| Calvin Harris | |
|---|---|
Calvin Harris, May 2011 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Adam Richard Wiles |
| Born | 17 January 1984 Dumfries, Scotland, UK |
| Genres | Dance, electro house, electronica, nu-disco |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, record producer, DJ |
| Instruments | Vocals, keyboards, synthesizer |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Fly Eye, Columbia |
| Associated acts | Rihanna |
| Website | www.calvinharris.co.uk |
Calvin Harris (born Adam Richard Wiles[1] on 17 January 1984)[2] is a Scottish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls". His second studio album, Ready for the Weekend (2009), reached number one in the UK Album Chart and includes the chart-topper "I'm Not Alone", the UK top five hit "Ready for the Weekend", and the singles "Flashback" and "You Used to Hold Me".
A remix album titled L.E.D. Festival was released in July 2010 as a free album in the August issue of Mixmag. Harris is currently working on his third studio album—due in 2012—which has produced the singles "Awooga", "Bounce" and "Feel So Close". He has written and produced records for other recording artists including Kylie Minogue, Dizzee Rascal, and Rihanna (on the international chart topper "We Found Love").[3]
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Harris was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He states that his childhood hero was football star Steve McManaman,[4] but because he could not play [the game] nor have McManaman's 'curly hair', music was the next best option for a career.[5] He was first attracted to electronic music in his teens and was recording bedroom demos by 1999.[6] According to an interview with News of the World, all the while he created music, he started becoming an antisocial person, which affected his personality.[7] His 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.[8] He released one song in 2004, "Let Me Know", with artist Ayah Marar. The song appears on The Unabombers' Electric Soul 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.[9] Later in 2006, Harris produced a remix of All Saints' hit single "Rock Steady".
Harris' first album, I Created Disco, was released in June 2007. The album contains 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.[10][11] I Created Disco has been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of 100,000 copies in the UK, where it reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart.
The first single, "Vegas", was issued on limited edition vinyl; the first wide-release single 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.[12] "The Girls", the album's third single, peaked at number three in the UK, although the fourth release, "Merrymaking at My Place", reached only number forty-three. The fifth and final single, "Colours", was featured in television advertisements for DFS sofas and Kia Motors. In October 2008, Harris was featured on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix with a two-hour set.
In April 2008, Harris stated that the only existing copy of his upcoming album work was lost when his was misplaced during the baggage handling problems at the opening of London Heathrow Terminal 5.[13] Harris later admitted that this was a lie as the album was not in his luggage at all, and that he hoped that what he said would buy him some more time to finish recording the LP.[14] The album, Ready for the Weekend, was released in August 2009 in the United Kingdom[15] and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, eventually being certified gold by the BPI for selling 100,000 copies. The first single, "I'm Not Alone", released in April 2009, debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number one and was shortlisted for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize. The follow-up single, "Ready for the Weekend" (featuring singer Mary Pearce), went to number three. Other tracks included on the album are "Worst Day" featuring Izza Kizza[16] and "Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La", which was used in a Coca-Cola advertisement.[17]
Harris toured around the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and the United States promoting the album. In June 2009, Harris appeared at the Summertime Ball at the Emirates Stadium, and in August, he made an appearance on the first Soccer AM show of the season. Harris performed at Wembley Stadium in October 2009 as part of the pre-game entertainment for the NFL International Series game between the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The third single from Ready for the Weekend, "Flashback", reached the top twenty in the UK, and the fourth, "You Used to Hold Me", entered the top forty. During promotion of the album, Harris hosted a series of videos on YouTube titled JAM TV, in which musicians such as Florence Welch, Goldie and Katy Perry tried to open pots of jam.[18] In 2010, Harris received a BRIT Award nomination for British Male.
