Paul Oakenfold

It won’t be far off the mark, if one were to say that Paul Oakenfold is the most important name when it comes to modern club culture.

Paul Oakenfold was born on August 30th, 1963 in London, England. He is perhaps the world’s best known DJ and it is a testimony to this man’s remarkable talent that he is still going strong after two decades of trailblazing work in dance music. Paul Oakenfold’s tremendous popularity can be gauged from the fact that the man endorses numerous mega brands like Coca Cola, Toyota, and SAAB. Even if you were to be remotely aware of the happenings in the dance music scene, you couldn’t have probably missed out his name. Such has been the impact of this versatile genius.

Who can forget his contribution to the box office blockbuster ‘Swordfish’, for instance, which topped US charts? He has also worked on the soundtracks of ‘The Matrix Reloaded’, ‘Collateral’ and the James Bond flick ‘Die Another Day’, for which he remixed the James Bond theme. He has also worked on the James Bond Video game called ‘Golden Eye: Rogue Agent’. Not limiting himself to scoring for English movies he has also scored for a Japanese animation film ‘Apple seed’ in 2004.

Paul Oakenfold along with his friend Trevor Fung began making music in the late seventies, mixing soul and groove in London. The music bug bit him and his restless passion took him to West Harlem in New York. Fired up by the city’s club environment and hip hop, he was determined to break into the industry, come what may. Returning home to London, he landed up a job with Champion Records. He subsequently worked in Profile and Def Jam’s offices. Paul was influenced by the new underground scene he came across on a vacation to the island of Ibiza during 1987. He came back to England with a new Balearic house sound. He soon had a residencies in happening clubs, particularly so in ‘Spectrum of the Future at Heaven’. The Paul Oakenfold legend grew and there was no looking back.

It was in 1989 that Paul and his production partner Steve Osborne produced ‘Happy Mondays’, a band on the label Factory. They started out with ‘Manchester Rave’, followed by the mega successful album ‘Pills ‘N’ Thrills’ and ‘Bellyaches’ in 1990. Come 1992 and Oakenfold remixed ‘Even Better than the Real Thing’ which reached higher in the UK chart than U2’s original!

Paul Oakenfold launched his own record label Perfecto in 1990, which apart from releasing his works acts as a platform encouraging aspiring DJ talents. He soon had residencies at Cream in Liverpool, London’s Ministry of Sound and Ibiza. 1995 saw him become the first DJ to play on the main stage at Glastonbury Festival.

He is a master at remixing. The best example for his skills came with Madonna’s recent single ‘What It Feels Like For a Girl’. There must be hardly a place on the planet which he has not visited. Oakenfold had an incredible five albums in the American Top 50 electronic charts. His ‘Perfecto Presents Another World’, is in fact America’s biggest ever DJ mix album, selling hundreds and thousands of copies. Paul Oakenfold is listed in the Guinness Book of Records for being the biggest DJ on the planet. He was honored by none other than Queen Elizabeth in 2003 for being a ‘Pioneer of Dance Music’. 2003 also saw him play on the Great Wall of China.

His album ‘Lively Mind’ is eagerly awaited in 2006. Not many know that Paul graduated from a culinary school before he took up music and is one helluva cook. So, what’s cooking Paul? Dish it out. Can’t wait any more.

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