Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...
,
deep funk
Deep funk is a subgenre of funk music which features a "hard, lean" sound and emphasis on groove, improvisation, and musicianship over traditional songwriting. The term is also used to describe rare funk recordings sought out by collectors and D ...
,
garage punk
A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include:
*Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...
, and
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...
music. He is credited with inventing the term 'deep funk'.
Early life
Darge has described himself as "a bit of a thug" in his youth. In his late teens, he "picked a fight with the only English boy in the town" and the other teenager gave him a drubbing, using
taekwondo
Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...
moves. Surprised, Darge asked him how he had done it, then began taking taekwondo classes. He eventually became Scottish taekwondo champion.
Darge began
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...
dancing in his late teens and entered local disco dance competitions (dancing in the "northern soul style") in the North of Scotland. He made an appearance in the nationally televised 1979 UK disco dance finals. Along with his Scottish dancing, he also danced at the
Wigan Casino
The Wigan Casino is the colloquial name for the nightclub the Casino Club, that operated in Wigan between Friday, August 27 1965 (with Shirley Bassey topping the bill) and 1981, associated with the Northern Soul movement in the UK. The club's end ...
. Darge began buying records for what would eventually become his ultimate passion and career for the rest of his life.
Career
Soon after he began dancing, he was DJing in
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
at a club next to the casino, and around Scotland as well with his record collection throughout the 1970s. At the age of 22, Darge moved to
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 ...
, ceasing to be a DJ. Music promoters from then approached him, asking him to come back to DJing. He obliged, and gave the Northern soul phenomenon exposure in London through his performances, bringing in people from northern England to London who were previously associated with Wigan's Northern soul scene before it dissolved. Meanwhile, he worked in various jobs, including butcher's boy, window cleaner and delivering leaflets.
During the 1970s, his work in tracking down vintage funk and soul music led to friendships with American musicians including
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...
,
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the " Gentle Genius", he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious Afric ...
, Harold Melvin and George Clinton. In 1987, he sold many of his Northern soul records to pay for his divorce but he had left over in his loft many other records of what he then referred to as "junk music" that he had picked up in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
on his many jaunts to find Northern soul records there and in the UK. This "junk music" would be the beginning of what Keb would later call "Deep Funk", having underestimated the potential of these leftover records.
In 1989, during the heyday of
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...
in the UK, Keb decided to play these funk records, and managed for a short while to get a night to perform regularly at "
The Wagclub
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
", a club specializing in
acid jazz
Acid jazz (also known as club jazz, psychedelic jazz, or groove jazz) is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul music, soul, and hip hop music, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1 ...
. After his night there ended around 1992–93, he met fellow funk record collector Mark Cotgrove, aka
Snowboy
Snowboy (a.k.a. Mark Cotgrove) is an English percussionist, bandleader, DJ and journalist.Club Ormonds in London where the first funk-only night in the city was held, called 'Deep Funk'. The night was named by Keb (he would later go on to use the name to describe the sound of the funk records he would play), but arranged by the club owners.
After this, Keb and Snowboy wanted to further expand on the "deep funk" sound, and decided to start their own all-funk night in on old restaurant, but this failed to catch on after a few months due to the burgeoning popularity of
house music
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
in the UK at the time, forcing Keb and Snowboy to close up shop there. After this Snowboy left to focus on his jazz dance events. Shortly afterwards, Keb heard about Madame Jojo's, a
strip club
A strip club (also known as a strip joint, striptease bar, peeler bar, gentlemen's club, among others) is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease and other erotic dances including lap dances. St ...
located in the
Soho
SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
district of
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 ...
. He managed to arrange with the club a night for himself and various guests to perform weekly. The club accommodated him and Keb's funk nights there became an instant success (and still are the leading club nights for funk in London today). Madame Jojo's closed down their strip nights, becoming a full-time music club, partly due to Keb's success there.
Until early 2010, Keb held a funk night at the club every Friday, called "Legendary Deep Funk". He also tours around the world DJing and runs a record label, Kay-Dee, with Kenny Dope. He has released several albums of compiled classic deep funk tracks, most notably the ''Funk Spectrum: Real Funk For Real People'' and ''Keb Darge's Deep Funk'' compilations released on
BBE Records
Barely Breaking Even (BBE) is a British record label started by two DJs, Peter Adarkwah and Ben Jolly. The name BBE comes from The Universal Robot Band's 1982 track "Barely Breaking Even". It has two sublabels: Deep Funk, and Urban Theory. ...
