David Russell Lee (born 18 June 1964) is an English DJ and house music producer, formerly known by the stage name Joey Negro, which he retired in July 2020 following the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...

. He has released music under a variety of pseudonyms, including Jakatta, Doug Willis, Raven Maize, Sessomatto as well as being part of The Sunburst Band. Lee has scored a number of top 40 hits, among them " American Dream", "

So Lonely "So Lonely" is a song by English rock band The Police, released as the third and final single in November 1978 from their debut studio album '' Outlandos d'Amour'' (1978), and again in February 1980 as a re-release. The song uses a reggae styl ...

" and "

My Vision The is a home video game console developed by Nichibutsu and released in Japan in 1983. The system was dedicated solely to playing video versions of popular board games Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are mo ...

", all under the name Jakatta.

Biography

Early life

Lee was born on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

, but raised in

Thorpe-le-Soken Thorpe-le-Soken is a village and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England located east of Colchester, west of Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton-on-Sea and north of Clacton-on-Sea. History Since 2002, archaeological investigations ahead ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

. His mother is the novelist Maureen Lee.

Career

Dave Lee's interest in dance music began with collecting disco, soul and funk records in the late 1970s. In 1986, he got his first job in the industry, working at the short-lived store Smithers & Leigh. He moved over to Rough Trade, who were then setting up a dance division, Demix, and were looking for someone to run it. Within a short period of time, Demix was handling hits for Bomb the Bass,

MARRS MARRS (stylised M, A, R, R, S) were a 1987 recording collective formed by the groups A.R. Kane and Colourbox, which only released one commercial disc. It became "a one-hit wonder of rare influence" because of their international hit " Pump Up t ...

and Beatmasters. Less than a year later, Lee, in partnership with Rough Trade, set up his own label, Republic Records, which became known both for the series of compilation albums, ''The Garage Sound of Deepest New York'', as well Lee's own early forays into studio production. By the end of 1987, Lee began working in a

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated ...

studio with former schoolfriend Mike Cheal (real name Emmanuel Cheal) and another Smithers & Leigh employee, DJ Mark Ryder. The trio were responsible for the first release on Republic, under the name

M-D-Emm M-D-Emm were an English electronic music trio which consisted of Dave Lee, Emmanuel Cheal (a.k.a. Mike Cheal) and Mark Ryder. The group's name is a combination of each member's first names; Mark, Dave and Emmanuel. Five of their singles charted ...

: "Get Busy (It's Partytime!)". Two further M-D-Emm singles were released on Republic. Mike and Dave recorded the acid house songs "1666" and "Get Acidic" together without Mark, and continued the same partnership using other aliases, notably Masters of the Universe, Mystique, Kikkit and The Shy Boys. In 1989, Dave Lee, Mike Cheal and Mark Ryder broke through the underground with a club hit under the assumed name Raven Maize, which made use of disco samples, something Lee has returned to repeatedly over the course of his career. In 1990, Lee's most enduring pseudonym made its debut, when he released Joey Negro's first single via New York indie house music label Nu Groove, with his new name a homage to Pal Joey and J. Walter Negro. After the single's success, Lee went totally solo allowing him the total freedom to explore his own musical direction. When the single "Do It, Believe It" was released in the UK, it was also the debut release on his own self-financed label Z Records, which remains his primary outlet. Around the same time, Lee met keyboard player Andrew 'Doc' Livingstone when he sent in a demo to Republic Records. Shortly after, the pair decamped to Unit 3 Studios in Chalk Farm. In 1991, Rough Trade Records went into liquidation and with it, Lee's job. The slack was taken up by increasingly large amounts of studio commissions as his work as a remixer grew. In 1993, Lee was approached by boy band

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

's label with a view to working together. Although the

Dan Hartman Daniel Earl Hartman (December 8, 1950 – March 22, 1994) was an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Among songs he wrote and recorded were " Free Ride" as a member of the Edgar Winter Group, and the solo hits ...

song " Relight My Fire" had never been a hit in the UK, it had become a popular club track in the house music scene, so at Lee's suggestion they covered it, with

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, ...

taking the cameo role that

Loleatta Holloway Loleatta Holloway (, ; November 5, 1946 – March 21, 2011) was an American singer known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation". In December 2016, ''Billboard'' named her the 95th most successful dance artist of all time. Acco ...

had performed on the original. It became the boy band's second number one in the UK. The same year saw the release of the Joey Negro album ''Universe of Love'', featuring Gwen Guthrie and

the Trammps The Trammps are an American disco and soul band, who were based in Philadelphia and were one of the first disco bands. The band's first major success was their 1972 cover version of " Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", while the first disco t ...

. Its title track, with live instrumentation, prefigured much of the work he went on to do with the Sunburst Band. Lee's stock as a remixer continued to rise throughout the '90s, providing remixes for Diana Ross,

M People M People (stylised as ''M''People) is an English dance music band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who form ...

and Pet Shop Boys, as well as racking up further aliases (Z Factor, Doug Willis, Akabu, Sessomatto and Agora). In 1997, Lee met Taka Boom, Chaka Khan's sister, when she relocated to the UK, and the pair collaborated on "Surrender" and "Can't Get High Without U". The same year, the Sunburst Band released their debut EP, ''Sunburn'', which included "Garden of Love", one of the band's most successful songs. Lee opted to gather many of the session musicians he worked with over the years – among them Michele Chiavarini, Viv Hope-Scott, Jessica Lauren and Tony Remy – who recorded the first album, ''Here Comes the Sunburst Band''. It was a conscious departure from electronic music and, as Lee admitted in an interview, it was his commercial successes elsewhere that provided the finances to make such a move. The follow-up, 2005's ''Until the End of Time'', introduced two new vocal collaborators, disco stylist Linda Clifford and former Chic frontwoman Norma Jean Wright, as well as Taka Boom, and received critical plaudits: a remix of "Every Day", "Everydub", was included on

Heston Blumenthal Heston Marc Blumenthal (; born 27 May 1966) is a British celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. Blumenthal is regarded as a pioneer of multi-sensory cooking, food pairing and flavour encapsulation. He came to public attention with u ...

