Ian Levine

Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. Levine was once known as a fan of the long-running television show ''Doctor Who''.

Early and personal life

Levine was born into a Jewish family; his parents owned and ran the "Lemon Tree" complex in Blackpool, including its casino and nightclub. Levine is openly gay. He suffered a major stroke in July 2014, leaving him with severely limited movement on the left side of his body.

Career

Disc jockey

Levine began collecting Motown records from the age of 13, building a collection from UK record shops and those his family visited on holidays to Miami and New Orleans. He later became an avid collector of soul, R&B, and Northern soul. After his parents emigrated to the Caribbean in 1979, Levine sold most of his records to fund a house purchase in London.

Having attended some early Northern soul all-nighters at "The Twisted Wheel" nightclub in Manchester with DJ Stuart Bremner, on leaving school in 1971 he became a disc jockey at the Blackpool Mecca. Levine joined other DJs in travelling to Stoke on Trent to join the Northern soul all-nighter "Torch", which was quickly shut down but was the fore runner of the Wigan Casino events, which Levine opened. Working with fellow DJ Colin Curtis, the pair was responsible for guiding the Northern Soul scene away from its oldies-only policy and towards modern soul and disco. This resulted in BBC Radio 1's DJ John Peel travelling to Blackpool to interview Levine.

In 1979, Levine began advising London's gay disco Heaven on its set-up, and became the club's first resident DJ, remaining through most of the 1980s. Levine was also one of the first DJs to mix records in the UK.

Writer/producer

In 1974 Levine assisted Dave McAleer with in compiling "Solid Soul Sensations", which was released on the British Disco Demand label and reached No. 30 in the UK Albums Charts. With the proceeds he travelled to New York City and co-produced ''Reaching for the Best'' with girl band The Exciters, which reached No.31 on the UK Singles Charts selling 80,000 records. This allowed Levine to then travel to Chicago, where he signed postman L.J. Johnson, Barbara Pennington (who both after appearing on Top of the Pops reached the UK Singles Charts), as well as Evelyn Thomas. Although Thomas's 1976 record ''Weak Spot'' was not a big success reaching No. 26 in the UK, Levine later co-produced Thomas's 1984 record '' High Energy''.

Hi-NRG and Pop

In 1983, the London-based record shop Record Shack offered Levine £2,000 to set up a new joint-venture record label, Record Shack Records. Through friend Jean-Philippe Iliesco he used his Trident Studios, and formed a songwriting partnership with Fiachra Trench.

The first record from the label was '' So Many Men, So Little Time'' by Miquel Brown, which sold two million copies and got to number 2 on the American Dance Club Songs charts. This was quickly followed by '' High Energy'' by Evelyn Thomas. The partnership with Record Shack ended in 1985.

Afterward his return to the UK following the financial failure of Motorcity Records, Levine wrote and produced Hi-NRG-derived singles for various bands, including Take That (he co-produced three tracks on their debut album, and co-wrote one), and The Pasadenas. During the 1980s and 1990s he co-wrote and/or mixed a number of dance-pop hits for a variety of artists, including: Pet Shop Boys; Bucks Fizz; Erasure; Kim Wilde; Bronski Beat; Amanda Lear; Bananarama; Tiffany; Dollar; and Hazell Dean. He has also latterly written and produced several TV themes including "Discomania", "Gypsy Girl", "ITV Celebrity Awards Show", "Christmasmania" and "Abbamania".

Manager

Levine founded bands, including: Seventh Avenue, which featured two members of Big Fun; Optimystic; and Bad Boys Inc. In 2010 Levine formed a new boy band called "Inju5tice". After the commercial failure of debut "A Long Long Way From Home" the band and Levine split, and the band relaunched itself as ELi'Prime.

Record labels

In 1987, Levine began recording some former artists from Motown. After a reunion of 60 Motown stars, including Edwin Starr and Levi Stubbs on top of a hotel opposite the original Hitsville USA building, Motorcity Records was launched as a record label. Initially distributed by PRT, then Pacific, Charly and finally Total/BMG, by the time that the label ended in the 1990s due to severe financial losses, 850 songs had been recorded by 108 artists.

''Doctor Who''

Levine is well known as a fan of the BBC
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