Me One (born Eric Martin on 19 August 1970), also known as MC Eric, is a Welsh musician, rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer, who rose to prominence for his work for the Belgian-based recording act

Technotronic Technotronic was a Belgian electronic music project formed in 1987 by Jo Bogaert, who originally gained popularity in Europe as a solo artist with various new beat projects, including Acts of Madmen and Nux Nemo. Together with rapper Manuela K ...

Early life

Born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales, Martin is the son of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n parents; his mother an English teacher from

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

and his father a

Pentecostal Church Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

minister from Saint Mary Parish. Martin was educated in Cardiff,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He holds

dual Dual or Duals may refer to: Paired/two things * Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another ** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality *** see more cases in :Duality theories * Dual (grammatical ...

Jamaican and British citizenship.

Work with Technotronic

Martin (as MC Eric) was a member of

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

Eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

act

, providing lead vocals on the 1990 hit single " This Beat Is Technotronic". At the height of their career, they toured with

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

on her

Blond Ambition World Tour The Blond Ambition World Tour (billed as Blond Ambition World Tour 90) was the third concert tour by American singer Madonna. It supported her fourth studio album '' Like a Prayer'' (1989), and the soundtrack album to the 1990 film ''Dick Tracy ...

in the 1990s.

2000s–present

Martin's debut album under the name Me One was released in May 2000 on Universal-Island UK. The 12-track release was titled ''As Far as I'm Concerned'' and featured

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

(from

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American hip hop duo, consisting of Texas record producer DJ Premier and Massachusetts rapper Guru. For the entirety of their association, they were based out of Brooklyn, New York. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 20 ...

) on "Do You Know" and

Michelle Gayle Michelle Patricia Gayle (born 2 February 1971) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and writer. Gayle had success as a soul and R&B singer in the 1990s, having achieved seven top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart. These include "Sweetness" ...

on "

In My Room "In My Room" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher for the American rock band the Beach Boys. It was released on their 1963 album '' Surfer Girl''. It was also released as the B-side of the " Be True to Your School" single. The single ...

" which interpolates

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

song of the same name. The latter was released as a single, along with "Game Plan" and "Old Fashioned". Aside from his solo work, Martin has written with (or for)

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

Maxi Priest Max Alfred "Maxi" Elliott (born 10 June 1961), known by his stage name Maxi Priest, is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with an R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion. He was one ...

the Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

Capleton Clifton George Bailey III (born 13 April 1967),Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , pp. 67–69 better known by his stage name Capleton, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician. He is also referred to as Kin ...

Lynden David Hall Lynden David Hall (7 May 1974 – 14 February 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who emerged during the late 1990s as part of the neo soul movement. In 1999, he was the first UK performer ever voted "Best Male ...

and the

Sugababes Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...

. In 2011, he signed a recording deal with

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

-based record label Innovation Music.Innovation Music Official site - Artists page:

References

1970 births Living people Black British male rappers Welsh people of Jamaican descent Welsh male rappers Welsh male singers Musicians from Cardiff 20th-century Black British male singers 21st-century Black British male singers {{UK-singer-stub