UNITED KINGDOM: Producer of two of the biggest UK albums of 2006, Mark Ronson releases own album of covers "Version"

Mark Ronson does that rare thing in the music industry, appealing to a global audience. It may be because of his trans-Atlantic pedigree yet fans know his eclectic musical tastes means the 31-year-old record producer can blend into any music scene, from hip-hop to Brit pop. It is this need to experiment with different sounds which gave him the idea to produce his own album "Version" after helping Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen find critical and commercial success in both the U.S. and Britain. On "Version", Ronson takes indie songs and gives them a '60s soul and funk vibe, with the exception of a re-mix of Britney Spears' "Toxic", featuring the voice of the late Old Dirty Bastard. Highlights on the album include a re-working of Radiohead's "Just" by Los Angeles rockers Phantom Planet, which was a hit in the U.K. in 2006, the Zutons' "Valerie" by Winehouse, and the Kaiser Chiefs "Oh My God" by Allen. When the two Brit songstresses each came to his recording studio last year to work on their records, Ronson asked them to help him with his side project which he says was a complete fluke. "It was really organic (making an album of cover songs), I didn't have a record deal. I was just playing everything myself. If a friend was over I would say 'Hey play bass on this song.' And it was kind of good it happened that way. Every song was an accident. I was supposed to be making a beat for somebody in my head and I'd have the drum track up and instead I'd start playing the keyboards for a Kaiser Chief songs and and trying to figure out how to play it and before I knew it, I'm laying the bass and the guitar and it's like a sketch of a song," said Ronson. The danger with covering any song lies in alienating the fans and writers of the original. The release of Ronson's first track on the album, "Stop Me", a reworking of the Smiths classic has die-hard fans of the band calling it sacrilege. Ronson responded in a "Letter to a Smiths fan" on his website, stating he understood their dismay but he wouldn't have re-worked the track if he wasn't a die-hard fan of the 1980s British rockers themselves. "I don't really think of the fans of the people that wrote them (the original songs). We've gone to everyone that wrote the songs for permission and that's the thing that's important to me. I think The Smiths and Radiohead that are precious to their fans, you're going to get some feed back but it doesn't stop my day," said Ronson. Ronson's star is rising in the U.K. not only because of the success of his musical collaborations of the who's who of Brit pop today but because of a monthly club night in London's Notting Hill, Yoyo. It's here that he met Lily Allen and decided to make music history. Before rising to prominence in the U.K. Ronson made a name for himself deejaying hip hop in New York's trendy Lower East Side, later spinning records at parties for P. Diddy and Jay-Z. He then raised his profile to be one of the most wanted djs for the celebrity soiree scene amongst Manhattan socialites. But also growing up amongst rock royalty -- his best friend growing up was Sean Lennon, son of John; his neighbours were Paul, Linda and Stella McCartney, his parents would host lunches where David Bowie and Andy Warhol were invited -- he is often criticised for using his familial contacts and inherited wealth as an unfair advantage. His younger twin sisters too are following in their brother's successful footsteps; Samantha is a dj herself while Charlotte is a fashion designer and favourite with stars like rapper Eve. The eldest Ronson denies he used his family ties to get to where he's at now. "There's absolutely no family connections that I have that helped me get my foothold deejaying at hip hop clubs in downtown New York. It's ridiculous. The thing that people play up is that my stepdad was a musician. He was in Foreigner (Mick Jones). And it was amazing, I love him, it was great that music was encouraged in my house, put it that way, but nobody in the first seven or eight years of my career could have been able to pick him out of a police lineup," he said. Ronson will be touring the U.K. throughout the summer. His new single "Stop Me" featuring the vocals of Australian singer Daniel Merriweather is out now as is "Version".

ITN Source | April 19, 2007

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