This weekend über-producer Mark Ronson is among Red Bull Racing's special guests for the British Grand Prix. As the celebrity DJ swaps gold discs for Silverstone, we take a trip back through his remarkable career to date...
The son of Foreigner’s Mick Ronson (not, as commonly thought, the Spider from Mars one), Mark Ronson is one of the best connected people in music. Childhood friends? Sean Lennon among others. He first emerged onto the pop table with his album Here Comes The Fuzz in 2003 Showcasing his hip hop credentials, it featured an array of rap types, and various others found located in his Rolodex. While not a huge smash, it did have a couple of pretty good tunes on it, and it was his next few assignments that were to help him inch nearer to the business end of fame.
More well connected popstrels came to his attention when a new artist called Lily Allen was preparing her debut album Alright Still in 2005. Mark helped out Lily on a few tracks, which helped his profile start to grow, but it was probably his commandeering of Amy Winehouse’s second album Back To Black that really alerted the wider public to his vision. Along with his long-time collaborators the Dap Kings, he created a timeless, yet very definitely 2000 sound, which made stars of both Amy and himself.
Once Ronson had finished working with Amy and Lily, he started to put together his second album Version. It saw him and his horn-based backing outfit tackle a variety of modern day indie anthems by the likes of Coldplay, Radiohead, Kasabian and Maximo Park. However it was a cover of The Smiths’ Stop Me that raised his profile in an ‘angry death threats posted on Morrissey websites’ type way, and by the end of the year he and Amy Winehouse’s version of The Zutons’ Valerie was inescapable.
Over the next year or so, Mark concentrated on producing artists, with a broad approach as to who. Releases such as Kaiser Chiefs’ Off With Their Heads, The Rumble Strips’ Welcome To The Walk Home Alone were whole projects, along with chunks of Duran Duran, Daniel Merriweather and Lily Allen’s second album. All this and a snazzy line in suits made Ronson quite the gent about town.
Now in 2010 as well as knob-fiddling duties on the next Amy opus, Ronson is back with a new album and outfit called The Business, and has herded another load of showbiz connections such as Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters), Boy George and on new single Bang Bang Bang, the mighty Q-Tip.
Catch Mark’s show on Red Bull Music Academy Radio.
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