Ebn Ozn

Ēbn-Ōzn
Origin New York City, New York, United States
Genres Dance, new wave, synthpop, hip hop, pop rock, spoken word
Years active 1982–1985
Labels Elektra Records, Arista-Ariola, Wounded Bird Records
Members Ned "Ebn" Liben
Robert "Ozn" Rosen

Ēbn-Ōzn (pronounced EEBEN-OHZEN)[1] was a 1980s New York based synth pop duo composed of Ned "Ebn" Liben (synthesizer) and Robert "Ozn" Rosen (organ, vocals). The duo is best known for the 1983 hit single and award-winning music video "AEIOU Sometimes Y."

Career

Ēbn-Ōzn formed in 1981 in New York City when Rosen met Liben through record producer and recording artist Jay Aaron Podolnick (who later founded Villa Muse Studios in Austin, Texas), a friend of Ozn's Australian fashion-model girlfriend. Soon after meeting, they started spending time together in clubs listening to different types of dance music.[2] Ozn was a Broadway actor/singer in the original casts of Shenandoah and Marlowe and had just come off the road from a tour of The Pirates of Penzance with Karla DeVito. Ebn was owner of New York's Sundragon Recording Studios, which he created at the age of 14, and was a founding member of the guitar band Riff Raff (Atco/Warner Brothers). In 1983 they were signed to the London arm of Arista Records-Ariola by A&R wunderkind Simon Potts and to Elektra Records in New York by Bob Krazno, who released their only LP, Feeling Cavalier, and singles "AEIOU Sometimes Y" and "Bag Lady (I Wonder)". The album featured a wide range of musical styles and a sense of humor throughout; it also featured Latin jazz percussion legend Tito Puente.

"AEIOU" became an international MTV and dance club hit, reaching # 20 on the Billboard Club Chart.[3] The single also received significant black radio play and remains a modern rock radio and 1980s music staple.[2] AllMusic writes that the song "combines intelligence, melody, and weirdness in just the right doses. Accompanied by a video that featured the multi-braided Rosen delivering a stream-of-consciousness rap about 'this incredible Swedish girl,' and with a more serious subtext about communication, it became a bizarre but deserved hit."[4]

Recorded in 1981, "AEIOU" has the distinction of being the first commercial single ever recorded entirely on a computer (a Fairlight CMI) in the United States and the subsequent album, Feeling Cavalier, the first such album.[5] Ēbn-Ōzn's use of the Fairlight CMI's "sampling" functions makes them true pioneers of sampling, a music recording process, which was then revolutionary and is now common practice in 21st century sound music recording.

The second single was the uncharacteristically earnest dance-rock track "Bag Lady", the video for which starred Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actress Imogene Coca. The single became a dance club hit, reaching the Top 40 on the Billboard Club Chart, and a minor radio hit in the US, while gaining hit status in Canada and Europe.

"AEIOU Sometimes Y" was the focus of a Beavis and Butt-head episode in the 1990s, and has been released on numerous "Best of the '80s" compilation albums. Feeling Cavalier was released on CD on October 17, 2006, by Wounded Bird Records.

Breakup and subsequent activities

The duo went their separate ways in 1985. Ebn went on to work with Scritti Politti and producers Phil Ramone and Arif Mardin. Ozn formed House music act Dada Nada, released on his own label, One Voice Records.[2] Dada Nada was signed to Polydor/London and distributed independently in North America by Ozn, who proved himself an astute businessman, going head-to-head with the major labels and gaining two Top 5 Billboard club hits: "Haunted House," the first house music record by a white artist ever to chart in the USA, (co-written and produced with Bob Greenberg and mixed by Mike "Hitman" Wilson) and "Deep Love," (co-written with Steve Wight and mixed by Frankie Knuckles, David Morales and Bad Boy Bill).

Ned "Ebn" Liben died in 1998 of a heart attack in Manhattan, New York, and is survived by his widow Sallie Moore Liben and son Max.[6] Robert "Ozn" Rosen officially changed his name to Robert Ozn and went on to become a Hollywood script analyst, award-winning screenwriter and producer.

References

  1. ↑ AEIOU Sometimes Y (single reverse). Ebn-Ozn. Elektra Records. 1983.
  2. 1 2 3 http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p17230/biography
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 86.
  4. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r36299
  5. ↑ Dave Grohl (2013). Sound City (Motion picture). United States.
  6. ↑ "Ned 'Ebn' Liben Dies: College Fund Set Up For His Young Son." February 23, 1998 @MTV.com Retrieved 11-7-2015.
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