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. On the third album, ''Moving with the Shakers'', Lee brought Leroy Burgess and Diane Charlemagne (vocalist on

Goldie Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ. Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in t ...

's hit " Inner City Life") into his ever-evolving band. The most recent album, ''The Secret Life of Us'', was released in 2012. All four albums were released on Lee's own Z Records imprint, which has been the outlet for the majority of his work since the collapse of Republic Records. By the end of the 1990s, Z had released around 40 singles, the overwhelming majority coming from Lee's own studio; but over the past decade, the label has featured more outside producers and remixers, including Dennis Ferrer, Henrik Schwarz, Ame and Motor City Drum Ensemble, as well as providing an outlet for Lee's esoteric compilation series. Z Records has now passed 200 releases. Lee's deep house project Akabu, which has been remixed by Deetron, Spiritcatcher and Lovebirds, also won plaudits from industry veterans such as

Carl Craig Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980s ...

when the album was released in 2010. Lee's first brush with the higher echelons of the top 40 came in 1999 when TV series '' Ibiza Uncovered'' used a portion of Z Factor's "Gotta Keep Pushin'" as its theme. Lee reworked the song, with Taka Boom on vocals, and re-released it as "Must Be the Music" (as Joey Negro). The song eventually peaked at number 8. (The duo had one further hit in 2006 with "Make a Move on Me"; UK #11.) The following year in 2000, Lee scored an unlikely hit with an underground smash called "American Booty", sampling two

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); '' The Sh ...

pieces ("Dead Already" and "American Beauty/Paper Bag") from the soundtrack for the film '' American Beauty''. It was eventually reworked with added vocals from Swati Nektar using the Jakatta alias, and released as " American Dream", delivering the biggest hit of Lee's career (UK #3). It was swiftly followed by two further top ten hits for Jakatta with "

" (featuring

Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

) (UK #8) and the

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

collaboration "

" (UK #6). The resulting Jakatta album also climbed to number 12 in the charts. In 2001, Lee resurrected his Raven Maize alias for one of the Ibiza hits of the summer. Inspired by the Corporation of One original, Lee used both "

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack o ...

" and Simple Minds' "Theme from Great Cities", and the record reached number 12 (UK). Lee's other project is as a music compiler. Beginning with the Republic compilations ''The Garage Sound of Deepest New York'', he has since compiled over 20 albums, usually featuring rare disco, and club music. During the 1990s, he was behind the ''Jumpin series of compilations released by Harmless Records, which collected together influential and sampled disco tracks, while Disco Spectrum, which ran to three volumes on Barely Breaking Even, assembled disco songs that had never been reissued before. Lee, with longtime associate Sean P, was also responsible for the Disco Not Disco series on

Strut Records Strut Records is a British record label that focuses on dance music and afrobeat. History The label was "acquired and re-launched in January 2008." The label website states that "from 1999-2003, the label became renowned for its uncompromisi ...

that gathered together a collection of songs by artists such as

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

, Can and jazz trumpeter

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

. Subsequent to these, he has continued to run various series on his own label Z Records, including ''Soul of Disco'', ''Back Street Brit Funk'', ''Italo House'' and '' Go Go Get Down'', all focusing on forgotten areas of dance music history. Lee continues to release house and other disco-influenced styles on his own label Z Records, as well as DJing regularly in the UK and around the world. Lee dropped the name Joey Negro on 21 July 2020 in light of the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

movement. The move came a day after

The Black Madonna Marea Stamper (born 1977), better known by her stage name the Blessed Madonna (formerly the Black Madonna), is an American DJ, producer and musician. ''Mixmag'' named her the DJ of the year in 2016. She founded her own record label called We St ...

stopped using her own moniker. Lee admitted he had "not felt comfortable with the name Joey Negro for a while, especially as I've got older". Dave Lee was ranked #3 at the Top House Artists Of 2020 by Traxsource.

Discography

*'' Universe of Love ''(1993) *'' Get Down Tonight ''(1997) *'' Here Comes the Sunburst Band ''(1998) *'' Can't Get High Without U ''(1999) *'' Back to the Scene of the Crime ''(2001) *'' Visions ''(2002) *'' Until the End of Time ''(2004) *'' Moving with the Shakers ''(2008) *'' Doug's Disco Brain ''(2008) *'' The Remixes ''(2009) *'' The Phuture Ain't What It Used To Be ''(2010) *'' The Secret Life of Us ''(2012) *'' Remixed with Love volume 1 ''(2013) *'' Italo House ''(2014) *'' Remixed with Love volume 2 ''(2016) *'' Produced with Love ''(2017) *'' Remixed with Love volume 3 ''(2018)

References

External links

Z Records: Joey Negro

Joey Negro

Dave Lee
discographies at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Joey Negro
profile at

The End The End may refer to: Films * ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1997 film), a Canadian film of 1997 * ''The End'' (1998 film), a skateboarding document ...