ALI B – BIOGRAPHY
|
With an eclectic and varied music industry background spanning nearly two decades, Ali B has a broad sense of musical appreciation, coupled with an intuitive feel for the dance-floor which has seen him hold down DJ residencies at some of London’s most influential venues. After making his mark at The Blue Note Club, Shoreditch during the mid nineties, he went on to become the resident DJ for Fabric for over a decade, releasing one of the first albums in their Fabriclive mix CD series.
In 2007 he established his infamous weekly Saturday night at West London’s Paradise where his legendary 5 hour sets seamlessly took in everything from blues and funk to rock, soul, dub, disco and beyond, captured on his ever popular series of ‘Oh Shit!’ mix tapes and ‘Airpod’ podcasts. Over the last few years Ali B has been the resident DJ at London’s Blues Kitchen and a regular fixture at the South London Soul Train at the Bussey Building. Ali B spent his teens working for the Acid Jazz record label followed by several years in Public Relations, with a client list that read like the who’s who of dance music and included the likes of Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay and Pete Tong. From 1999 he hosted the weekly electronic music show on Europe’s biggest radio station, Capital FM, until 2005. This was followed by five years on Kiss FM alongside regular appearances on BBC 6 Music. He has also made several appearances on British television for the likes of MTV, ITV and Channel 4 as both pundit and presenter as well as hosting the Dancestar Music Awards and several years compering on stage at London’s 100,000 capacity Party In The Park. When Ali B’s seminal Air Events started in the basement of The Blue Note during the mid nineties, they were instrumental in pioneering the worldwide breaks scene, and went on to run at venues across London, including 333, Mass, Electrowerkz, Rhythm Factory, Cargo and Matter as well as hosting arenas at festivals including Glastonbury, Global Gathering, Hi-Fi and Australia’s Future Music Festival. Ali B established Air Recordings in 1999 and the record label covers a wide range of leftfield sounds. Releases have included Finish electro breaks duo Mr Velcro Fastener, US stalwarts Tony Faline and DJ Love, the first ever release from the UK’s Will Saul (with Ursula Rucker), Jellybass, Janette Slack, Diverted, Lazersonic and Mr No Hands, alongside Ali B himself who’s track with The Jungle Brothers propelled Air Recordings into the major league. ‘Beats On A String’ was play-listed on BBC 6 in the UK and Australia’s national Triple J radio station. Alongside remixes for the likes of Positiva, Multiply, Sony and Fort Knox Five, Ali B has released mix albums for Fabric, Y4K, Godskitchen and his own Air Recordings label. His latest projects include ‘The Music Saves Me’ with Baby Bam, featured on a recent compilation from Fabric and released on the Bombstrikes label. ‘Gimme That’ his second collaboration with US hip hop legends Jungle Brothers was released on A-Skillz’ Jam City label and immediately play-listed by BBC 6 Music. ‘Ali B Plays The Blues’, the world’s first ‘beat-mixed’ classic blues compilation, was highly praised by The Guardian upon its release in January 2016. Ali B is the DJs DJ, as comfortable at the controls of clubs such as Fabric playing a heady mix of cutting edge bass and beats as he is digging for 45’s. Over the last two decades, Ali B has played all over the world, extensively touring Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Asia, Africa and the US. Ali B is often the go-to DJ for high profile events such as London’s Summer Olympics, Vancouver’s Winter Olympics, Abbey Road Studios with Mark Ronson, Mick Hucknall’s 50th birthday party and Gary Barlow’s wedding anniversary. He has even DJ’d on the set of US sitcom ‘Friends’. Ali B is happiest travelling the world and seeking out intrepid party locations such as Afrikaburn in the Karoo desert, Burning Man in the US or Lake Of Stars in Malawi, catch him while you can… |
