Sigma are an English

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

DJ and record production duo consisting of Cameron James Edwards and Joseph Aluin Lenzie. They met at

Leeds University The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed ...

at drum and bass nights. Their 2010 collaboration with DJ Fresh, "

Lassitude Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself. Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated with medical conditions ...

", peaked at number 98 on the UK Singles Chart. Their single " Nobody to Love" topped the UK Singles Chart, becoming their first UK number one. Their second was the follow-up single " Changing", featuring

Paloma Faith Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. After signing with Epic Records in 2008, Faith released her debut album, '' Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?'' (2009), which produced the UK ...

Career

2006–2009: Formation and career beginnings

Lenzie and Edwards met in 2006 at

; Edwards was working in local record store Tribe Records and with Echo Location's Obi running local night Event Horizon, while Lenzie was DJing hip-hop and warming up Event Horizon for acts. Once they had finished in Leeds, they relocated to London and became a three-piece with Ben Mauerhoff, being signed under DJ Fresh's

Breakbeat Kaos Breakbeat Kaos is a British independent record label based in London, UK that specialises in drum and bass. It is jointly owned by Fresh and Adam F, who founded the label in 2003 by merging Fresh's Breakbeat Punk with Adam F's Kaos Recordin ...

. After a while, Mauerhoff left. In December 2008, they formed their own record label, Life Recordings (so called because, according to Lenzie, the industry demanded that it be their life). Its inaugural release was a VIP mix of their early Bingo Beats single "El Presidente".

2009–2012: ''Stand Tall'' and ''Night & Day'' EPs

Sigma have produced music through

Hospital Records Hospital Records is a British independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman ( London Elektricity) and Chris Goss and has grown in recent years to become one of t ...

. In June 2009, they made the song "Paint It Black" for the compilation album ''Sick Music''. Later that year, they released their second Life Recordings release "Nexus" / "Front to Back". In 2010, the duo released their two-part ''Stand Tall EP'' on the drum and bass label,

. In December 2010, Sigma and DJ Fresh released the single "

" featuring Koko as the fifth single from DJ Fresh's album ''

Kryptonite Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton (comics), Krypton that emits a u ...

''. The song became one of their first charting singles as it peaked at number 98 on the UK Singles Chart and number 11 on the

UK Dance Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the electronic dance music, dance music genre (e.g. house music, house, trance music, trance, ...

.Peak positions for the Dance singles in the UK: * For "Lassitude": * For "Rudeboy": * For "Nobody to Love": * For "Changing": After the release of their late-2011 ''Night & Day'' EPs on their label, in 2012, Sigma toured the UK, Europe, Australasia and the United States. They were the supporting act for DJ Fresh on his first live UK tour. The tour included dates supporting fellow former Leeds student Christopher Mercer (also known as

Rusko Rusko () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density Population densi ...

2013–2015: Breakthrough and ''Life''

The duo signed to 3 Beat Records in the summer of 2013. They had also remixed tracks for

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer, songwriter, and activist. Born in Hereford and raised in Lyonshall, Goulding began writing songs at the age of 15. She released her debut single " Under the Sheets" through ...

Eric Prydz Eric Sheridan Prydz (, ; born 19 July 1976), also known by his many aliases including Pryda () and Cirez D (), is a Swedish DJ and record producer. He rose to prominence with his 2004 hit single " Call on Me", and saw continued chart success wi ...

Skepta Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British grime MC, rapper, record producer and DJ. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became founding members of ...

and Sway. Following their remix of the

Stylo G Jason McDermott (born 16 July 1985 in Spanish Town, Jamaica), better known by his stage name Stylo G, is a British-Jamaican rapper, record producer, songwriter and singer known for his three hit singles "My Yout", "Call Mi a Leader" and " Soundb ...

single "Soundbwoy", they released their debut single with 3Beat, "Summer Calling", featuring Taylor Fowlis. Their second single with 3Beat, "Rudeboy", featuring Doctor, was released in December 2013. The song peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart and number 12 on the UK Dance Chart. They released their third single with 3Beat, " Nobody to Love" (a rework of

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

's "

Bound 2 "Bound 2" is a song by American rapper Kanye West, featured as the final track from his sixth studio album, ''Yeezus'' (2013). It was produced by West and Che Pope, with additional production being handled by Eric Danchick, Noah Goldstein, No ...

