K-Klass are a Welsh/English

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

from

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, Wales and

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, England, who are based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. Its original members were Andy Williams, Carl Thomas, Russ Morgan and Paul Roberts. In 1991, K-Klass signed with the label

Deconstruction Records Deconstruction Records is a British record label founded in 1987 by Pete Hadfield and Keith Blackhurst, together with Mike Pickering of M People. According to '' DJ Magazine'' it is "best remembered for marrying underground credibility and div ...

scoring five top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart and later to

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

. In the mid-1990s, K-Klass were one of the busiest and most successful remix acts around, remixing the likes of Bobby Brown, Janet Jackson & Luther Vandross, New Order, Rihanna, The Corrs, Whitney Houston, winning the IDA remixers of the year in 1996 for their mix of Carleen Anderson “True Spirit” then getting a GRAMMY nomination in 2002 for their remix of Samantha Mumba “Baby Come On Over”. Since leaving

Andy Williams and Carl Thomas have both left K-Klass leaving just Paul Roberts and Russell Morgan alongside original vocalist Bobbi Depasois as K-Klass. Roberts and Morgan run their own record label, Klass Action.

Career

Williams and Thomas teamed up with Morgan and Roberts, from

, after meeting at

The Haçienda The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England, which became famous during the Madchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records. The club opened in 1982, eventually fosteri ...

during the 1980s.Wrexham band up for Grammy Award
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BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

23 February 2002, recovered 8 November 2006 According to Paul Roberts:

We all met at the Hacienda in 1988. We had met before, though. Andy and Carl had done some gigs. Myself and Russ went to see Andy and Carl's band, Interstate play in Chester supporting 808 State. Andy and Carl were already pretty established, but we had no gear at the time - it was basically an SH-101 and a little Tandy mixer. We took about five tracks to Eastern Bloc in Manchester, just to see what they thought. We didn't have a name for the band or anything, and the tracks were just numbers, but they were really keen, and we put it out on a white label. We were playing a lot of live shows at the time, and used to take along boxloads of stuff to sell, and it went down really well.

After recording the ''Wildlife'' EP, K-Klass's first

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

was " Rhythm Is a Mystery", sung by Bobbi Depasois, and released in 1991. The track reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart after a re-release the same year and featured prominently in the 1992 film ''

Encino Man ''Encino Man'' (also known as ''California Man'' in several territories) is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Les Mayfield in his directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates ...

''. "Let Me Show You" reached number 13 in 1993. Subsequently, the band purchased a retired

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 Decembe ...

underground bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

Borras Borras (; historically ) is a hamlet in Wrexham County Borough, Wales to the north-east of the city of Wrexham. It is part of the community of Holt. The nearby residential area of Borras Park is named after Borras; and is colloquially shorte ...

for use as a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

.Former nuclear bunker for sale
-

website 27 November 2000, recovered 8 November 2006 They released two albums, ''Universal'', featuring Depasois' vocals, and ''K2''. In 1995, K-Klass won the I.D.A Best International Remixer award, the first UK artist to do so. K-Klass have played many live events, including stints at

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

s in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

as well as the Hollinwoodstock Music Festival in Oldham in 2014. They have also been involved with producing and

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, 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, poem, or photograph ca ...

ing tracks by other artists. K-Klass was one of the producers on the

Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''

Bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

'', and have also produced for

Candi Staton Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton (, ) (born March 13, 1940) is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 cover of Tammy Wynette's " Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper " Young Hearts Run Free". In E ...

, Rebekah Ryan,

Rosie Gaines Rosie Gaines (born Rosemary Gaines; June 26, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer from Pittsburg, California. Gaines is a former band member of Prince's group the New Power Generation. She duetted with singer Prince on th ...

and

The Corrs The Corrs are an Irish family band consisting of siblings Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle, mandolin, ukulele), Sharon (violin, keyboards, vocals), Caroline (drums, percussion, piano, bodhrán, vocals) and Jim (guitar, piano, keyboards, v ...

. They have remixed tracks by

Carleen Anderson Carleen Cassandra Anderson (born May 10, 1957) is an American musician. She was the vocalist, composer, and musician for the Young Disciples and is known for her numerous, varied collaborations. Her solo career began in 1992. She is credited w ...

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown Sr. (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and dancer. Alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, he is recognized as a pioneer of new jack swing: a fusion of hip-hop and Contemporary R&B, R ...

Sunscreem Sunscreem are a techno/house music band from Essex, England that scored a number of hits on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. Sunscreem also has the rare reputation as a techno-based band th ...

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

Geri Halliwell Geraldine Estelle Halliwell-Horner (''née'' Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, author, and actress. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which ...

S Club 7 S Club, formerly known as S Club 7, are a British pop group formed in 1998 by Simon Fuller after he was fired as manager of the Spice Girls. Original members were Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O'Meara, Ha ...

Bring It All Back "Bring It All Back" is the debut single of British pop group S Club 7. It was co-written by S Club 7, Eliot Kennedy, Mike Percy and Tim Lever for the group's debut studio album ''S Club'' (1999). Kennedy, Percy, and Lever also produced the ...

") and

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

. Their remix of " Baby Come On Over" by

Samantha Mumba Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba (born 18 January 1983) is an Irish R&B singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, fashion model and TV presenter. In 2000, at the age of 17, she shot to fame with the release of her debut single " Gotta Tell You", w ...

was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in 2002 in the Best Remix category. Roberts and Morgan appeared on

97.3 Forth One Forth 1 is an Independent Local Radio station based in Edinburgh, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Edinburgh, Lothian, Fife and Falkirk. As of September 2024, the station ...

's ''Friday Night Floorfillers'' on 22 February 2008, whilst covering for the regular presenter, Krystal. In 2013, a collaboration with Lempo and Japwow on Applique Music, titled "Brass Attack" was featured on the album ''Done & Dusted''. Also in 2013, the band resurrected their live band performances, adding Pav Chana on live percussion and Dave Clough (aka Davos) on keyboards for live shows.

Selected discography

Albums

Singles

Remixes

References

External links

K-Klass discographyK-Klass biography from BBC Wales
{{Authority control People from Wrexham British dance music groups British electronic dance music groups Welsh house musicians Parlophone artists Welsh remixers Deconstruction Records artists Welsh electronic musicians