James Christian Charters (born 18 January 1988), better known as Ironik (formerly as DJ Ironik), is a British musician, DJ and rapper. His genre of music varies from

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...

, R&B and

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...

. DJ Ironik was born in London. DJ Ironik has had three UK top 10 hits;

Stay With Me Stay with Me may refer to: Film and television * ''Stay with Me'' (2004 film), an Italian film * ''Stay with Me'' (2010 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Stay with Me'' (2018 film), a South Korean romantic drama film * ''Stay with Me'' (2016 TV ser ...

charted at No. 5,

Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer) "Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer)" is a song by British rapper Ironik featuring fellow British rapper Chipmunk, from his debut album ''No Point in Wasting Tears'', released on 11 May 2009. The song heavily samples Elton John's 1972 single "Tiny Dan ...

charted at No. 3 and also

I Got Soul "I Got Soul" is a 2009 charity single by charity group War Child (charity), War Child UK, recorded by Young Soul Rebels. It was released on 19 October 2009. It is a cover of The Killers' "All These Things That I've Done". A spokesman for War Ch ...

, a charity single which reached No. 10 in the UK charts and has also had several top 5 hits in other European countries.

Early life

James Charters was born in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

to a Jamaican father and an English Mother of half Zimbabwean descent and some English roots. He decided on a career in music at an early age when doing GCSE in music. He first began to DJ at age 12, and started to produce at age 15. He started his career as a DJ working in clubs, initially in his home country, but his talent was quickly spotted and he moved around

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Every record he released charted in the Top 40 UK Charts throughout 2008–2011.

Career

At the age of 20, he signed with

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/As ...

which is a subsidiary of

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

. The first hit was the single " Stay with Me (Everybody's Free)" which went into the UK charts at number 11 on downloads alone, then charted at number 5 on its physical release. It equally had success on Channel U, remaining in the request chart top 10 for 26 weeks. The remix to "Stay with Me" features

Chipmunk Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of subtribe Tamiina. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks are classified as four genera: '' ...

and

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations *Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town *Wiley, Georgia, an U.S. unincorporated community * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People *Wiley (musician), ...

. His second single, "

I Wanna Be Your Man "I Wanna Be Your Man" is a Lennon–McCartney-penned song first recorded and released as a single by the Rolling Stones, and then recorded by the Beatles for their second studio album '' With the Beatles''. The song was primarily written by Pau ...

" was released in September 2008 and reached number 35 in the UK. His début album ''

No Point in Wasting Tears ''No Point in Wasting Tears'' is the debut album by Ironik and was released on 29 September 2008. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 21 but fell to number 36 in its second week. It was removed from the UK iTunes Store, but subseque ...

'' was released on

Warner Music UK Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

on 29 September 2008 and charted at 21 in the UK. Ironik has since left

and signed to independent label BPM Entertainment. He is currently signed with UK and Dubai based independent label RU Listening The third single taken from his début album is "

" which features grime rap artist

and

Sir Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

. The song was released in the UK on 26 April 2009 and it charted at number 3 in the UK. This was followed by the re-release of his album on 11 May 2009. He was nominated for 'Best Newcomer' at the 2008

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

and 'Best Newcomer' and Best Music Video ("

Stay with Me Stay with Me may refer to: Film and television * ''Stay with Me'' (2004 film), an Italian film * ''Stay with Me'' (2010 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Stay with Me'' (2018 film), a South Korean romantic drama film * ''Stay with Me'' (2016 TV ser ...

") at the 2008

Urban Music Awards The Urban Music Awards (UMA) are a hip-hop, R&B, dance, and soul music awards ceremony that was launched in the UK by Jordan Kensington in 2003 and is now held in multiple countries. The US version of the award ceremony, the Urban Music Awar ...

. He was also nominated for 'Best Male Music in Film' at the Screen Nation Film & TV Awards in November 2008, and voted by the public viewers of MTV UK the third 'favourite artist of the year' 2008, coming after

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

and Duffy. Throughout October and November 2008 Ironik supported German Euro dance group

Cascada Cascada (, Spanish language, Spanish, 'Waterfall'), is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/composers/ producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. They functioned as a trio from 2004 to 2021, with their last track ...

on their second UK tour - ''The Perfect Day Tour'' 2008. In 2009 he was nominated for 'Best UK Act' at the 2009 Mobo Awards.

Personal life

While returning to his home in

from a gig in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, Ironik became the victim of a stabbing attack at around 3 a.m. on 6 November 2010, when two men attacked him for his jewellery, knifing him in the right buttock. Ironik said of the stabbing: "It was something I've never experienced in my life before. Something that I've spoke about in a lot of my records - some of my records - actually. I find it very low that someone has to go take what you have and what you work for. I've kind of got over it and trying to get back on to living my life and being normal. The past is behind, and I'm trying to get on with my life. I'm back to normal, back to work 100% and I'm just happy that everyone was really supportive. I'll always be involved in charity work and especially the anti-gun and knife crime thing. It's a very important thing... I'll always be a part of supporting it, even before the incident, but obviously now more so." The DJ has been reported to have recovered now.

Awards and nominations

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Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As a featured performer

References

External links

* *
Ironik Blog

{{Authority control 1988 births Living people 21st-century Black British musicians Black British DJs Black British male rappers English male rappers 21st-century male rappers English people of Barbadian descent English people of Zimbabwean descent Grime music artists People from Highgate People from Wood Green Rappers from the London Borough of Haringey