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Darren James Mew (born 23 May 1975), better known as Darren Styles, is an English music producer, DJ, singer and songwriter from
Clacton-On-Sea Clacton-on-Sea, often simply called Clacton, is a seaside town and seaside resort, resort in the county of Essex, on the east coast of England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District, wi ...
, Essex. Originally a member of the
breakbeat hardcore Breakbeat hardcore (also referred to as hardcore rave, oldskool hardcore or simply hardcore) is a music genre that spawned from the UK rave scene during the early 1990s. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from ...
group DJ Force & the Evolution, Styles found success during the 1990s as one half of Force & Styles. The duo were pioneers of
happy hardcore Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or " hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s ...
and wrote several well-known songs such as " Heart of Gold", "
Pretty Green Eyes "Pretty Green Eyes" is a song originally written and recorded by Force & Styles featuring Junior. An album mix appeared on their debut album, '' All Over the UK'' (1996), and the song was released as a 12-inch single in 1997. The song achieved ...
" and " Paradise & Dreams". In the early 2000s, Styles began producing more
trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
-influenced records with
Mark Brady Mark Breeze (real name Mark Brady, born 1970), also known as DJ Breeze, is a British DJ and producer of UK hardcore music. He is best known for his collaborations with Darren Styles as Styles & Breeze and the compilation mix series Clubland X ...
as Styles & Breeze. The duo released two hit singles "
You're Shining "You're Shining" is a 2002 song by DJ duo Styles & Breeze. It reached the top 20 in Finland and the United Kingdom. It features vocals by Lisa Abbott. Chart performance In Finland, "You're Shining" debuted and peaked at number 19; it only spent ...
" (2002) and "
Heartbeatz "Heartbeatz" is a song performed by UK duo Styles & Breeze featuring Karen Danzig. It became the duo's second top-20 hit in Finland and the United Kingdom. Chart performance In Finland, the song debuted at number 16 but only spent one week i ...
" (2003) which both reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart. They have been involved in all volumes of the popular ''
Clubland X-Treme Hardcore ''Clubland X-Treme Hardcore'' is a series of compilation albums from Clubland, released by Universal Music TV and AATW, that was initiated by DJ producers Hixxy and Styles. The series has been credited as a turning point in the popularity of ...
'' compilation series. Darren Styles also has a collab alias with Stonebank called "Zero Hero". As a solo artist, Styles has released two studio albums, the gold-selling ''
Skydivin' ''Skydivin is the debut solo studio album by British dance musician Darren Styles. Background The album debuted at #4 in the UK Albums Chart with sales of 22,197. A month later it was certified gold by the BPI with over 100,000 copies sold. ...
'' (2008) and ''
Feel the Pressure ''Feel the Pressure'' is the second studio album by Darren Styles. It was released on 23 August 2010. Background Styles' previous album ''Skydivin (2008) was his début album as a solo artist and sold well achieving a Gold certification. R ...
'' (2010). He has also frequently collaborated with several other artists such as
Hixxy Hixxy, or DJ Hixxy, (real name Ian Hicks, born 1975) is a British disc jockey and electronic music producer known for his innovative work in the UK happy hardcore scene, co-founding the Raver Baby record label, and the Bonkers compilation albu ...
,
Ultrabeat Ultrabeat are a British electronic dance music group from Liverpool, England, formed in 2002. Originally consisting of vocalist and producer Mike "Re-Con" Di Scala and producers Ian Redman and Chris Henry, Ultrabeat emerged with their cover o ...
and
N-Force N-Force is an English dance music act that formed in 2008. Career The act comprises Lois McConnell as lead singer, plus Jorg Schmid and Chris Henry. N-Force is currently signed to UK Dance label All Around the World, and have so far released ...
.


Early life

Styles was born as Darren James Mew in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England. He was encouraged to play music from an early age by his father, a blues fan, and always had a passion for music. His family moved to Clacton-On-Sea in Essex when he was 7 years old. He spent many nights mastering his ability on the keyboard and developing his own style, inspired by dance music. In February 1992, Styles had his first "hands on" experience of the underground rave scene in "Oscar's Nightclub" on
Clacton Pier Clacton Pier is a pier located in the seaside resort town of Clacton-on-Sea in England. It was named Pier of the Year in 2020 by the National Piers Society. The pier hosts rides, ten-pin bowling, arcades, 4D dinosaur exhibit, golf and a soft-pla ...
. This event lead to him wanting to be a part of the dance music community.


Force & Styles

His first records were as part of the
breakbeat hardcore Breakbeat hardcore (also referred to as hardcore rave, oldskool hardcore or simply hardcore) is a music genre that spawned from the UK rave scene during the early 1990s. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from ...
group DJ Force & The Evolution (with Force, Jamie Ritmen, and Paul Hughes) released in 1993. The group signed to hardcore record label Kniteforce and many of their tracks were played by
Carl Cox Carl Andrew Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ, motorsport team owner and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has perfor ...
. The group also produced tracks using the alias A Sense of Summer for another hardcore label Universal Records owned by
Slipmatt Matthew Nelson (born 22 April 1967 in Loughton, Essex, England), better known as DJ Slipmatt, is a British electronic music producer and DJ. He was one half of breakbeat hardcore group SL2, who had a 1992 UK hit with " On a Ragga Tip". Biogr ...
. In 1995, he and Hobbs set up their own label UK Dance Records so they could quickly release more material and have complete artistic licence over their records. They began producing using the alias Force & Styles and released many 12-inch records on UK Dance and by 1996 their popularity had grown so that they were DJing every weekend up and down the UK, as well as touring Australia, North America, and Ibiza on a regular basis. The two also held residencies at various events including those by Slammin Vinyl, Helter Skelter and United Dance. By 1997, they had produced some of the biggest
happy hardcore Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or " hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s ...
tracks of the time, many of which went on to be covered by commercial dance artists, including singles " Heart of Gold", " Paradise & Dreams", "
Pretty Green Eyes "Pretty Green Eyes" is a song originally written and recorded by Force & Styles featuring Junior. An album mix appeared on their debut album, '' All Over the UK'' (1996), and the song was released as a 12-inch single in 1997. The song achieved ...
", " Pacific Sun" and "
Field of Dreams ''Field of Dreams'' is a 1989 American sports fantasy drama film written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, and based on Canadian novelist W. P. Kinsella's 1982 novel '' Shoeless Joe''. The film stars Kevin Costner as a farmer who builds a ...
". Force & Styles picked up many awards at this time and they were the first ever hardcore DJs to do a guest mix for
Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong (born 30 July 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for ...
's
Essential Mix The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music pr ...
radio show on
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
. Force & Styles released three albums: '' All over the UK'' (1996), ''Simply Electric'' (1998) - a compilation of tracks by DJ Force & The Evolution and Force & Styles - and their greatest hits album ''Heart of Gold'' (2000).


