Pianoman is the

alias Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym * Pen name * Nickname Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film * ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006 * ''Alias the ...

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

producer James Sammon from

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, West Yorkshire who got to number 6 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

with the

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

" Blurred" in June 1996. His follow-up to "Blurred" released on

3 Beat Records 3 Beat Productions is a British independent record label founded by Jon Barlow in 1989. History 3 Beat Music was founded as a dance music record shop in 1989 by Jon Barlow, Dave Nicholl, Phil Southall and later joined by Phil Beddard and Hywel ...

was from a

Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle ( ; born August 17, 1958) is an American singer. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist. Raised in ...

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

of "

Live Your Life Be Free ''Live Your Life Be Free'' is the fourth studio album by American singer Belinda Carlisle, released in 1991 by MCA Records in the United States and Virgin Records in the UK. This was the first of Carlisle's albums not to chart in the United State ...

", entitled "Party People (Live Your Life Be Free)" which narrowly missed a place in the UK

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

, peaking at number 43. Sammon used the assistance of music production engineers for the majority of the tracks that he produced. As well as his own commercial releases and

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

es, he has worked and recorded/remixed for musicians such as

Ian Brown Ian George Brown (born 20 February 1963) is an English singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses from their formation in 1983. Following the split in 1996, he began a solo career, re ...

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta), Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger (UK band), Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ' ...

and

Donna Air Donna Marie Theresa Air (born 2 August 1979) is an English actress, television presenter and media personality. Early life and education Donna Marie Theresa Air was born on 2 August 1979, in Wallsend, North Tyneside, to receptionist Marie (née ...

. Pianoman has had many other guises, the most successful being Bass Boyz which was signed to

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

and reached number 74 in September 1996 with "Gunz and Pianos". The name Pianoman was first popularized by the

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

song "

Piano Man Piano Man refers to a male pianist. Piano Man may also refer to: Music * ''Piano Man'' (Billy Joel album), a 1973 rock album by Billy Joel ** "Piano Man" (song), a 1973 song from the album * ''Piano Man'' (Hilton Ruiz album), 1975 * ''Piano Man'' ...

", but this was not the reason for Sammon's use of the name, due to the many records he released during the 1990s (whilst he managed a

record shop A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record sho ...

, and worked on several local Yorkshire

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

stations) that were dance music piano anthems, including "That Whitney Tune" featuring samples from "

I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her second studio album, ''Whitney'' (1987). It was released as the lead single from the album on May 2, 1987, by Arista Records. It was produ ...

"; a

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

record shop owner would call Sammon 'Pianoman' whenever they met. This would lead to the use of that name for his future releases, and become his best known moniker. Although known for the commercial dance sound, he has produced tracks and released vinyl in many dance styles, from

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

, 2-step and

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

to R&B. His first release was ''The Happy Hardcore EP'' billed as DJ Sammon, the name he took to using during his ten-year stint on pirate radio. In his twenties, Sammon began on one of Yorkshire's first pirates radio stations, the

based station Paradise City Radio, and worked at several others, including Dream 107.6 FM. Since 2006, Sammon along with his writing and producing partner Alan Hinton has written, produced and remixed tracks under a variety of aliases covering different genres of dance music including

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

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 ...

and

funky house Funky house is a subgenre of house music that uses disco and funk samples, a funk-inspired bass line or a strong soul influence, combined with drum breaks that draw inspiration from 1970s and 1980s funk records. The use of disco strings are als ...

. As of 2008, he was signed to

Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio. James ...

in the UK under the 2tyme and Service Crew alias, mainly a bassline act and co-writing original material such as "Missing You", "Ain't Your Sweet Thing", "So Hot" and "Tease Me Please Me". Other names used by Sammon to produce bassline include Hidden Agenda and Serious Business. Alongside his partner Alan Hinton, they are signed as Phonik to AATW Records with a track called "Something Special" featuring Sally Jaxx on vocals. Additional members of Phonik include Kenny Hayes and Ben Trengrove. Currently, Sammon has his own publishing company called Blurred Music which is administered by

Bucks Music Group Bucks Music Group was founded in 1967, and is one of the UK's leading and longest running international, independent music publishers. The company has a rich musical heritage, having been responsible for launching and developing the careers of m ...

and a record label called Salford Central Records.

References

External links

Discogs profile
{{Authority control Living people Year of birth missing (living people) English record producers Musicians from Bradford UK garage musicians