Music of Life is a British independent hip hop and

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 da ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...

formed in 1986 by two influential DJ remixers Froggy and

Simon Harris Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael since 2024. A TD for the Wicklow constituency since 2011, he has served as a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016 and f ...

, managed by Chris France. Following several successful productions, one of which reached No. 3 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 ...

(

the Real Thing The Real Thing or Real Thing may refer to: Film and television * The Real Thing (film), ''The Real Thing'' (film) or ''Livers Ain't Cheap'', a 1996 American film * ''The Real Thing'', a 1980 television documentary by James Burke (science historian) ...

's "

You to Me Are Everything In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

") Harris and Froggy decided to launch their own label, they were offered a label deal by

Morgan Khan StreetSounds is a British compilation record label, that specialised in urban and electronic club/dance music during the mid-1980s. StreetSounds was an offshoot of producer and promoter Morgan Khan's StreetWave label. The first StreetSounds re ...

(Streetwave) and the first release was a remix by the duo of

Cerrone Marc Cerrone Daryl Easlea, "Supernature Boy", ''Record Collector'', #502, February 2020, pp.60-63 (, ; born 24 May 1952) is a French disco drummer, composer, record producer and creator of concert shows. Cerrone is a producer of 1970s and 198 ...

's 'Supernature' (his 'Music of Life' song was the inspiration for the label name). Within a few months Froggy left the label and Streetwave went out of business. Harris being active in remixing and production for many other artists and labels financed the label with his remix income. After the demise of Streetwave Harris and France decided to re-launch as a British hip-hop music label. Music of Life opened an office in London's

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

at 22 Hanway Street, Chris France and his sister Michelle spent their days in the busy Soho office whilst Simon could usually be found in his home studio 'The Bunker' producing many of the Music of Life releases. At first, the label licensed new rap music from US production company Powerplay for the first compilation album ''Def Beats 1'' but as an addition to the US material Harris produced an extra track, under his own 'Music of Life Productions' recorded in London by the label's A&R man Derek Boland. 'Rock the Beat' by

Derek B Derek Boland (15 January 1965 – 15 November 2009), better known by his stage name Derek B, was a British rapper. His most commercially successful releases were "Goodgroove" and "Bad Young Brother" in 1988. Biography Born in Hammersmith, Lo ...

created a demand for British hip-hop and the demo tapes started to arrive, Music of Life signed the best artists instead of licensing more US material and Harris produced many new songs featuring artists including M.C. Duke, The Demon Boyz (Million Dan), Thrashpack, Asher D and

Daddy Freddy S. Frederick Small (born 1965), better known as Daddy Freddy, is a Jamaican ragga vocalist. Early life Small was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in the city's Trenchtown district.Huey, SteveDaddy Freddy Biography", Allmusic, retrieved ...

, CJ Macintosh & Einstein, She Rockers (

Betty Boo Alison Moira Clarkson (born 6 March 1970 in Kensington, London), better known as Betty Boo, is an English singer, songwriter and rapper. She first came to mainstream prominence in the late 1980s following a collaboration with the Beatmasters ...

), Hijack, First Frontal Assault and many more. Many of these recordings broke ground and are still considered to be very highly innovative, the first reggae/hip-hop combination (Asher D & Daddy Freddy's 'Ragamuffin Hip Hop') and

's album were licensed to US label 'Profile' (

Run DMC Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history ...

), Hijack was signed to Ice-T's Rhyme syndicate label and many more. ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' wrote that Music of Life was "the most successful hip hop label in the UK right now", in 1988. ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

'' identified Music of Life as one of the few hip hop labels "to believe in home grown talent". In 1989, ''Studio Week'' magazine called Music of Life "the foremost rap label in this country at the moment." So far the Music of Life catalog of recordings and copyrights under Music of Life Productions and released on many labels worldwide including Music of Life have exceeded 2000 titles and include music videos and documentary TV shows ('Kings of Rap' – MTV). Music of Life is one of the UK's longest running independent dance music labels (1986–present day) and the catalog has been licensed and released in over 70 countries with many chart hits including the UK, Germany, Japan, France and the USA (Harris's 'Bass' how low can you go? was a No. 1 Billboard US chart hit) and many Grammy award-winning artists (Luthor Vandross, REM, Beastie Boys, Beck) have licensed from the Music of Life catalog. Sister label Living Beat was launched in 1989 and released many dance music, house and pop recordings with chart success including " Supermarioland" reaching No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart with Harris's AKA 'Ambassadors of Funk' in association with Nintendo,

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from East London. She rose to public attention aged 16, when her mother entered her photographs in an amateur modelling contest run by ''The Sunday Peopl ...

's Song for Europe entry "Go for the Heart" and was instrumental in helping

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

achieve his first UK No. 1 single with "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World". Harris also produced the world's best selling series of breakbeat albums used by DJs and producers, ''Beats Breaks and Scratches'' in 12 volumes and worked with artists Norman Cook ( Fatboy Slim),

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mas ...

, Afrika Bambaataa and George Clinton to produce and release similar albums that are part of the Music of Life catalog. Music of Life is now a registered trademark.

Artists roster

The Music of Life catalog includes songs from: * MC Duke & DJ Leader 1 *Thrashpack * She Rockers (featuring

) *

* Asher D *

Tenor Fly Jonathan Sutter (7 July 1967 – 17 June 2016), better known by his stage name Tenor Fly, was a British singer and rapper. He rose to prominence in the ragga movement of the early 1990s. Sutter was a solo artist and later a member of Freestyle ...

Nitty Gritty Glen Augustus Holness (1957–24 June 1991), otherwise known by his stage name Nitty Gritty, was a popular reggae singer. Born in the August Town section of Kingston, Jamaica, he was the second of eleven children born to religious parents. ...

* Hijack * Hardnoise *3 Knights *DJ Daddy *Leslie Lyrics *

Norman Cook Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist ...

* George Clinton *

(label founder) *Einstein * Ambassadors of Funk * Afrika Bambaataa * Demon Boyz *

Professor Griff Richard Griffin (born August 1, 1960), better known by his stage name Professor Griff, is an American rapper, spoken word artist, and lecturer currently residing in Atlanta. He was a member of the hip hop group Public Enemy, serving as the grou ...

* Clyde Stubblefield *Killa Instinct *S.L. Troopers *First Frontal Assault *Kobalt 60 *

Overlord X Overlord X (born Benjamin Balogun, in Hackney) was one of the earliest British hip hop artists to receive national acclaim in the UK, with his most well known song still being his second single release, "14 Days in May" (Westside Records, 1988) ...

*DJ Supreme (Hijack)

References

External links

Music of Life official site
{{Authority control British record labels Record labels established in 1986 British hip hop record labels IFPI members British hip hop Grime music Drum and bass record labels 1986 establishments in the United Kingdom de:Britischer Hip-Hop es:Hip hop británico

Artists roster

See also

References

External links