Solo career

Styles' first record that he provided vocals on was "
Feelin' Fine "Feelin' Fine" is a song written by Darren Mew with additional production from Paul Hobbs and originally released as a happy hardcore song in 1998 under the alias Unique. In 2003, Ultrabeat released a cover of the song with newly added lyrics ...
" which was released under the alias Unique in 1998. Even though this was his first solo track, Force is credited on an edit released later that year as the 'Force & Styles Remix', which has been known as the 12" mix by some. His solo career as Darren Styles officially started around 2002 after releasing a record for Nukleuz and other labels. He has also released many records on Raver Baby and his first solo single was " Save Me" released on All Around the World in 2006. In 2005, Styles partnered with
Hixxy Hixxy, or DJ Hixxy, (real name Ian Hicks, born 1975) is a British disc jockey and electronic music producer known for his innovative work in the UK happy hardcore scene, co-founding the Raver Baby record label, and the Bonkers compilation albu ...
to follow up the Bonkers series by initiating a popular compilation mix series called
Clubland X-Treme Hardcore ''Clubland X-Treme Hardcore'' is a series of compilation albums from Clubland, released by Universal Music TV and AATW, that was initiated by DJ producers Hixxy and Styles. The series has been credited as a turning point in the popularity of ...
, several releases of which attained BRIT Certified ''Gold'' status. Fellow artist MC Storm claimed the series to be "another massive turning point for hardcore". Styles has released singles collaborating with other artists on tracks such as " Sure Feels Good" and "
Discolights "Discolights" is a song written and produced by Ultrabeat and Darren Styles, taken from Styles' debut solo album, ''Skydivin and Ultrabeat's second album ''The Weekend Has Landed''. The song combines the hardcore and commercial styles of the tw ...
" with
Ultrabeat Ultrabeat are a British electronic dance music group from Liverpool, England, formed in 2002. Originally consisting of vocalist and producer Mike "Re-Con" Di Scala and producers Ian Redman and Chris Henry, Ultrabeat emerged with their cover o ...
and " Right by Your Side" with
N-Force N-Force is an English dance music act that formed in 2008. Career The act comprises Lois McConnell as lead singer, plus Jorg Schmid and Chris Henry. N-Force is currently signed to UK Dance label All Around the World, and have so far released ...
. In 2008, he released ''
Skydivin' ''Skydivin is the debut solo studio album by British dance musician Darren Styles. Background The album debuted at #4 in the UK Albums Chart with sales of 22,197. A month later it was certified gold by the BPI with over 100,000 copies sold. ...
''. The album was a collection of old and new hardcore and commercial songs. This album reached No. 4 in the UK, # 41 in Ireland and has since been certified Gold in the UK. His follow-up single to "Discolights" with Ultrabeat was the song "Girls Like You" with Dougal and Kenny Hayes, released 2 February 2009 under the alias United In Dance (formed of Styles, Dougal, and Gammer). He created Junkbox Records in 2006 which has released a number of singles. In June and July 2009, Styles and Ultrabeat embarked on a ten-date UK-wide co-headlined tour, accompanied by Breeze, Infextious, DJ Frisco, MC Domino, Rebecca Rudd (Ultrabeat's current lead vocalist replacing Re-Con after his departure in 2013) and N-Force. Starting in Sheffield, the tour went to Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester and London. In late November and early December 2009, Styles was part of Clubland Live 3 which toured through England, Scotland and Ireland. Styles' most recent album ''Feel the Pressure'' was released on 23 August 2010, and features the singles "Outta My Head", "Sound Without a Name" and "Holding On".


Personal life

Styles is married to Fiona Merry who appeared on the 2007 edition of the reality television series '' Shipwrecked''. Merry also provided the voiceover for the intro to Clubland X-Treme Hardcore 4 in December 2007.


Discography

* ''
Skydivin' ''Skydivin is the debut solo studio album by British dance musician Darren Styles. Background The album debuted at #4 in the UK Albums Chart with sales of 22,197. A month later it was certified gold by the BPI with over 100,000 copies sold. ...
'' (2008) * ''
Feel the Pressure ''Feel the Pressure'' is the second studio album by Darren Styles. It was released on 23 August 2010. Background Styles' previous album ''Skydivin (2008) was his début album as a solo artist and sold well achieving a Gold certification. R ...
'' (2010)


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Styles, Darren 1975 births English record producers English male songwriters Breakbeat hardcore musicians Happy hardcore musicians Living people UK hardcore musicians Monstercat artists English electronic dance music DJs All Around the World Productions artists British hardcore techno musicians