1 and 2)
Nu-Birth - Can't Stop
Ebony - Sexy
Michael Watford - Reach On Up
Ruff Cut Bias - Down
The original Locked On Crew. Included in this picture, Karl 'Tuff Enuff' Brown, Matt 'Jam' Lamont, Ed Case, Zed Bias, Steve Gurley, Antonio, Artful Dodger, Same People, James Lavonz, Grant Nelson & Kate (Bump & Flex), Mike 'Ruff Cut' Lloyd, and me (top left). Arrr those were the days...
