HAJI, SEAMUS / BELEZAMUSICA / NAMY / JOSHUA, MAURICE - [V1] A TOUCH OF SOUL EP1

Seamus Haji (born 30 December 1968), is a UK record producer, who had a number one on the UK Dance Chart (2007), with Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (an Indeep cover, released 2004). The single originally reached #69, on the UK Singles Chart, #13 upon re-issue (March 2007). He is of Irish, Indian and Iranian descent & has remixed many tracks by other artists, some of which have been promoted as the main version of the track in question. Boogie 2Nite by Booty Luv, which reached number 2, on the UK chart, being one such track. Haji has worked with many of the biggest names in music, including Rihanna, Moby, Mika and, most recently, Emii. He often produces in partnership with Paul Emanuel & together they had a UK Top 75 hit, in 2005, with their cover of True Faith (and Bridgette Grace), with Final Cut's, Take Me Away. Seamus began his DJing career at the tender age of 16 with a London soundsystem playing a mixture of early House, Soul and Hip Hop. With a barrel-full of drive, enthusiasm and determination he went on to secure his first residency at The Satellite and later took on regular guest spots at MOS, Garage City, Release The Pressure, Hard Times and Back To Basics. He then became a regular fixture at the likes of MOS, Code, Bed and Pacha, London. He has also enjoyed numerous residencies around the globe, including the last four years at Pacha, Ibiza where he's gathered an army of fans, possibly something to do with his rather dashing looks as well as his DJing ability of course! Musically his strength is his diversity playing as comfortably alongside, for example, Kenny Dope as Murk. And his sets are now known for the wealth of his own productions and remixes as well as more than a smattering of trickery on the Pioneer CDJ1000's ( for which he is an official ambassador) The trainspotter in you may be aware that Seamus has multiple creative personalities that come in the form of the following monikers: Big Bang Theory - His funked up house personality. A hit with the incredible 'God's Child', released on Defected Records, met with huge critical acclaim and became a commercial success. The follow-up s 'Do U Got Funk?' and "Haven't Been Funked Enough" garnered similar worldwide support and dropped in 2003 and 2004 respectively! Fans include Xpress2, David Morales and Danny Rampling. Mekkah - His soulful, more vocal orientated personality. 'Race Of Survival', the first release on his very own Soul Love label has already become a classic. The second outing 'Found A Love' built on the rep. And the most recent third, 'Dimensions (I'm Happy)', featuring the vocal skills of Stephen Granville once again, is the icing on the cake! Fans include Louie Vega, Jazz-n-Groove & CJ Mackintosh. 11th Dimension - his darker, tougher more futuristic side which sees him collaborate with Paul Emanuel (Club Asylum / Class A , Azuli). Releases so far have been "Beat Goes On", "The Force" and most recently "The Rhythm" with fans such as Future Shock, Peace Division and Jo Mills. Get This! - A cheeky Go-Go/House fusion which has won devotees from such diverse corners as Brandon Block to Layo!! The first Get This! Release, "Ya Underwear", went down so well it was soon followed up with "Work That Sucka" and most recently "Party People" both causing just as much mayhem. Heart & Soul - another moniker which reveals Seamus' deeper side. The debut 'Share Your Love' features Tommy Blaize (Craig David's No 1 backing singer) on vocal & remix from D Ramirez. Winning approval from Tom Stephan, King Unique & the Defmix posse. "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life" is the latest single released by Seamus under his own name. He's covered the original '80's club classic in an Electro-house style which has been championed by Djs as diverse as Deep Dish and Steve Lawler to Lucien Foort and the Dreem Team. Seamus has also been getting back into some remixing, notching up great packages for most notably Hardsoul "Back Together","Artificial Funk "Together", Tweet "Boogie 2 Nite" and Stonebridge "Put Em High" in addition to various indie projects. As well as DJing, producing and remixing, the past 10 years have seen Seamus gather a wealth of musical experience and knowledge. Having spent many years working in record shops such as Red Records, Release The Groove and Uptown Records, taking on A&R management roles at Slip 'N' Slide and of course Defected Records, as well as putting on his journalist hat and writing for publications such as Blues & Soul, Echoes, Touch and Muzik, (he currently reviews for the weekly Update) he can't have helped but build up a strong knowledge of all