It is 25 years since Detroit-born producer/re-mixer/DJ Marc Kinchen had his first number one on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart. The track, Always, featured vocals by Alana Simon who co-wrote the song with Marc, better known under his stage name of MK.
“We’d already had a big Dance Club Songs hit with a track called Burning,” recalled Marc, now 45. “The ironic thing is I loved dance music but I really wasn’t into clubbing. The only reference I had for the popularity of my songs was the number of copies requested by distributors.
“After Always made number one, the same thing happened with our next single, Love Changes. All of these hits came from an album I did with Alana called Surrender.”
The original version of Always had also been a minor hit on the UK mainstream chart. A remix of the track created by English producer / re-mixer Route 94 reached number 12 in 2014. This was MK’s biggest hit single until his current UK top ten success with 17.
“I create tracks to make music which I love. It’s a bonus when the songs are also loved by other people. But I’m particularly pleased that so many people love 17. It’s my favourite track that I’ve made over the last two years. The main version is sick. The dub is sick. It’s got a really good buzz. I’ve played each version in my live sets and the audience response has been amazing.”
MK has been in the business for 30 years. As a teenager, he was taken under the wing of Detroit techno wizard Kevin Saunderson.
“I was serious about music from childhood. I started producing stuff at home when I was 14. These were tracks by Depeche Mode and other European electro-pop. 
“I collaborated with a couple of like-minded friends to create a track called First Base which came out on a small Detroit label. This caught the ear of Kevin Saunderson and everything took off for me from there.
“Kevin put First Base on a compilation album showcasing the sound of Detroit. He also gave me so much encouragement and allowed me to have 24-hour access to his own home studio complete with all the top of the range samplers, synths, sequencers and drum machines.”
With that kind of support, it didn’t take long for MK to become a well-known figure on Detroit’s techno scene thanks to tracks such as Somebody New and Decay. The nationwide hits with Burning, Always and Love Changes attracted the attention of major players. This gave Marc the opportunity to create remixes of songs by artists such as M-People, Bobby Brown, Terence Trent D’Arby and Pet Shop Boys.
He has now created hundreds of remixes. But Marc’s name was made with a remix of Push The Feeling On, a 1992 track by Scottish house music group Nightcrawlers.
“The original song had been a minor mainstream hit and done okay on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. But I thought it was a not all that good R&B track which happened to have great vocals. It was the vocals which made me want to work on the song.
“I was living in New York at the time and rushed the remix because I had to catch a flight to Detroit. Then my manager called me to say the record label wanted a few things changing. This made me mad because I had to get my flight. I created what became known as the Dub of Doom remix in about twenty minutes. I made my flight and my remix is still being played all these years later.”
Marc’s remix gave Nightcrawlers a massive hit not only on dance charts but also on mainstream listings. In 1995, he created a new remix of the song which saw Push The Feeling On peak at number three in Britain and become a top ten hit throughout much of the world. His remixes of more Nightcrawlers songs gave the group a sustained run of commercial success during the mid-1990s.
A string of hugely popular remixes saw Marc lauded among his dance music peers. But he gradually grew bored with being asked to produce more remixes in the style of Push The Feeling On. He decided to try his hand at hip hop.
“I worked with people like Snoop Dogg, Quincy Jones and Jay-Z. But I didn’t stay with this genre of music for too long. There seemed to be even more politics in hip hop about making a single than there was in house. I also found the musical style got formulaic and boring. I felt the time had come to get back to house.”
Marc created acclaimed remixes for artists ranging from Ellie Goulding to Disclosure and Sam Smith to Rihanna. He also worked his magic on Storm Queen’s Look Right Through which took the track to number one on the UK singles chart.
“I’m a producer at heart so I’ve always enjoyed doing remixes. That’s why I didn’t particularly enjoy my first foray into DJing. The equipment at that time didn’t allow me to be creative. I had to pretty much just play records. I love DJing now. I can actually do live remixing.”
His mainstream chart success with 17 could well prompt Marc to release more of his own tracks. But not in the immediate future. He is taking some time to relax and make new music.
“I’ve been on the road for most of 2017. I want to spend the next three months chilling out and coming up with ideas for new songs.”


in 
brief


Lily Allen


It seems singer/songwriter Lily Allen is having trouble with the tenants in her London apartment.
It wasn’t so long ago that Lily was on British television complaining about the government’s response to the refugee crisis and pledging to take in displaced child migrants. Unfortunately, displaced child migrants cannot pay rent. Wealthy foreign diplomats can and it was these people to whom Lily rented her property.
But despite now wanting to reclaim her apartment, Lily is unable to remove her tenants. They say they cannot find anywhere else to match the standards of Lily’s plush pad and have claimed ‘diplomatic immunity’ against the threat of eviction notices.
For her part, Lily posted a now-deleted message on her Twitter account saying she and her two daughters were homeless.
Her words did not elicit sympathy. One person suggested she has plenty of money so should go buy another house. Another felt Bob Geldof should be asked to organise another Live Aid concert to buy Lily a four million GBP property for Christmas.


Neil Young


From now until June 30, 2018, Neil Young fans can enjoy free access to the Canadian singer/songwriter’s vast archive collection at www.neilyoungarchives.com/
Neil has often complained about the audio quality of sound files and streaming facilities in general. Everything in his archive is presented in high quality audio.
Speaking about the archive, Neil said: “My motivation was to provide fans and music historians with unprecedented access to all of my music and my archives in one convenient location.
“The timeline shows you when and how the music was made. Every single track or album I have produced is represented. It is always current. You can browse through the music I made between now and 1963, when I made my first recording in Canada and it was released as a 45 RPM single.
“You can zoom in to the timeline and see a particular period in detail and pull back to view the surrounding years. View albums currently released and see albums still unreleased and in production just by using the controls to zoom through the years.”
Neil has provided a tutorial video on how to use the archive. This can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPKbeSRnox0


Jorja Smith


Singer Jorja Smith has been named winner of the BRITs Critics’ Choice award for 2018. 
The Walsall-born vocalist held off stiff competition from Stefflon Don and Mabel, both of whom have been featured in this column, in what was an all-female shortlist.
“I cannot believe it,” smiled a delighted Jorja. “It’s been an unforgettable 2017 during which I’ve fulfilled so many of my dreams. This is a special way to end the year.”
Although her early songs did not achieve chart success, Jorja’s talent has always been recognised within the industry. No less an artist than Canadian superstar Drake featured her on two tracks from his 2017 Billboard 200 number one album, More Life. She was also among Artists for Grenfell on their UK chart-topping cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Her last single, On My Mind, a collaboration with grime producer Preditah, gave Jorja her first UK hit. It will definitely not be her last. 
Her music promos can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/JorjaSmithVEVO/videos