The Scumfrog (Jesse Houk) (born October 3, 1971) is a Dutch-American DJ/

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

er/ producer/artist, mostly known for his underground flavored remixes of artists like

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

, New Order, and

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

and his collaborations writing and producing techno-oriented works with

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

, and

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-earth ...

. He released four albums as a solo artist (''Extended Engagement'' 2003, ''Simmer'' 2004, ''A Place Where We Belong'' 2011 and ''In Case We're All Still Here'' 2013). As a DJ, he has toured the world many times over, between 2008 and 2014 he hosted and produced the weekly radio show/podcast ''Glam Scum International'', and in 2015 he launched a new series of club nights named M.B.T.S.(Most Below The Surface).

Biography

Early career: 1997 – 2001

Jesse Houk was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, Netherlands, to an American father and a Dutch mother. After finishing college, his dual citizenship allowed him to move to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1997 where he started producing music under his new alias The Scumfrog. Between 1997 and 2000 he lived between New York City—where he DJ’d Deep House and Tech House in NY's East Village lounges such as the Opium Den – and the Netherlands where he worked with his production partner Jacques Sperwer. Jacques and Jesse released several singles under various names such as Jake & Jesse, Barbarus and a full-length album on BMG

Bertelsmann Music Group Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...

under the name Resonance. In this period he also recorded his first work under the Scumfrog alias, called The Watersong, which was selected by Danny Tenaglia --

DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lat ...

’s number 1 DJ in the world at the time -- for his

Global Underground Global Underground is a British record label and compilation series founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolised the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s and first manifesto for hi ...

Athens compilation. After the underground buzz of The Watersong, The Scumfrog signed an album deal with

Roger Sanchez Roger Sanchez (born June 1, 1967) is a Dominican-American house music DJ, remixer and producer. He won a Grammy Award for his remix of " Hella Good" by No Doubt in 2003, and is best known for his song " Another Chance", which was an internati ...

, who also took him as his opening DJ on his 2001 tour. That summer, The Scumfrog single “We Love You” (based on the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

collaboration) went to number one in most European dance charts and put the Scumfrog name on the map.

2001 – 2007: Remixing, Extended Engagement, Simmer

The Scumfrog career has largely been marked by an ability to work with mainstream artists without sacrificing his underground sound. Between 2001 and 2007, The Scumfrog scored more than 10 number 1

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Hot Dance Music/Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

records remixing mainstream artists like

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage producti ...

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By th ...

, Jewel,

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the ...

superstar

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

but rarely ever making full vocal remixes of the artists he worked with. His EMI collaboration with

, remixing his 1984 single “ Loving the Alien,” set the tone for a career that would thrive simultaneously in underground clubs and in mainstream recording studios. While on duty for the stars, he never stopped remixing for respected underground Dance Music labels such as Positiva, Intec, Yoshitoshi Recordings,

Bedrock Records Bedrock Records is an English record label for trance, progressive house and techno started by Nick Muir and John Digweed. Its name comes from a long running and successful club night held in Hastings and also at Heaven nightclub, London - both ...

and Strictly Rhythm, doing remixes for his DJ peers such as

Steve Lawler Steve Lawler may refer to: * Steve Lawler (DJ) Steve Lawler (born 1973) is a British house music producer and DJ born in Birmingham, England. He is a five time DJ Awards winner and has held residences at many popular dance clubs such as Space, ...

, Planet Funk, Boris Dlugosh, and Dirty Vegas. His first album, ''Extended Engagement'' (2003, EMI/Positiva/Effin) was a two disc mix compilation exclusively of his own productions and remixes, including his own singles "We Love You", "Music Revolution", and "Learning To Fly". Jesse released more radio-friendly records under the alias Dutch, getting his first number one on the

chart in 2003, "My Time" which he co-wrote with vocalist

Crystal Waters Crystal Waters (born November 19, 1961) is an American house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits " Gypsy Woman", " 100% Pure Love", and 2007's "Destination Calabria" with Alex Gaudino. All three of her st ...

. The follow-up to "My Time" was the single "Why Should I Think About The Rain", featuring Grammy winning singer/songwriter and Rolling Stones back-up singer

Lisa Fischer Lisa Fischer (born December 1, 1958) is an American singer and songwriter. She found success with her 1991 debut album ''So Intense'', which produced the Grammy Award–winning hit single "How Can I Ease the Pain". She has been a back-up singer ...

. In 2004, The Scumfrog won the International Dance Music Award (IDMA) for 'Best Remixer' of 2003. His second album ''Simmer'' (2004, Effin) was the first album where Jesse himself wrote all the songs (no remixes of other artists). It featured the singles "Music Revolution", "Simmer", "Come On", and a duet "Bacon" with his longtime friend, singer

Lucy Woodward Lucy Woodward is an English-American singer-songwriter. She has recorded for Atlantic, Verve, and GroundUP and has sung background vocals for Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Snarky Puppy, Celine Dion, Pink Martini, Gavin DeGraw, Joe Cocker, Ch ...

