Marvin Louis Burns (born May 13, 1962), known by his stage name Li'l Louis (sometimes expanded to Li'l Louis & the World and Li'l Louis & the Party), is a Chicago-born house-music producer and DJ .Larkin, Colin (1999) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 198 He scored a number of

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Dance Music/Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

in the 1980s and 1990s, three of which hit #1. His best known song, "

French Kiss A French kiss, also known as cataglottism or a tongue kiss, is an amorous kiss in which the participants' tongues extend to touch each other's lips or tongue. A kiss with the tongue stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth, which are sens ...

" spent two weeks at No. 1 on the U.S.

chart in 1989. Originally an instrumental, the track features a several-minutes-long breakdown in which the

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

gradually slows down to a stop. As the song gained popularity, vocals by

Shawn Christopher Shawn Christopher is an American house music singer from Chicago, Illinois. Career She was a touring backing vocalist for R&B singer Chaka Khan from 1982 to 1985. She was also a member of the industrial dance band known as My Life with the ...

were added. Even with its erotic sound, it crossed over to some pop radio stations and climbed to No. 50 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was a big success throughout Europe reaching No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, despite being banned by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and in Germany, and No. 1 in the Netherlands. The video was directed by Marek Budzynski. British Drum 'n' Bass producers Ed Rush &

Optical Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...

later produced a remix. In the track "Teachers" from the 1997 ''

Homework Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed at home. Common homework assignments may include required reading, a writing or typing project, Exercise (mathematics), math problems to be completed, informatio ...

'' album by

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

, Lil Louis is one of the many musicians mentioned.

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 influe ...

's 1997 single "Flashback" contained a remix made by Lil Louis called "Lil Louis Civilized Instrumental Painting." In 2000, fellow producer Josh Wink released "How's Your Evening So Far?"—credited to Wink Featuring Lil Louis—a track that heavily sampled "French Kiss". The song peaked at No. 3 on the dance chart. The song was also

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

in 2000 by

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

emcee

Lil' Kim Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include: * * * * * better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper. She was born and raised in New York City and lived much of her adolescent life on the streets after ...

on the track "Custom Made (Give It To You)," which was featured on '' The Notorious KIM''. In 2013,

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

released the song "Made to Love", which features a prominent sample of the Lil' Louis song "Video Clash", on

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

G.O.O.D. Music GOOD Music (often stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American independent record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label entered an exclusive long-term worldwide music distribution, distributi ...

label. On January 24, 2015, Louis suffered permanent sound-induced

hearing loss Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spo ...

in his left ear during a

soundcheck A soundcheck is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small po ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, when a compressed air horn was let off in close proximity to him.

Discography

Albums

* '' From the Mind of Lil Louis'' (FFRR/PolyGram UK;

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

SME Records , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

US, 1989) * Li'l Louis & the World – ''Journey with the Lonely'' (Epic/SME Records US, 1992)

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lil Louis American dance musicians American electronic musicians American house musicians Musicians from Chicago DJs from Chicago Epic Records artists Living people FFRR Records artists 1962 births Electronic dance music DJs

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

References