aspects of the industry. Armed with this knowledge, Seamus decided to set up his own record label, Big Love, with Defected Records' ex head honcho Janet Bell. "Big Love is an organic, lo-pressure imprint for quality, club-based international house whereas Soul Love is it's fairly self-explanatory Soul Sister. Both are reflections of where our hearts lie musically and our intention to be INclusive rather than EXclusive. Dance music is way too up its arse and pigeonholed these days!" As if all this wasn't enough, Seamus is pleased to be back on the air with his ratings-grabbing Ministry of Sound radio show. And in light of guest mixes on Radio 1, Kiss 100, Galaxy and Ministry Of Sound , it's about time too! Seamus Haji has become synonymous with quality, his DJ sets are nearing legendary, he's a technical wizard and his productions are phenomenal. His star is in the ascendant for 2005. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

A UK-based house/afro-beat/soul duo consisting of Julian Bendall and Mark Ralph. www.myspace.com/belezamusica Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Namy is a Shibuya based producer/DJ Yutaka Takanami's project. He wrote all the songs on the album, opting not to use samplings at all. The recent release Namy Black is a compilation of the two EPs he has released, featuring many famous artists in the Shibuya-kei scene, including the vocalist of Be The Voice, Japanese hip-hop sensations Kenichiro Nishihara, Shin-Ski and Jazzin'park. Also included in this album is a cover of Ne-Yo's hit "Because of You" in Yutaka Takanami's style. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

In the 1980s, Joshua was active as a DJ and producer in the early days of the house music scene. His earliest productions were released on the Trax Records label. In the early 1990s, Joshua began producing remixes of songs by artists like Ce Ce Peniston, Malaika and many pop artists, including Michael Jackson. He continues to remix to this day. Grammy Award winner Maurice Joshua is known across the globe as a brilliant producer, remixer and DJ. In the years since he first burst upon the club scene in 1988 with the now classic anthem "This Is Acid", Maurice has earned an extremely high degree of respect from his contemporaries. In fact, in the grand scheme of house music, he is revered as one of the world’s best Producer/Remixer/DJs, as well as one of the original architects of the sound that now dominates dance floors all over the world. With such experience and talent, it’s no wonder that Maurice won a Grammy Award for his remix of Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love” in 2004. Early in his career, “This is Acid” became the catalyst for the chemical reaction that brought Maurice onto the global scene. The single reached #1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Play Chart, as well as the Dance Sales Chart. In addition to its U.S. chart success, “This is Acid”, (which was originally released on the Chicago independent label Trax Records) became the milestone for house music. The record was later licensed and released by Vendetta/A&M Records, setting the airwaves of Europe ablaze and earmarking a universally strong beginning to his career. Many will also recall Maurice’s prominent role as one of the members of Chicago's worldwide famed triumphant trio, I.D. Productions. Along with Steve "Silk" Hurley and Eric "E-Smoove" Miller, Maurice completed the trinity that helped to redefine what a “remix” was. Instead of just extending the length of the song, the track was completely reworked, reproduced and given a whole new form ready to take clubland by storm. His hit-making flavor soon enabled Maurice to go solo. He then reached greater career heights as the proprietor of Vibe Music & Music Plant (a company with which he is no longer affiliated). During this time, he produced several massive club anthems such as the #1 Billboard hit "For the Love of You" by Meechie. He also produced some of Kiss FM London’s favorite tunes: “House 101”, “House 102”, “Got a Hold On U” by Chantay Savage, “Good Love, Real Love” by D’Bora, “Just Can’t Get Enough” by Mixx Vibes, and “La La” by Maurice Joshua featuring Liquid Soul to name but a few. For Maurice, timeless hits like these prove that is consistently ahead of his time by producing massive tunes that set the standard for today’s dominating dance genres. These tracks also allow him to constantly expose clubs to his seamless mixing skills—a talent that fills dance floor after dance floor. With his numerous DJ performances throughout the world, Maurice has “been there and done that” long before many other DJs have. Whether being played in famous clubs like Ministry of Sound (London), Cream (Liverpool), Sound Factory (NYC), Cocorico (Rimini), and MZA (Tokyo), or at dance festivals and music conferences, Maurice has gained worldwide respect as being one of the world’s top DJs. His sets are more than outstanding: he knows what to mix and when to mix it, reaching his fans’ inner hearts and souls. If you are looking for soulful odysseys, disco filtered dubs, Afro Cuban rhythms, Middle Eastern percussion or even classic disco, hip-hop and reggae, Maurice’s sets are definitely the ones that will lead the way to your “entranced” club journeys. Maurice has also established his exquisite versatility as an artist by adding songwriting to his roster of talents. In 1996, he struck an EMI Publishing Agreement with VP Jody Gerson. Most recently, Maurice has written tracks for both Jamie Foxx and Beyoncé new albums and his credits also include writing and producing hits for world renowned artists like Crystal Waters, CeCe Peniston, Byron Stingily, Kim English, Whiteboy and RCA recording group Public Announcement. He has even written for McDonald’s commercials. As Maurice has expanded his creative palette and branched out into pop, hip-hop and R&B, he has approached it all from his uniquely artistic point of view. Aside from touring the world, producing essential club cuts, and remixing both pop and urban artists, Maurice has even hit the airwaves hosting his own exclusive mix show for Chicago’s B96 (96.3 FM). His goal was always to educate and entertain his fans by providing them with the freshest and funkiest house/garage and hip-hop/R&B/reggae tunes, long before they were officially promoted to club DJs. While on the air, Maurice was considered to be one of the few U.S. radio DJs with the ability to effortlessly break records into airplay – whether dance or urban –by playing them for his audience of more than two million listeners. Artists and record labels (major and minor) always made sure Maurice had two copies of every project, considering him at that time to be the USA's answer to the UK's Pete Tong, Judge Jules and Gilles Peterson. Years ago, because of his ongoing effort to infiltrate new markets and genres, Maurice predicted the next big thing in music that would take Generations X and Y by storm would be R&B and hip-hop. He also realized that this genre had no DJ/ producers providing dance mixes of the original tracks. So he gave it a chance… Sure enough, Maurice became the darling of the R&B/hip-hop circuit, adding his magic touch to artists such as Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, John Legend, Omarion, Michael Jackson, Faith Evans, and Amerie. He also produced the dance version of Mary Mary’s contemporary gospel hit “Shackles” and became the Exclusive Remixer of the world’s hottest pop/R&B group, Destiny’s Child, remixing all of their tracks on their albums, and ensuring him a position on the production of upcoming LPs for the group and its members. This type of success though did not come easy for Maurice. Continuous requests for remixes by major label A&R executives would not be possible if he hadn’t put his entire heart and soul into his craft. The mixes he delivers are not simple edits, additional dance beats and computerized stretching of the vocals. He puts in the effort to completely reconstruct a song from scratch. The beats are fresh, not sampled; instruments are live; melodies are new. And most times, the vocals are re-cut, giving a whole new meaning and flavor to the track. Essentially, Maurice produces the artists and does not simply “remix” them. The ultimate achievement for Maurice came in 2004 when all of this hard work earned him his first Grammy after three previous nominations. He also signed a management deal that year with MusicWorld/Sanctuary Music Group (run by Beyoncés father, Mathew Knowles). Even in the midst of this success, Maurice has remained humble and thankful; he realizes that his Grammy win is a simple acknowledgement of his hard work and that more hard work was about to come. “It’s hard to get on top, but it’s easy to fall down,” Maurice said of his Grammy Award in a recent TV interview. “And you will fall down faster than you got up if you do not realize this.” When asked how it felt to be a celebrity, Maurice replied with a smile of satisfaction: “I love style, fashion, glamour, expensive cars, elegant houses and the whole entourage that follows a superstar DJ/Producer, but nothing comes for free and nothing stays for free.” And as Maurice prepares for his future goals – making more hit records, artist development and a new recording studio – one thing is certain: he has truly earned every moment and accolade in his career. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.