"), on 6 April 2014. It topped the UK Singles Chart upon release. To celebrate, they released a new song, "Divine", for free download on 16 April 2014. In July 2014, Sigma announced their single "Changing" co-written by

Ella Eyre Ella McMahon (born 1 April 1994), known professionally as Ella Eyre, is an English singer and songwriter. She is known for her collaborations with Rudimental on their UK number-one single " Waiting All Night" (2013), which won the 2014 Brit Aw ...

and featuring vocals from

; it was released on 14 September 2014 and became their second consecutive number one song on the UK Singles Chart. Their third single " Higher" featuring

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Labrinth signed as a recording artist with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music in 2010, ini ...

, premiered on

Annie Mac Annie Macmanus (born 18 July 1978), known professionally as Annie Mac, is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, includ ...

's Radio 1 show on 16 January 2015. It was featured in the game '' Madden NFL 16''. In February 2015, Sigma debuted their live show in Sydney as part

Future Music Festival Future Music Festival was an annual music festival featuring Australian and international artists held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in Australia and as of 2012 also Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The festival was usually held in ...

. Sigma returned to the UK in April to embark on their first headline live tour of the UK, selling out all dates and culminating at Electric Brixton. Sigma's fourth single " Glitterball" was released on 24 July 2015 and features vocals from

Ella Henderson Gabriella Michelle Henderson (born 12 January 1996) is a British singer and songwriter. She competed in the ninth series of '' The X Factor UK'' in 2012, being the eighth contestant eliminated despite being a strong favourite to win. She sign ...

. The song secured Sigma their third

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

number one and reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. " Redemption" with Diztortion and featuring Jacob Banks, released on 2 October 2015, was the fifth single from the upcoming debut studio album. In November 2015, Sigma embarked on a 10-date headline live tour of the UK. Their debut studio album ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' was released on 4 December 2015. The album debuted at number 28 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. In 2016, Sigma announced their biggest headline tour including a date at the O2 Academy Brixton, London. Sigma were announced as one of the headline acts at the pro-

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

music event Bpoplive, but pulled out on learning that it was a political event. Sigma stated that they in no way supported the beliefs of the organisers and promptly pulled out on learning this information.

2016–present: ''Hope''

On 11 March 2016, Sigma released their first single of their upcoming second studio album entitled "Nightingale". The music video to this song was their first video to be recorded in VR. On 20 May 2016, Sigma released their next single " Cry" which saw them collaborate with multiple Brit Award winners

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

. The song featured on the group's eighth studio album '' Wonderland''. On 4 November 2016, Sigma released their most commercially successful single since ''Life'', in the form of " Find Me", which featured vocals from British singer Birdy. The song has been certified Silver in the UK. Almost a year later, Sigma released "Forever", the fourth single from their upcoming album, which features

Quavo Quavious Keyate Marshall (born April 2, 1991), better known by his stage name Quavo (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the now-defunct hip hop group Migos. Formed with his nep ...

and Sebastian Kole and was released on 20 October 2017. Two months later, a remix version of the song was released which featured additional vocals from

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie (formerly Tinie Tempah), is a British rapper and singer. He has been signed to Parlophone since 2009, now a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his ...

and Yxng Bane. On 15 June 2018, Sigma released " Anywhere" as the fifth single from their upcoming second album. On 12 July, Sigma released a reworked version of

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and embarked on his musical career in 1993 as a member of the Midwest hip hop g ...

and

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling gir ...

's 2002 single "

Dilemma A dilemma () is a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. The possibilities are termed the ''horns'' of the dilemma, a clichéd usage, but distinguishing the dilemma from other kinds of p ...

". Sigma performed a European tour with grime artist NAHLI. On 12 June 2020, Sigma released the single " High on You" in collaboration with British singer-songwriter John Newman. Sigma released their long-awaited second studio album, ''Hope'', on 17 June 2022.

In popular culture

In 2012, their remix of

's "Somebody to Love" was featured in ''

Forza Horizon ''Forza Horizon'' is a 2012 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 on 23 October 2012. The game is the first installment of the ''Forza'' series, having originally spin-off from Turn ...

''. In 2017, their song "Night Drive" was featured in the

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports ...

game, '' Dirt 4''.

Discography

* ''

'' (2015) * ''Hope'' (2022) * ''London Sound'' (2024)

Awards and nominations

DJ Awards

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 3 Beat Records artists All Around the World Productions artists British drum and bass music groups English remixers DJ duos Drum and bass duos English DJs English electronic music duos Hospital Records artists Living people Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups from Hertfordshire Year of birth missing (living people)