Rachel Auburn (born 1958) is a British fashion designer and

hard house UK hard house or simply hard house is a style of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1990s and is synonymous with its association to the Trade club and the associated DJs there that created the style. It often features a speedy te ...

and

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 ...

disc jockey and music producer. She has performed her music extensively internationally, and was both the first female DJ to play in China and the first to showcase 1980s London clubland fashion in New York and Tokyo. Auburn has held DJ residencies at club events including

Tidy Trax Tidy Trax, currently known as Tidy, is a record label based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1995 by Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart, Tidy is known for promoting a style of hard house that is both fun and high tempo. It has featured a roster ...

, Taboo, and

Trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

, and has achieved UK chart success under her own name and the Tidy Girls and Candy Girls aliases.

Biography

Auburn was born in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

in 1958. She has a degree in fashion design from

Harrow College Harrow College is a further education college in England with two campuses, in Harrow and Harrow Weald.

. Auburn is known for her "unconventional" and "experimental" fashion designs. She first set up a stall in

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's best-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Sites of Canada, ...

in 1982, and went on to be a significant presence as both a designer and a disc jockey in London's clubland. She first met

Leigh Bowery Leigh Bowery (26 March 1961 – 31 December 1994) was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, and fashion designer. Bowery's performances featured striking costumes and make-up and were conceptual, flamboyant, outlandish, and sometime ...

at the market, and together they went on to open a stall together called 'Spend Spend Spend' and were the first to showcase the 1980s London clubland fashion scene in New York and Tokyo organised by

Susanne Bartsch Susanne Bartsch is a Swiss event producer, living in the United States, whose monthly parties at the Copacabana in late-1980s New York City united the ''haute'' and ''demi-monde'', making her an icon of New York nightlife. "Ms. Bartsch's name," ...

. Auburn has work in the permanent collection of the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

, and was featured in the 2013 exhibition, ''Club to Catwalk'', at the

Victoria and Albert museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

. Along with

Paul Masterson Paul Kevin Masterson is a Northern Irish DJ and record producer, originally from Belfast and now living in London. He is best known for recording as Yomanda. He is also part of the dance music duo Hi-Gate, along with BBC Radio 1 DJ Judge Jul ...

, Auburn formed the Candy Girls duo. Their single "Wham Bam", with Sweet Pussy Pauline, peaked at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart in 1996. Auburn was in the Tidy Girls, a

hard house collaboration with

Lisa Lashes Lisa Lashes (born Lisa Dawn Rose-Wyatt on 23 April 1971 in Coventry, England) is an English electronic dance music DJ and producer known for mixing numerous ''Euphoria'' albums and her Lashed dance music events. She has headlined European and ...

, Anne Savage, and Lisa Pin-Up. The Tidy Girls eponymous release achieved success in the UK official singles chart in 1999. In 2015 Auburn mixed the retrospective best-of compilation '' Reactivate 91-01'' for the React record label. It received positive critical reception, with one reviewer stating that, for the label React, it was "by far their best compilation".

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Auburn, Rachel Living people 20th-century English women musicians 21st-century English women musicians English record producers British women record producers English women DJs English electronic dance music DJs English women fashion designers 1958 births Tidy Trax artists