(Redirected from Green Velvet)
'Curtis Alan Jones' is an
electronic and
house music singer, songwriter and
producer born
April 26 1968, in
Chicago, Illinois. His style of house music has been compared and inspired by the likes of
Kraftwerk,
Prince,
Gary Numan, and
Nitzer Ebb.
Biography
Early Years
Before becoming a professional musician Jones studied chemical engineering at the University of Illinois. In 1991 he quit a master's program at
UC-Berkeley to move back to Chicago, releasing his first song ("Coffee Pot" on ClubHouse Records) the same year.
[ House: the Rough Guide, , Sean, Bidder, Rough Guides Ltd, , ] Up until this point music had been a hobby fueled by cobbling together tracks on his "sixty buck keyboard, a cheap four-track and a cheap drum machine" while still an undergraduate at the University of Illinois. This DIY method of production was never taken seriously and when childhood plans to become a doctor were shelved Jones was firmly committed to a career as a chemical engineer. His dad was an occasional DJ and eventually became a budding musician. As time went on Jones discovered what was his innate love and understanding for house music, a sound that had grown throughout the mid-80s out of Chicago's deep-rooted disco scene. As a child he was into
sci-fi movies and time travel TV shows like ''
Doctor Who'' and playing videogames like
Tetris and
Galaga and would spend hours pondering over the possibilities this would open up. He played the saxophone at school and had a talent for trying to play with a keyboard but remained largely un-interested in what he saw as his father's passion. It was this cut-up, tacky, production style of the early house sound that Jones absorbed and translated into the 'Underground Goodies EP', his first release as Cajmere (that's CAJ as in Curtis A. Jones) put out in 1991 on his own recently started Cajual label.
A year later he had his first massive hit as Cajmere with the brilliant house tune 'Coffeepot (It's Time For The Perculator)' also out on Cajual. He then teamed up with Chicago-based vocalist Dajae for 'Brighter Days' (he entered #2 on the
Hot Dance Music/Club Play),
a high impact, more mellow house tune that came out on Emotive.
Green Velvet transformation
Desperate to make something totally different to his normal Cajmere moniker, Curtis created Relief as an offshoot to his Cajual records in 1993. The first Relief release was also his first Green Velvet production, 1993's "Velvet Tracks."
Green Velvet (a name given to him by a friend's dad) emerged as the flamboyant, neon-haired 'Electro Punk', although in interviews he denied being linked to the Punk lifestyle and fashion, as he was more inspired by the likes of
David Bowie and
Sly And The Family Stone[1], he created excellent mid-90's hits like 'Preacher Man' (a
Moral Majority type of preacher spoke over this track), 'Answering Machine' (a darkly funny house track consisting of 'taped' messages from an answering machine, including a bad news message from a girlfriend and a noise complaint message from his landlord), and 'Flash' which was a #1 US dance hit in 1995 and has been included on many
DJ-mixed compilation albums. After playing DJ under both of his now infamous monikers, he released his first album
Constant Chaos with Beligian Music label Music Man in 1999,
which showed Green Velvet's style of house progress into styles similar to
Prince and
Kraftwerk, his spoken word lyrics also took a bizarre turn. In ''Abduction'' he sings about little green men turning up while he's doing the washing up.
The ''Whatever'' era
By the time ''Constant Chaos'' was released, Jones had temporarily halted activity on his labels. Still DJing as Cajmere he'd narrowed the Green Velvet persona down to live performances only, taking time out to re-group and work out what to do next. During 2000, Jones was briefly signed to
Warner Bros. Records' short-lived F-111 imprint, where he released his second album, the self-titled ''Green Velvet'', which contained the double-A-sided single “Flash” b/w “Answering Machine.” During this time he gave Velvet a new hairstyle—from spiked, green foam nodules to yellow mohawk. Next, in 2001, he unleashed his third album, the dark ''
Whatever'', which was a step away from his
Kraftwerk-inspired sound (although ''Sleepwalking'' had a similar style) to a darker, more political
Punk-esque style. On the album he tackled such issues as racism (highlighted on the song ''When?''), drug use (highlighted on ''Genedefekt'' and ''La La Land''), alienation (highlighted on ''Sleepwalking''), and being told what to wear and do by the system (highlighted on the heavily punk-inspired track ''Gat''). The more punk-oriented songs on the album apparently came from hours spent listening to
industrial bands such as
Nitzer Ebb and Liaisons Dangerous, and lots of "underground American industrial stuff." He released the single ''La La Land'' in 2001, originally designed as a wake-up call for clubbers to the dangers of pill-taking it became one of his most popular tunes. This was followed by ''Genedefekt''. His live act had now became more like a rock band also, with the Curtis playing a
keytar, and two other musicians (aptly named Nazuk and Spaceboy) backing him, playing heavily distorted synths. Initially Jones, as both Cajmere and Green Velvet, was receiving more attention in Europe than he did in the USA, playing a
Radio One live session on the Jo Whiley show and playing a host of festivals.
Recent Projects
After appearing under a host of different names for his various remixing and side projects, Green Velvet dropped his fourth album, ''
Walk In Love'', in 2005. This album had a more
house music-oriented style to it, but the odd Prince- and Punk-sounding tracks still remained, as Curtis actually got a live guitarist to play on “Come Back” and the closing track ''Pin-Up Girl'' had a similarity to New York-based Electroclash group
Fischerspooner. After ''Walk In Love'', Green Velvet produced and remixed releases for fellow Relief Records artists and himself, and played a host of DJ session live shows in 2006.
In shocking turn, after staying quiet in the music scene, Green Velvet revealed in 2006 he had become a born again Christian after a serious overdose on a mixture of
Magic Mushrooms,
Marijuana and (allegedly)
GHB,
[2] and promised to turn his life around after this incident. His latest release, the single “Shake and Pop,” is a departure from the recent darker electronica style, as he claims he has found a brighter future since converting. In 2007, he released the online-only track “Love Peace, Not War,” a short ditty in response to the United States’ war in Iraq.
Discography
Compilations
★ ''
The Nineties (1993 A.D. Through 1999 A.D)''
Album Releases as Green Velvet
★ ''
Constant Chaos''
★ ''Green Velvet''
★ ''
Whatever''
★ ''
Walk In Love''
As Cajmere
★ ''The Many Shades of Cajual''
★ ''Techno Funk''
★ ''House Music All Night Long''
Trivia
★ Curtis is also known as 'Geo Vogt', 'Half Pint', 'Curan Stone' and 'Gino Vittori'.
★ Curtis has provided remixes for such diverse acts such as
Madonna,
Orgy and
Basement Jaxx.
References:
1.
DJ Booking biography
1. [1] A recent interview with Curtis, last accessed 28-03-06
2. [2], A recent interview with Curtis, last accessed 28-03-06
External links
★
Green Velvet official Web site
★
Official MySpace page
See also
★
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
★
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
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