Chris Cowie (born 1969) is a producer and DJ from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Growing up on a council estate Cowie has gained mainstream and

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

fame through his music and his DJ and live performances. He launched the record labels Hook Recordings and Bellboy Records in 1991. In 2001 he released the album ''Best Behavior''.

Background

The son of Brian and Ruth Cowie, he has two older brothers, Martin and Brian Jr. He grew up in the council estate of

Torry Torry is an area within the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. Torry’s origins People have been living in Torry since at least the 12th century. The place name first appears in written records in 1484 and was erected a Burgh of barony by Royal Cha ...

in Aberdeen where he described his childhood as "normal." Cowie didn't particularly enjoy his early school years, saying "I couldn't wait to leave and near the end of my secondary school year I turned up occasionally. Instead of school I went to the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

or the art gallery".

Career

Cowie achieved mainstream and underground success through his own brand of

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

music ranging from cutting edge dance to

indie electronic Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

. A particularly successful and prolific period for Cowie was when he launched two dance labels in 1992: Hook Recordings and Bellboy Records. The now defunct labels () achieved worldwide fame and were among the most successful and influential dance labels to come out of the UK scene. Today the labels' sound continue to influence and inspire a new generation of

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

and musicians. A large part of the labels sound must be credited to Cowie. Around seventy five percent of the labels' output were a Chris Cowie production under one of his many aliases. Cowie has released in the region of one hundred and fifty separate recordings during a fifteen-year period. With such a prolific output Cowie decided early on in his career to create aliases to combat audience fatigue. He created around fifteen aliases, two of which were highly successful: Vegas Soul and

X-Cabs Chris Cowie (born 1969) is a producer and DJ from Aberdeen, Scotland. Growing up on a council estate Cowie has gained mainstream and underground fame through his music and his DJ and live performances. He launched the record labels Hook Reco ...

As X-Cabs

Under this name, Cowie has recorded many original tracks and a solo album entitled ''Chemistry'', as well as several remixes and the DJ mix album '' Exposure 1''. Tracks Cowie has recorded under this alias include the highly successful

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

hit " Neuro" (of which a new version is released every year) and the subliminal "

Infectious An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dis ...

", which are featured on a multitude of vinyl releases and compilation albums. His remixes include

Joshua Ryan Joshua Ryan Topolsky (born October 19, 1977) is an American technology journalist. He is also a record producer, and DJ under the stage name Joshua Ryan. Topolsky was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of technology news network ''The Verge'' ...

's "Don't Look Back",

Transa Transa are a British electronic music duo composed of brothers Dave and Brendan Webster. Mostly active from the 1990s until the 2000s (decade), they have produced mostly trance music over their career, but have slipped into the realm of progres ...

's "Prophase", and

Sandra Collins Sandra Collins is an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. Biography Collins got her start on the West Coast of the U.S. in Phoenix, Arizona and then moved into residencies in Los Angeles, and eventually moved towards trance. She used Ame ...

's "Flutterby". His most successful remix was ATB's "Don't Stop" which reached Number 3 in the UK charts. His unique sound under this alias is still inspiring a new generation of electronic producers today more than thirteen years after its inception.

As Vegas Soul

Cowie released a number of 12" singles under this alias. 22 of these singles including new material were released on the critically acclaimed double CD ''Best Behaviour'' voted 8th best album of the year in ''Muzik'' magazine. Cowies Vegas Soul moniker was championed by a broad range of DJs and music lovers including John Peel,

Laurent Garnier Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums. Early influ ...

Carl Cox Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and e ...

, and

Danny Tenaglia Daniel "Danny" Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is an American DJ and record producer. He is a Grammy nominee for the best remixed recording (44th Annual Grammy Award). He is also a three time International Dance Music Award winner, 3 time DJ Awar ...

. Chris Cowie once said "The success and the unique sound of Hook Recordings is down to the music I make for Bellboy under aliases such as Vegas Soul. The sound and vibe of Hook generally stems from Bellboy. When I work with an artist or write my own track for Hook the sound is basically a more accessible Bellboy type deal which in turn has been influenced by the early soulful techno stuff."

Re-Launch of Hook-Recordings & Bellboy Records

Cowie re-launched Hook Recordings and Bellboy Records May 2008. For the first time the Hook-Bellboy tracks will be available for digital download. The Hook-Bellboy team will also be releasing new tracks in 2008. Cowie has asked Soulsupplement Records owner and producer Bruno Browning to join the Hook-Bellboy team to help with the running of the label.

Trumpcoin

Cowie is believed to be the founder of the cryptocurrency "Trumpcoin".

References

External links

Hook-Bellboy official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowie, Chris 1969 births Living people People from Aberdeen Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Scottish record producers Club DJs Scottish DJs Electronic dance music DJs