. Keb Darge is a leading authority on deep funk and soul music of the 1960s and 1970s. He has also helped to produce the modern-day funk group
The New Mastersounds
The New Mastersounds are a British four-piece jazz fusion and blues/funk band from Leeds, England. Over the last 16 years, they have issued ten studio albums, two live dates, two remix collections, and a compilation album.
History
In the late ...
. In 1995, Keb had a cameo part in the
surf film
Surf movies fall into three distinct genres:
* The surfing documentary — targeting the surfing enthusiast.
* The 1960s beach party films — targeting the broader community.
* Fictional feature films with a focus on the reality of surfing.
...
Sean Pertwee
Sean Carl Roland Pertwee (born 4 June 1964) is an English actor, narrator and producer. His credits include ''Chancer'' (1990), '' Leon the Pig Farmer'' (1992), '' Cadfael'' (1994), ''Bodyguards'' (1997), ''Event Horizon'' (1997), '' Stiff Upp ...
and
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Recognised for her versatility, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed Comm ...
, where he can be seen dancing in the village hall.
Personal life
Darge has been married four times. His middle two marriages ended in divorce with hefty settlements, and caused him to sell off much of his prized record collection. He is currently married to a woman from the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, and decided to move to the Philippines in the early months of 2012. After
Typhoon Haiyan
Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that is among List of the most intense tropical cyclones, the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. Upon ...
struck the Philippines in 2013. Keb provided food and shelter to victims of the storm. He also criticized the stockpiling of food aid by corrupt local politicians on his Facebook page. He has a passion for militaria and is an avid collector of military miniatures.
Discography
Compilation albums
* Keb Darge's Legendary's Deep Funk vol. 1 - BBE (1997) CD/LP
* Keb Darge's Legendary's Deep Funk vol. 2 - BBE (1998) CD/LP
* Keb Darge's Legendary's Deep Funk vol. 3 - BBE (1999) CD/LP
* Soul Spectrum - with Bob Jones, BBE (1998) CD/LP
* Soul Spectrum II - BBE (1999) CD/LP
* Jazz Spectrum: Real Jazz For Real People - with Bob Jones, BBE (1999) CD/LP
* Funk Spectrum: Real Funk For Real People - with Josh Davis, BBE (1999) CD/LP
* Funk Spectrum II: Real Funk For Real People - with Kenny Dope, BBE (2000) CD/LP
* Funk Spectrum III: Real Funk For Real People - with Pete Rock, BBE (2001) CD/LP
* Keb Darge Presents Funk For The 21st Century - Do Right! Music (2002) CD
* Beams Presents The Keb Darge Experience - Beams (1999) CD/LP
* Beams Presents Keb Darge Deep Funk - Beams (2002) CD
* Keb Darge Digs For... P&P Records - P&P Records (2007) CD
* The Kings Of Funk - with RZA, BBE (2007) CD/LP
* Keb Darge and Cut Chemist present Lost And Found - BBE (2007) CD/LP (LP released in 2013)
* Keb Darge and Cut Chemist present The Darkside - BBE (2017) CD/LP
* Kenny Dope & Keb Darge present Kay-Dee Records - Kay-Dee (2006) CD
* Kenny Dope & Keb Darge present Kay-Dee Volume 2 - Kay-Dee (2008) CD
* This Is Dj's Choice Vol. 2 - with Lucinda Slim, Unique (2009) CD/LP
* Keb Darge & Paul Weller - Lost & Found (Real R'N'B & Soul) - BBE (2009) CD/LP
* Keb Darge And Little Edith's Legendary Rockin' R&B - BBE (2010) CD/LP
* Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Wild Rockers - BBE (2011) CD/LP
* Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Wild Rockers 2 - BBE (2012) CD/LP
* Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Wild Rockers 3 - BBE (2013) CD/LP
Production
* Imaginary Visions: Texas Rumble / The Houston Hook - Deep Funk (2000) 7"
* Imaginary Visions: Drop Your Load / Imaginary Visions Deep Funk (2001) 7"
* The New Mastersounds: Hot Dog / Drop It Down - Deep Funk (2001) 7"
* The New Mastersounds: It's Alright Now - Deep Funk (2001) 7"
* The New Mastersounds: Nervous - Deep Funk (2001) 12"
* The New Mastersounds: Keb Darge presents The New Mastersounds - Deep Funk/BBE (2001) LP/CD
* The New Mastersounds: Nervous - Kay-Dee (2003)
* The Inmates: Bread And Water - Our Label Records (2006) 7"
* The Magnificent Freedom: F*ck Off And Leave Me Alone - Our Label Records (2006) 7"