. ''Simmer'' did not have a huge impact, largely because it was marketed and promoted solely by The Scumfrog's own label, and because the songs on the album were not nearly as DJ-friendly as his previous work. In 2005, The Scumfrog's most successful single "Music Revolution" was chosen for

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

's long running Chevrolet HHR commercial on TV and radio. In the same year, Jesse formed the band DJs Are Alive with fellow DJ/performers DJ Skribble, D:Fuse,

Static Revenger Dennis White, also known as Latroit and Static Revenger, is an American electronic dance music producer, songwriter and DJ. In 2018 he won the Grammy award for 'Best Remixed Recording' for 'You Move' (Latroit Remix), originally by Depeche Mode. ...

and Kristine W. The band's mission was to sound like a DJ set and look like a band. DJs Are Alive performed a series of shows in 2006, but disbanded allegedly due to continuing scheduling conflicts with their gigs as individual DJs. In 2006, the Scumfrog released another mix compilation ''Mega Scum 1'', which became an industry sensation because of its artwork; Jesse himself posing in a bikini on the cover in an attempt to parody the culture of hot girls on the cover of dance music compilations. During this period nearly all of The Scumfrog's artist releases were on Effin Records, his own label with manager/partner Steve Rosen, and although the label never attained massive commercial success it proved to a valuable laboratory for the work that was to come. Upon his return to the US after a long European tour in 2007, Jesse decided to trade his New York City home for the desert and mountains of

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

where he lived until 2015.

2007 – present: Grammy nomination, ''Glam Scum International'', donations

One of the biggest successes of his career came in the form of an unreleased Scumfrog remix of Peter Bjorn & John "The Young Folks", which went viral during the summer of 2007, and in its unreleased bootleg form made it to the playlists of many mainstream radio stations. At the same time, his collaboration with Italian DJ/Producer Tommy Vee in covering

Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as ...

's 1970s hit "Serenade" also made it into many European pop-charts. In 2008, the Scumfrog started a weekly hour-long radio show ''Glam Scum'' on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially lau ...

in the US. A year later, after a merger between Sirius and Satellite radio company XM, the show was dropped, and the show was re-launched as ''Glam Scum International'' and licensed to several radio stations around the world. During 2007, The Scumfrog had been writing and recording with

in New York on her dance music album '' Bring Ya To The Brink''. Their song "High and Mighty" became the opening track of the album, which was released in 2008 and nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

in the category ‘Best Dance Album’ in 2009. (The album lost to fellow nominees

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...

.) In 2011, The Scumfrog reunited with his underground roots in the custom-made DJ set "A Place Where We Belong". Similarly to his debut album ''Extended Engagement'', the mix consists of 12 original productions (some his own, some remixes of other artists). Jesse himself announced that he did not want to call it an album because ‘DJs are not supposed to make albums, DJs are supposed to make DJ mixes’. The new material was offered in a non-stop DJ mix on his Facebook page where – in a video – Jesse explained his voluntary donation system for his new music. Many of the songs on "A Place Where We Belong" were licensed to labels for single-release. "In Love" was released on Umek’s label 1605, "Illusion" came out on Floorplay, "Running" on Inkfish, and "Don’t Give Up" featuring Vassy (a cover of

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

and

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single " Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female ...

) on Armada.

Armada Music Armada Music is a Dutch independent record label that specialises in releasing electronic dance music. The name Armada derives from the first two letters of the founders' first names: Armin van Buuren, Maykel Piron and David Lewis. Signed a ...

released The Scumfrog's fourth album, ''In Case We're All Still Here'' in 2013, which features his collaboration with

. The two teamed up to remake Sting's 1993 hit " If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". In 2015, he released the single "Send Wave" on

Hot Since 82 Daley Padley, also known as Hot Since 82, is a British DJ, house music producer and DJ Awards winner currently based in Leeds, UK. He has been releasing music under the ''Hot Since 82'' moniker since 2012. Personal life Padley entered the el ...

label Knee Deep In Sound.

DJ career

As a DJ, The Scumfrog has toured the world many times over. Even though he has played many festivals over the past ten years (

Burning Man Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred ...

being his favorite), he makes it clear that he prefers smaller venues with great sound systems for the music that he plays. In 2015, he started a new brand of small-room underground clubbing named M.B.T.S.(Most Below The Surface).

Personal life

Jesse Houk currently lives in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

Discography

Albums

*''Extended Engagement'' (2003) *''Simmer'' (2004) *''Mega Scum! 01'' (2006) *''A Place Where We Belong'' (2011) *''In Case We're All Still Here'' (2013)

