Who is the talented Calvin Harris?

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris (born 17 January 1984 in Dumfries, Scotland)^[1] is a Scottish electronic musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His Gold-selling début 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 Dizzie Rascal, "Dance Wiv Me". His second studio album is due to be released in 2009 and will contain the #1 single "I'm Not Alone".

Music career

Early 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.

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'.

Created Disco

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.

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.

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. 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 is expected to be released in mid-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 Friday 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.

Calvin will be touring around the United Kingdom, 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 and "La La La, Yeah Yeah Yeah" used in a Coca-Cola advertisement.

With the 2007 release of his debut album entitled “I Created Disco,” Calvin Harris burst onto the scene just about as fast as he disappeared from it. Riding the wave of stellar electro-pop that year with Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, and Digitalism all lighting up the charts, Harris was heralded for a while but then was immediately dismissed as “the same cookie cutter bullshit” that was floating around in heavy amounts that summer

I have to say though, that “I Created Disco” however cookie cutter it may be, was a fun album. I got plenty of plays out of it, and when it comes up on shuffle now-a-days its a great refresher. I guess I was sort of dismissing a sophomore album from him though, thinking that it might just be over-the-top and foolish a la his track with Dizzee Rascal “Dance Wiv Me.”

But here I sit, enraptured by Harris’ newest single. Premiering on what seems to be some sort of French electro radio/podcast (it’s a radio rip so he talks near the end, but it doesn’t take away from the essence of the song at all) “I’m Not Alone” is pretty different from his past material. And in a really good way. Instead of the same old indie-hipster-electro-techno whatever you want to call it, Harris goes the route of 80’s new-wave house. Well, it’s kind of hard to describe and certainly not easy to categorize, for whatever it’s worth though it’s good. Like I said, “I’m Not Alone” absolutely booms with energy and club vibe, sounding like something you might hear overseas at a Tiesto show rather than on the average teenage kid’s iPod
I’ll stop trying to describe a song that simply has to be heard. Whether you dismissed his first release or simply haven’t heard him yet, Harris will be making waves with this release, so be ahead of the curb and grab “I’m Not Alone” now!