Derek Boland (15 January 1965 – 15 November 2009), better known by his stage name Derek B, was a British

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. His most commercially successful releases were "Goodgroove" and "Bad Young Brother" in 1988.

Biography

Born in Hammersmith, London, to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

ian nurse Jenny Boland, he was raised in

Woodford Woodford may refer to: Places Australia *Woodford, New South Wales *Woodford, Queensland, a town in the Moreton Bay Region *Woodford, Victoria Canada * Woodford, Ontario England *Woodford, Cornwall * Woodford, Gloucestershire *Woodford, Greate ...

. When he was fifteen years old, he began

DJing A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

in a mobile unit around London, before joining local

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

stations such as

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

and

LWR The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses normal water, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator; furthermore a solid form of fissile elements is used as fuel. Thermal-neutron reac ...

and finally starting his own station, WBLS (not to be confused with the

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

of the same name in New York). He joined

Simon Harris Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael since 2024. A TD for the Wicklow constituency since 2011, he has served as a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016 and f ...

Music of Life Music of Life is a British independent hip hop and dance music label formed in 1986 by two influential DJ remixers Froggy and Simon Harris, managed by Chris France. Following several successful productions, one of which reached No. 3 in the U ...

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, as the closest thing they had to an A&R man. When a planned

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products *Compilation thesis M ...

of US hip hop called ''Def Beats 1'' (Music of Life, 1986) ran short of tracks, Boland stepped in to record a track called "Rock the Beat". He co- produced the track with Harris, rapped on it under the pseudonym EZQ, and also did his own deejaying under the name "Derek B". "Rock the Beat" (Music of Life, 1987) was released as a single, and was followed by three more - the most successful of which were "Goodgroove" (Music of Life, 1988), and "Bad Young Brother", both of which reached No. 16 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Derek B's third and final UK chart entry was "We've Got The Juice", which peaked at No. 56. Derek B was the first UK rapper to achieve pop success, appearing on BBC Television's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'' at a time when the only other rappers who had appeared were Break Machine and

Doug E. Fresh Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

. He received criticism for rapping under an assumed American accent, something which was popular in the early days of British hip-hop, but later abandoned by some artists. Following his chart success, Derek B was signed up to Rush Artist Management and released singles and the

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, ''Bullet From a Gun'' (Tuff Audio, 1988). Derek B was also successful as a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

and remixer, working with the

Cookie Crew Cookie Crew were a rap music duo formed in Clapham, South London in 1983. Career Their career took off after winning a national rap championship and recording two sessions for the John Peel BBC Radio 1 show. They gained a recording contract fr ...

, Thrashpack, and Eric B and Rakim. In 1988, he also helped to write the

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

anthem, " Anfield Rap". He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in London on 15 November 2009, aged 44.

Discography

*'' Bullet From a Gun'' (1988, Tuff Audio) - UK No. 11 ;Singles *"Rock The Beat" (1987) *"Get Down" (1987) UK #87 *"Good Groove" (February 1988) UK #16 *"Bad Young Brother" (April 1988) UK #16 *"We've Got The Juice" (June 1988) UK #56 *"You've Got To Look Up" (1990)

References

External links

Derek B MySpace page

Guardian obituary

The Derek B Tribute
{{DEFAULTSORT:B, Derek 1965 births 2009 deaths Black British male rappers English people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Rappers from London Profile Records artists People from Hammersmith 20th-century British male musicians