On 14 November, Harris invaded the stage of The X Factor during a performance by John & Edward, holding a pineapple on his head and bending over to point at his buttocks. He was subsequently evicted from the studio by the security team and told not to return to have his say on the ITV2 programme The Xtra Factor—in which he was to have been a "Celebrity Guest". He later apologised on Twitter, saying he was a fan of the boys, "At the end of the day, I had a pineapple on my head. Sorry if I caused anyone embarrassment. PS, I love Jedward (sic)"[19] The same week, Harris spoke to The Chris Moyles Show and revealed that he had been "inspired to make a mockery of the show", as well as stating that "If you look at music it's a frightening stranglehold that Simon Cowell has got over the entire music chart in the UK at the moment."[20] On the same day, John and Edward's "mentor" Louis Walsh, appearing on The Paul O'Grady Show, accused Harris of trying to "cash in" on John & Edward's fame, and claimed to not know who he was.[21]
Harris played at the 2010 Big Day Out, a music festival which takes place in several major cities in Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. In May 2010, he performed at Evolution Festival, UK in Newcastle upon Tyne, Quayside, and in July he played at Nottingham Splendour and headlined at the Stockton International Riverside Festival in Stockton-on-Tees. In July 2010, Harris released a mix, titled L.E.D. Festival (short for L.E.D. Festival Presents... Calvin Harris). It was available for one month as a free covermount CD in Mixmag.
Harris appeared at the tenth birthday of Our:House in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2010, alongside Afrojack,[22] and performed an hour-long DJ set at Australia's Steresonic Festival alongside Tiesto, Carl Cox, Afrojack and Major Lazer in November/December 2010, in several major Australian cities including Sydney and Melbourne. In 2011, he toured with Rihanna in Australia and the UK as a support act on her Loud Tour; Rihanna was quoted to say that "Calvin is the perfect fit for the Loud tour. He is going to bring something unique and fun for the fans."[23] Harris headlined the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2011 party.
During March and April 2011, Harris was scheduled to be an opening act/DJ for Katy Perry on the UK leg of her California Dreams Tour, but he withdrew from the tour shortly before his first date, citing production issues and difficulties with Perry's management in his apology to her fans.[24] Perry publicly criticised Harris via her Twitter feed, stating that the tour's other support acts had expressed no problems with their production arrangements,[25] but Harris later said "it's all fine" between them and that he would still like to work with her in the future.[26]
Harris headlined Limelite at Metropolis Fremantle (Western Australia) in March 2011 in celebration of the event's fourth birthday, where he played small samples of his new track, "Awooga", which was subsequently uploaded onto YouTube via his channel, icreateddisco.[27] Following "Awooga", Harris released the single "Bounce", a collaboration with Kelis that debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart in June 2011. Another single, "Feel So Close", was released in August 2011 and also reached number two. These singles precede Harris's third studio album, which will be released in 2012;[28] he has said of the LP, "I'm going for pretty epic-sounding dance records. I guess the whole sound has just moved on in terms of production as I've got a new studio and some new gear to make the sounds I wasn't able to make before."[29]
Harris will play at the 2011 Jingle Bell Ball concert, and has been announced as one of the headline acts at a number of Southern Hemisphere 2011/2012 new year music festivals, including Shore Thing and Field Day[30] in Sydney, as well as Rhythm and Vines in New Zealand.[31]
In 2007, Harris caught the attention of pop singer Kylie Minogue after his recordings had been passed on to her by another record producer.[10] This led to him co-writing and producing two songs on her 2007 album X—"Heart Beat Rock" and "In My Arms", the latter a top ten hit in the UK. Harris said that working with Minogue was "surreal, but fun" although he admitted to Mixmag in 2007 to "needing a few drinks before meeting her". Harris returned to work with Minogue on her album Aphrodite (2010), co-producing the track "Too Much".
In 2008, Harris collaborated with rapper Dizzee Rascal on his single "Dance wiv Me", producing the track and singing the hook. The single reached number one in the UK and has been certified platinum by the BPI, selling 300,000 copies. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Popjustice £20 Music Prize and, in 2009, received a BRIT Award nomination for British Single and an Ivor Novello Award nomination for Best Contemporary Song. In 2009, he produced Dizzee Rascal's next single entitled "Holiday", which also reached number one. He was supposed to make an appearance in its music video, but objected to dancing along in some scenes, wearing a certain shirt for the video and not wearing his "fly eye" glasses.[1] Also in 2009, Harris made a guest appearance on Tiësto's song "Century" on the Dutch producer's album Kaleidoscope.[32] Harris produced a track for English singer/rapper Example for his second album Won't Go Quietly (2010), "Time Machine", and mixed The Ting Tings' UK top forty single "Hands", having previously remixed the band's singles "Great DJ" (2008) and "We Walk" (2009).