Singles

* 1997 The Watersong * 2000 Learning To Fly * 2001 We Love You * 2002 Loving The Alien (with David Bowie) * 2002 Deep Sleep Dub (with Michael Moog) * 2002 Music Revolution * 2004 Simmer * 2004 Come On * 2005 Let The Sun Shine (with Cevin Fisher) * 2006 Like Paradise (with Cevin Fisher) * 2006 Secret (with Sarah Tancer) * 2006 Dirty Extra * 2006 Beat As One * 2007 Chicks For Free * 2007 I Remember * 2007 Serenade (with Tommy Vee) * 2007 Hear Me * 2008 Stereo & Video (with D:Fuse) * 2008 Into The Deep (with Static Revenger and David Gausa) * 2009 Escape (with Polina) * 2009 Sandia * 2009 How Does It Feel (with Tommy Vee & Static Revenger) * 2010 Undone * 2010 Showtime * 2011 All Go Down (with Davey La) * 2011 Illusion * 2011 Don't Give Up (with Vassy) * 2011 In Love * 2012 Schroeder In Wonderland * 2012 Running * 2012 Clones/Middle Earth * 2013 Lost Your Number * 2013 Dionysian * 2013 Downtown * 2014 Wave2 * 2015 Send Wave * 2015 The Woods * 2015 Hideout * 2015 Spin * 2015 Chemiquamour * 2019 Antarctica

Remixes

* 1999 First Choice - The Player * 2000 Danny Morales - The Fiend * 2001 Boris Dlugosch - Never Enough * 2001 Sono - Keep Control * 2001 Milk & Honey - You, Me & The Music * 2002 Mr. Hermano - Free As The Morning Sun * 2002 George Michael - Freeek * 2002 Milo - Jungle Of Mirrors * 2002 Roger Goode - In The Beginning * 2002 New Order - Here To Stay * 2002 Kylie Minogue - Love At First Sight * 2002 Dirty Vegas - Days Go By * 2002 Eclipse 29 - You're Not Alone * 2002 iiO - At The End * 2003 Tomas vs. Filterheadz - Sunshine * 2003 Pure Orange - Feel Alive * 2003 Monica - So Gone * 2003 Lucy Woodward - Blindsided * 2003 Planet Funk - The Switch * 2003 Annie Lennox - Pavement Cracks * 2003 Double Dee - Shining * 2003 Dutch feat. Crystal Waters - My Time * 2003 Skin - Faithfulness * 2003 Jewel - Stand * 2003 Kristine W - Fly Again * 2003 Enrique Iglesias - Addicted * 2003 Dido - White Flag * 2004 Missy Elliott - Pass That Dutch * 2004 Spawn Blond - Waterfalls * 2004 Murk - Time * 2004 Nars - Dope Dope Dope * 2004 Amiel - Love Song * 2004 Britney Spears - Everytime * 2004 Utada - Devil Inside * 2004 Slacker - Best Boyfriend * 2005 Cevin Fisher & The Scumfrog - Let The Sun Shine * 2005 M-Flo - I Wanna Be Down * 2005 Fantasia - It's All Good * 2005 Squat 84 - Say No * 2005 Chocolate Puma - 4 Letter Word * 2005 Rob Thomas - Lonely No More * 2005 Robbie Rivera - Some Kind Of Heaven * 2005 Annie - Heartbeat * 2005 Missy Elliott - Lose Control * 2005 Rob Thomas - This Is How A Heart Breaks * 2005 Dutch feat. Lisa Fischer - (Why Should I) Think About The Rain * 2005 Emilia - Back To Me * 2006 Static Revenger - So High * 2006 Astro & Glyde - I Know What You Like * 2006 Kelis - Bossy * 2006 Paris Hilton - Stars Are Blind * 2006 Syke & Sugerstarr - Are You Watching Me * 2006 Simple Minds - Different World * 2006 Static Revenger - So High * 2006 Zum Schneider - Crazy * 2007 Tommy Vee feat. The Scumfrog - I Would Die For You * 2007 Gaby & The Scumfrog - Broken Disco * 2007 Rafael Frost - Run To You * 2007 Meck feat. Dino - Feels Like Home * 2007 Cupid - Cupid Shuffle * 2008 Dr. Kucho! - Groover's Delight * 2008 Static Revenger & Love Song Surprise - Satellite * 2009 Peter Gelderblom - Lost * 2009 Nadia Ali - Love Story * 2009 Franklin Fuentes - The Robots (Are Coming!) * 2009 The Singhs - Beautiful Thing * 2009 IAM ONE - Missy * 2009 Polina - Shotguns * 2010 Victoria Aitken - Sunshine * 2010 Tommy Vee & Mauro Ferrucci - Old Skool Generation * 2010 Natalia Flores - Going Strong * 2010 Geoffery Paris - Money! & What! * 2010 (Never Mind The) Stars - France * 2010 Mumiy Troll - Polar Bear * 2011 Dennis Ruyer - A Night At The Opera * 2011 Tiny Trendies - The Sky Is Not Crying * 2011 Mason feat. Aqualung - Little Angel * 2011 Markus Binpafl aka BIG WORLD - Meganite * 2012 Larry Powers - Aurora Snow * 2012 Armin Van Buuren - We Are Here To Make Some Noise * 2013 Methodrone - Stop Start * 2013 Meandisco & Daniel Wilde - The Day I Set You Free

References

External links

TheScumfrog.com - Website of The ScumfrogGlamScum.com - web site to The Scumfrog's Radio Show and Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scumfrog, The 1971 births Living people Dutch house musicians Club DJs Remixers Musicians from Amsterdam Dutch people of American descent American house musicians American people of Dutch descent