Carsten Schack (born 1968 in Gug, Denmark) and better known by his stage name Soulshock is a Danish record producer and songwriter.

Beginnings

Carsten Schack was born in the

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

suburb of Gug, the son of economics professor Bent Schack and physician assistant Åse Schack. In the early 1990s he dated choreographer Toniah Pedersen for 3 years. Since 1993 he had been living in Los Angeles in the USA with his girlfriend Charmayne Maxwell, former vocalist of American R&B group

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, with whom he has a son, Nicholas. His music career began as a DJ, when in 1989 he came joint third place in the DMC European Mixing Championships. This gave him a DJ job at Queen Latifah's European tour, and later a remix job for the artist.''MetroXpress'': Carsten ‘Soulshock’ Schack – Fra L.A. til DR – "Det er svært at tage Thomas Blachman alvorligt"
(in Danish) In the years 1989–1991 Carsten Schack was co-host of the radio program Det DUR (Dansk Ungdomsradio) on P3. His Monday hip-hop radio show was the first hip-hop program on Radio Denmark.

Soulshock and Cutfather

Together with Mich "Cutfather" Hansen, he formed a producer and DJ duo Soulshock & Cutfather in the late 1980s, making a name by remixing for Danish artists such as

Lis Sørensen Lis Sørensen (born 28 May 1955) is a Danish pop singer. In the 1970s she worked with Anne Linnet in Shit & Chanel and Anne Linnet Band. In 1983 she released her first solo album. She is also known for being the first artist to record Ednaswa ...

("Mine øjne de skal se"),

Cut'N'Move Cut 'N' Move were a Danish dance music, dance/hip hop music, hip hop group from Århus. Career 1989-1992: Origins and debut album The group was founded in 1989 by keyboard player Per Holm, disc jockey Jørn K (Jørn Kristensen), and rapper MC Zipp ...

("Get Serious" and "Spread Love"), Laid Back ("Bakerman") and Back to Back ("Jonathan"). In 1990 they together started a record label Soulpower Productions, as part of Medley Records, where they particularly produced Yasmin and Cut'N'Move. Several times they won mixing championship produced for Queen Latifah and Ultra Naté.

De Serious Cutshock

For producing Turkish-Faroese singer Yasmin (full name Yasmin Elvira Steenholdt), he formed a producing trio under the name De Serious Cutshock made up of him (under the pseudonym Soulshock), Mich Hedin Hansen (known as Cutfather) and Peter Meldgaard (known as Depete). The trio produced "Wanna Dance" and "A Scent of Flowers" for her.

Soulshock and Karlin

In 1992, Carsten Schack immigrated to the United States. Soulshock needed a great keyboard player, and found one in Kenneth Karlin.BT: Danske drenge hitter i Hollywood
(in Danish) Together they formed the production duo Soulshock & Karlin. Soulshock & Karlin produced and wrote their first No. 1 top 40 hit "Leave (Get Out)" performed by

JoJo Jojo, JoJo or Jo Jo is a given name, surname, nickname or stage name used by several people and fictional characters, including: People with the given name, nickname or stage name Musicians *JoJo (singer) (born 1990), American R&B singer, songwri ...

, and the No. 1 R&B song "Truth Is" performed by American Idol winner Fantasia (which also received a Grammy nomination for best R&B album) and tracks for rap star Nelly. Throughout the 1990s he wrote and produced, inter alia,

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

Usher Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** Fiel ...

Monica Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

, Whitney Houston,

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive P ...

, Craig David,

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

, Toni Braxton,

, and

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

. Soulshock and Karlin have more recently produced songs for the debut solo albums of Cheryl Cole,

Alexandra Burke Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) is a British singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fifth series of the British television series ''The X Factor'' in 2008, and has been signed to Epic Records, RCA Records and Syc ...

and Leona Lewis.

Other appearances

*In 1992, Schack was in youth program ''Transit'' and in a series called ''Exit''. *In 2010, he was a judge on the Danish '' X Factor'' for the third season. He was replaced by Thomas Blachman for the fourth season.

Personal life

Schack was married to Charmayne "Maxee" Maxwell of the group

, with whom he has a son, Nicolaj. She died on February 28, 2015.

Discography

:''See: Soulshock & Karlin discography''

References

External links

Soulpower Productions Official websiteSoulshock on Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soulshock 1968 births Living people Danish record producers Danish songwriters Danish expatriates in the United States