In 2011, Harris featured on LMFAO's album Sorry for Party Rocking, appearing on the track "Reminds Me of You" which is based on Harris's own song "Awooga". Harris produced Tinchy Stryder's second single, "Off the Record" from his fourth studio album, Full Tank. The track had its première on 15 September 2011, and was released in the UK on 6 November 2011. Following a stint as her support act on the Australian leg of her tour, Harris produced "We Found Love" and "Where Have You Been" for Barbadian singer Rihanna. The former is the lead single from her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk, and was premiered in September 2011. It has reached number one in countries such as the UK and the United States, becoming Harris's first charting appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. He co-wrote and co-produced the bonus track "One Life" for R&B singer Mary J. Blige's album My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1) (2011).
Harris has worked with Leona Lewis on a song for her third studio album, Glassheart, due for release in March 2012.[33]
In 2007, Harris contributed the song "Off & On" to Róisín Murphy's album Overpowered, but it was cut from the album; Harris later gave the song to Sophie Ellis-Bextor to record for her 2011 album Make a Scene. He said that Murphy was "a bit mental", "crazy" and a "twat" not to use the songs,[34] though subsequently apologised in person to Murphy "for throwing my toys out of the pram because I said things that weren't very nice. She said: 'That's all right, we all say silly things sometimes.'"[35] Harris also produced a remix of Dragonette's debut single "I Get Around" that was rejected by the band, whom he said "weren't very nice to me [...] they said, 'by the way, it's shit', and then asked me to change everything about it. I told them I couldn't because I was on a bus and that they could basically F--- OFF. That's where we left it."[34]
Harris has said that in early 2008, he turned down the opportunity to work with American singer Lady Gaga before the release of her top-selling debut album, The Fame. He recalled: "When Lady Gaga first came out, her name rang a bell, so I checked my emails—and it turns out that on 1 January 2008, I got an email asking to work with her. I thought, 'Lady Gaga, what sort of name is that?' So I replied saying, 'Nah, I’m not into that.' Fast forward a year and she's the biggest thing. But I don't regret turning her down as I didn't think the song I heard then was that good."[36] In a later interview, Harris stated he considers Gaga to be a "good artist".[37]
In 2007, Kelis discussed plans to work with Harris on her fifth studio album, Flesh Tone (2010), saying that he was "very creative and exciting [...] very, very talented". Although she said they were "looking at doing something together" for the album,[38] this did not materialise; Harris did, however, produce a remix of Flesh Tone's second single, "4th of July (Fireworks)".
American singer Katy Perry expressed an interest in working with Harris in 2009,[39] and at one point they had pencilled recording sessions for her second album, Teenage Dream (2010),[40] but no material was released. Harris worked with boyband JLS on songs for their second album, Outta This World (2010), but none of his work appeared on the released LP.[41] The third single from that album, "Eyes Wide Shut", was said to copy heavily from Harris's own single "I'm Not Alone", but Harris said that it "wasn't [JLS's] fault and had nothing to do with them".[42]
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | BT Digital Music Awards | Best Electronic Artist or DJ | – | Nominated |
| Q Awards | Best Breakthrough Artist | – | Nominated | |
| 2008 | Xfm New Music Award | – | I Created Disco | Nominated |
| Shortlist Music Prize | – | I Created Disco | Nominated | |
| Popjustice £20 Music Prize | – | "Dance Wiv Me" | Nominated | |
| 2009 | The Music Producers Guild Awards | Best Remixer | – | Won |
| 2009 BRIT Awards | British Single | "Dance Wiv Me" | Nominated | |
| NME Awards | Best Dancefloor Filler | "Dance Wiv Me" | Won | |
| Ivor Novello Awards | Best Contemporary Song | "Dance Wiv Me" | Nominated | |
| Popjustice £20 Music Prize | Best Contemporary Song | "I'm Not Alone" | Nominated | |
| 2010 | 2010 BRIT Awards | Best British Male | – | Nominated |
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